GRAVES
FAMILY BULLETIN
A Free,
Occasional, Online Summary of Items of Interest to Descendants of all Families
of Graves, Greaves, Grieves, Grave, and other spelling variations Worldwide
Vol.
5, No. 2, March 5, 2002
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Copyright
© 2002 by the Graves Family Association and Kenneth V. Graves. All rights reserved.
Information
on how to start a free subscription to this bulletin and how to be removed from
the subscription list is at the end of this bulletin. If you received this bulletin directly, then you are already
subscribed.
Visit the GFA web site at https://gravesfa.org
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CONTENTS:
**Some
General Comments
**Sending Payments Online With PayPal
**Other
Updates and Additions to the GFA Website
**John
Graves of Concord, MA Book
**DNA
Analysis Project
**Concerns
About DNA Testing
**Next
Steps in the DNA Study
**Financial
Help Still Needed for DNA Project
**To
Submit Material to this Bulletin & Other Things
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SOME GENERAL COMMENTS
Every
now and then I discover that there are still people out there who think if I am
not closely related to them, then I and the Graves Family Association must not
be interested in helping them learn more about their part of the family. Or if their surname is not spelled Graves,
then we can’t be of any help to them.
On the contrary, we are interested in ALL the various Graves, Greaves,
Grieves, Greve, etc. families of the world, no matter how the name is spelled.
That
doesn’t mean that there is enough time to do all we want to do. Other parts of life demand attention
also. But the goal is to help all
descendants of all the various forms of the surname. And the more we work together and share information and
resources, the more progress we will make toward our goals.
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SENDING PAYMENTS ONLINE WITH PAYPAL
You
can now send payments online with your credit card or check payment from the U.S.
and other countries using PayPal. This
is the online payment service that became popular as a main method of payment
on the e-Bay auction site. To do this
now, you need to go to http://www.paypal.com
and follow the instructions. Payments
to Ken Graves or Graves Family Association should be made to gfa@gravesfa.org.
As
soon as I can get it done, I will be putting information about this on the
website. I even plan to set up an order
center on the website to make ordering and paying easier.
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OTHER UPDATES AND ADDITIONS TO THE GFA WEBSITE
In
addition to the addition of PayPal as a payment option, I am looking at a
members-only section on the website, and at putting the newsletter online and
allowing members to read it or print it directly from the website. I just have to figure out exactly how to do
that (and fit it into my schedule).
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JOHN GRAVES OF CONCORD, MA BOOK
For
those of you eager to receive the John Graves of Concord, MA book, here is the
latest news. The printer had promised a
completion date of March 8, 2002, but I was just notified today that they are
slightly behind schedule, and the new shipment date is Wednesday, March
13. Allowing a week to get to me by
truck, that means I should have the books by March 20, and will send them to
those of you who have placed orders as soon as they arrive.
Additional
books will be available and can still be ordered at $75 including shipping
(some additional charge for shipping overseas).
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DNA ANALYSIS PROJECT
As
one descendant of Capt. Thomas Graves of VA recently wrote me: “There seems to
be a lot of confusing information on the Graves family on the Internet.” That is especially true for this part of the
family, largely because of the lack of reliable documentation. So many records in the southern U.S. have
been lost or destroyed over the centuries.
Even though there has been a great amount of research on the Capt.
Thomas Graves family, there are still many connections that are
questionable. I believe that is the
reason there is so much variation in the DNA test results for this family. As we get more participants tested from more
different branches of the family with more markers, I expect most of the
problems to be resolved. This DNA study
has provided us with an incredible opportunity to discover relationships that
would never have been found by conventional genealogical research.
We
have received more test results from our testing lab, Family Tree DNA. A total of 79 samples have now been analyzed
and the results posted on the website.
In addition to these results for the basic 12 markers, we have also now
received results for the additional 9 markers (total of 21 markers) for 34
samples. We also now have a total of
117 participants, so more helpful results will continue to be received and will
be posted on the website.
To
look at the results summary and the preliminary conclusions, you can go to the
website at https://gravesfa.org and
click on the DNA link at the top of the page.
Or you can go directly to that specific page at https://gravesfa.org/DNA_test_results.html.
There
have not been any great changes in the conclusions since the last Bulletin in
January. However, there have been some
changes and additions on the website.
The main addition is a chart page that attempts to show the probable
connections between the various Graves/Greaves families for which we presently
have results. You will be able to
easily see which lines of some of the major U.S. families have participants and
which ones still need testing. Major
uncertainty continues with the Capt. Thomas Graves of VA family, and it is
still too early to be sure how to interpret the results.
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CONCERNS ABOUT DNA TESTING
Occasionally
I hear about or sense concerns that people may have about DNA testing. The following paragraphs list some of these
concerns and my comments that I hope will encourage more of you to participate
in our DNA study. Or perhaps the
discussion will help address the concern of one of your relatives.
EXPENSIVE:
Yes, the test (presently at $248) is expensive. On the other hand, if it can provide an answer that can be found
by no other method, it may be worth it to you.
Getting several family members to share the cost can reduce cost per
person. Finally, especially for family
lines that are important to the overall study, I and others will pay for some
or all of the testing, resulting in the test being FREE for the participant.
UNCOMFORTABLE:
No, the test is simple and completely painless. No needles and no blood samples are needed. Rubbing the inside of your cheeks with a
plastic swab is all that is required.
NOT
HELPFUL: This concern may arise because the DNA test can’t tell the exact
connection with another part of the family by itself. Some traditional genealogical research will still be needed. Or people may say, “My line was named
Greaves and most participants are named Graves”, or “My line lived in England
and most participants are from the U.S.”
In fact, the more people who participate in the study, the more valuable
it will be for all of us. We have
already found links for many family lines, some of which were completely
unexpected.
