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. 7, No. 5, May 30, 2005
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Copyright
© 2005 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:
**
Memorial Day in the U.S.
**
Graves/Greaves Gathering in Wrentham, MA
**
Other Upcoming Graves Reunions
**
Graves/Greaves DNA Study
**
Frequency of Graves, Greaves, and Variant Names
**
To Submit Material to this Bulletin & Other Things
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MEMORIAL
DAY IN THE U.S.
Since
I am sending this issue of the Bulletin on what is celebrated as Memorial Day
in the U.S., it seemed fitting to suggest that we take a moment today to pause
and remember our ancestors and all those who have died in our nation’s military
service. The day was originally called
Decoration Day, and the custom of decorating graves of fallen soldiers started
during and after the U.S. Civil War.
General John Logan, national commander of the Graves Army of the
Republic, officially proclaimed the holiday May 5, 1868. Memorial Day was declared a national holiday
in 1971 and was set as the last Monday of May.
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GRAVES/GREAVES
GATHERING IN WRENTHAM, MA
Ken
and Sarah Graves will be hosting a gathering of all Graves and Greaves descendants
at their house at 20 Binney Circle, Wrentham, Massachusetts on Saturday, June
25, 2005 (in slightly less than 4 weeks).
It will be 2-6 p.m., and will be held rain or shine. It will be a cookout with us providing
hamburgers, hotdogs, and various beverages.
Please bring some food to share.
We will be eating about 4 p.m.
In
addition to the social aspect, there will be books and charts of many of the
families on display. This will be a
chance to find out more about what we know of the various families, and how the
DNA study is helping us find the connections between the families and even
their ancient ancestry. There will even
be a chance to participate in the DNA study that afternoon for those who are interested. You are also welcome to bring any of your
own family information or memorabilia.
Please
RSVP and let us know what you will bring to ken.graves@gravesfa.org or call
508-384-8084.
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OTHER
UPCOMING GRAVES REUNIONS
July 4, 2005, McCrory, Woodruff Co., AR. This reunion has been taking place for 50
years or longer, and is for the descendants of Gilbert James Graves and Nancy
Ann Tanner of AR. There are usually
125-200 people attending. For information,
contact Bonnie Graves, bgraves34@texoma.net.
July
16 & 17, 2005, Siler City, NC - The 3rd annual reunion of the descendants of Enos
Graves and his siblings of Randolph Co., NC (genealogy 789). For information, contact Mary Cunningham, mary.cunningham@med.va.gov.
July
29-30, 2005, San Antonio, TX - Descendants of all Graves families are
invited. For more information about
this exciting event, contact the organizer, Ron Graves, at gravesronn@cs.com. Ron has now put together the complete
schedule. I will be talking about the
DNA study, some of the southwestern U.S. and Texas Graves families, famous
Graves descendants, trips to England, and the Jamestowne 400th
anniversary celebration plans. There
will be a presentation by Sydney Holmsley, President of the San Antonio Chapter
of the Jamestowne Society, and she will also talk about her Capt. Thomas Graves
line. Also, various Graves cousins will
be talking about their family lines, and their displays and projects. We are also looking forward to good food,
socializing, and seeing some of the sights in San Antonio. Make your reservations now while you’re
thinking about it!
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GRAVES/GREAVES
DNA STUDY
MORE
PARTICIPANTS NEEDED
If
your part of the Graves, Greaves, or other spelling, family is not yet included
in the DNA study, it would be very helpful if you could either volunteer to
participate (if you are a male with the Graves, etc.) surname or find someone
else in your part of the family who would be willing to take part.
The
test is very easy to take. It just
involves swabbing the inside of your mouth with 2 plastic applicators, putting
the applicators in plastic vials, and returning them to the testing
company. If you want to take the test
but are concerned that you can’t afford it, let me know and we may be able to
provide the money.
WHO
CAN TAKE PART IN THE DNA STUDY?
Participants
must be males who are descended in a direct male line from a male Graves
ancestor. This means the participant
must have the Graves/Greaves surname unless there was a name change in the
lineage.
PARTICIPANTS
OUTSIDE THE U.S., ESPECIALLY IN ENGLAND
It
is important for families in the U.S. to have participants from England (or
from families in Australia and elsewhere who know their ancestry in England) so
that a link with English ancestors can be made. However, it is just as important for family members in England to
take part in the DNA study so that the various families in England can be
linked with each other. Tradition of
connection with an ancient family is nice, but DNA proof of that connection is
much more meaningful.
HOW
TO SIGN UP FOR THE STUDY
Go
to the GFA website at www.gravesfa.org,
click on the DNA link at the top of the main page, then click on the link in
the red-outlined box near the top of the next page. This will take you to a page on the Family Tree DNA page. Then just fill out the requested
information, and your testing kit will be mailed to you the next day. The 25-marker test is recommended, and the
37-marker test is even better (for most participants).
FINANCIAL
HELP STILL NEEDED
All
contributions toward the DNA study will be much appreciated. Many thanks to those of you who have already
contributed. We especially need funding
for testing of descendants in the British Isles, some of whom may be less
willing or able 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. In response to
questions asked about the total amount of money needed over the next couple of
years to sponsor this testing program, the need is in the thousands of dollars,
but any contribution will be appreciated.
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FREQUENCY
OF GRAVES, GREAVES AND VARIANT NAMES IN THE U.S. AND THE U.K.
In
the U.S., the frequency of the names Graves, Greaves, and other variations in
the 1990 census can be estimated from U.S. Census Bureau data at www.census.gov/genealogy/names/. The % frequency and the rank among all
surnames in the census are below. It
can be seen that the Graves spelling is by far the most common in the U.S.
(often caused by changing from another spelling).
Graves 0.039 276
Greaves 0.002 6364
Greve 0.001 14894
Grieve 0.001 15188
Grieves 0.000 20868
Grave 0.000 21558
The
Office of National Studies in the U.K. has compiled a similar list of surnames
in use in England, Wales and the Isle of Mann in September 2002. This list is a subset of the total
population, and contains almost 270,000 surnames, shared by 54.4 million
people. In contrast to the U.S., the
Greaves spelling is almost twice as common as Graves. This can be found at www.taliesin-arlein.net/names/search.php. The numbers are the count, the ranking among
all surnames, and an estimate of the total count for that surname since the
start of parish registers in the 16th century.
Greaves 14,256 517 49,896
Graves 7,994 983 27,979
Grieve 2,495 3056 8,733
Grieves 621 9584 2,174
Greeves 571 10225 1,999
Grave 300 16378 1,050
Greves 143 26388 501
Greve 107 31766 375
Another
survey has been done in the U.K. from telephone directories about 1980, and can
be found at Survey of Contemporary Surnames, http://homepages.newnet.co.uk/dance/webpjd/. It is not complete and has more errors and
duplications. The numbers are the
absolute count, with frequency per 10,000 in parentheses.
Greaves
(especially in Yorkshire and Lancashire), 1617 total, Sheffield 282 (138),
Leeds 238 (84), Bradford 146 (65), Manchester Northeast 149 (69), Manchester
South 101 (37), Manchester Northwest 90 (39), Preston 131 (51), Birmingham 182
(48), Leicester 148 (56), London 150 (15)
Graves
(especially in East England), 911 total, Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire
124 (80), Leicester 65 (24), Peterborough 58 (39), Cambridge 78 (45), Bedford
65 (26), Norwich 41 (24), Southend-on-Sea 64 (29), Canterbury 83 (29), Brighton
54 (20), Cumbria and North Lancashire 68 (46), Liverpool 51 (22), London 160
(16)
Grieve
(Scottish), 620 total, Edinburgh 232 (114), Fife 142 (173), Dundee 119 (106),
Glasgow 127 (36)
Grieves,
111 total, Tyneside 70 (35), Durham and Wearside 41 (25)
Grave,
Cumbria and North Lancashire 18 (12)
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ABOUT
THIS BULLETIN:
This
bulletin is written and edited by Kenneth V. Graves,
ken.graves@gravesfa.org. Ken Graves was
also editor of the Graves Family Newsletter (no longer published). 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 used to 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 to
Graves Family Association, 20 Binney Circle, Wrentham, MA 02093 (more details
on GFA website). Payment may also be
sent electronically via PayPal by going to www.paypal.com
and sending payment to gfa@gravesfa.org.
Benefits include access to the “members only” section of the website,
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
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