FRIVOLOUS:
There might be the feeling that this is a frivolous use for a serious
technology, and the money would be better spent on humanitarian projects. Actually, this project is more helpful and
less frivolous than many activities. It
probably actually helps medical research, since it encourages and supports
techniques that may eventually be used for other purposes. And genealogy as a hobby gives pleasure to
many people.
MY
SAMPLE NOT NEEDED: On the contrary, as mentioned above, the more lines of
descent from various Graves/Greaves/etc. ancestors included in the study, the
more likely we are to find connections.
PRIVACY
CONCERNS: Participating in this DNA study will not compromise individual
privacy in any way. The test is done on
a part of the Y-chromosome that is “junk” DNA; that is, it has no known
function. No medical or other
information can be obtained from this analysis. It is very much in the interest of the laboratories doing DNA
analysis to do all they can to provide security and privacy protection, since
they would quickly be out of business if they did not.
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NEXT STEPS IN THE DNA STUDY
As
mentioned in December, Family Tree DNA has now increased the number of Y-DNA
markers they can test for from 12 to 21.
This means that it will now be possible to distinguish between samples
that match on 12 of 12 (or even 11 of 12) markers, and more precisely determine
the most recent common ancestor.
Because the University of Arizona (that does the testing for Family Tree
DNA) preserves DNA samples, there is no need to resubmit an already-submitted
sample to get the additional 9 markers tested.
There is an additional cost of $49.
This test will probably be of value to almost everyone in the DNA
Study. As with the previous testing, if
you want to add the supplemental test, please let me know and send me a check
for $49 payable to Kenneth V. Graves.
New participants don’t need to pay until you return your samples.
If you have not yet returned your DNA
samples, PLEASE do so as soon as possible.
For the major North American families that
have been tested, additional branches need to be included, and some with
unexpected results need to be verified.
These include Capt. Thomas Graves of VA, Thomas Graves of Hartford, CT,
John Graves of Concord, MA, John Greaves of St. Mary’s Co., MD, Rear Adm.
Thomas Graves, Samuel Graves of Lynn, MA, George Graves of Hartford, CT, the
Quaker family of Thomas Graves of New Castle Co., DE, and John Graves of
Frederick Co., VA. Take a look at the
charts on the new website page mentioned above to see which branches are
already included.
At
least as important are the other families that still need to be included in the
study. There is a list of families
participating in the DNA study on the GFA website. There is also a list of some of the families that we would like
to see added to the list. Even if you
can’t participate yourself (for instance, because you are a female or not
descended through an all-male line), we still need your help. Maybe you can help sponsor or encourage a
male descendant. Remember, because of
the requirements of the Y-DNA test, participants must be males with the
Graves/Greaves/etc. surname. Cost for
the basic test is $199 and the supplemental test is $49 (for a total of $248 if
you get both). Don’t let the cost keep
you from participating (some or all of the cost may be paid for you). Families needed include:
**Graves
Family of Yorkshire and Mickleton Manor, Gloucestershire, England (68)
**Greaves
Family of Beeley, Derbyshire, England (228)
**George
Graves of Plaistow, England (64)
**Other
families of the British Isles, especially including families of Grieve,
Grieves, Greve, and other spellings
**Graves
families of Netherlands, France and elsewhere
**John
Graves (Johann Sebastian Graff) of PA, NC & TN (105)
**Joseph
Graves and Rachel Pratt of Framingham, MA (133)
**Richard
Graves and Polly Lucy of SC & AR (189)
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FINANCIAL HELP STILL NEEDED FOR DNA PROJECT
All
contributions toward the DNA study will be much appreciated. We especially need funding for testing of
descendants in the British Isles, some of whom will probably be less apt to pay
the cost. You may also want to consider
sponsoring a relative as a way to get a test for your part of the family.
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ABOUT THIS BULLETIN:
This
bulletin is written and edited by Kenneth V. Graves,
ken.graves@gravesfa.org. Ken Graves is
also editor of the Graves Family Newsletter, the official publication of the
Graves Family Association. This
bulletin will contain announcements and news of special interest to Graves
descendants with Internet access. It
will not contain queries, genealogies, photos, and the kind of in-depth
articles that appear in the Graves Family Newsletter.
TO SUBMIT MATERIAL TO THIS BULLETIN:
Send
any material you would like to have included in this bulletin to
ken.graves@gravesfa.org. The editor
reserves the right to accept, edit or reject any material submitted.
TO JOIN THE GRAVES FAMILY ASSOCIATION:
If
you do not already belong to the GFA, you can join by sending $20 per year (for
U.S. & Canada) or $30 per year (for all other countries) to Graves Family
Association, 20 Binney Circle, Wrentham, MA 02093 (more details on GFA website). Note that membership is for a calendar year
so if you join late in the year be sure to specify which year dues are
for. Benefits include 6 issues of the
newsletter, membership directory, and help with learning more about your
Graves/Greaves family. The purpose of
the GFA is to bring together as many descendants as possible to work toward
learning more about the Graves/Greaves families, to help other descendants, and
to instill pride in our ancestry.
COPYRIGHTS:
Although
the contents of this bulletin are copyrighted by the Graves Family Association
and Kenneth V. Graves, you are hereby granted rights, unless otherwise
specified, to re-distribute articles to other parties for non-commercial
purposes only. Do not re-distribute the
newsletter in its entirety.
TO SUBSCRIBE OR UNSUBSCRIBE TO THIS BULLETIN:
To
subscribe to this bulletin, send an e-mail message to
ken.graves@gravesfa.org. Please include
your full name. Your postal mailing
address and information on your Graves/Greaves ancestry would also be
appreciated, although not essential.
To
remove your name from this subscription list, send an e-mail message to
ken.graves@gravesfa.org asking to be removed.