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.
9, No. 2, Feb. 13, 2007
===============================================
Copyright
© 2007 by the
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
===============================================
CONTENTS:
**
General Comments
**
GFA Website Changes and Help Needed with Upgrading the Website
**
Other Help Needed with the
**
Discussion within Family Groups
**
June 2007 Reunion in
**
Help Needed for Planning June Reunion in
** Future
Directions for Our DNA Study
**
Special Offer from Family Tree DNA to Those Who Have Tested with Other Labs
**
To Submit Material to this Bulletin & Other Things
===============================================
GENERAL
COMMENTS
Happy
Valentine’s Day eve! There are many
exciting things happening with the Graves Family Association and our family
research, and the future is very bright.
In this issue of the bulletin I will especially mention some of the help
needed for the GFA website, publicity and membership recruitment, improved
communications, preparing for our June reunion in
I
am continually impressed and grateful for the increasing commitment of many of
you in contributing money and time to the formation of new GFA regional
chapters, the DNA study, and family research.
Thank you.
===============================================
GFA
WEBSITE CHANGES AND HELP NEEDED WITH UPGRADING THE WEBSITE
CHANGES
More
DNA test results have been added to the master DNA test results table. There has not been time to update all the
corresponding charts.
The
Reunions page has been updated, and a transportation page has been added with
information about transportation to and from the airports for those flying to
A
page of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) has been added, and many (but not yet
all) of the web pages have been changed to provide links in the upper right for
FAQs and easily returning to the main page.
HELP
NEEDED
There
have been a couple of people who have volunteered help with the website in the
past. I know some of you have some
expertise in this area, and there are others who have children or other
relatives who are expert web designers.
Because I don’t have all the knowledge needed and I am having difficulty
finding satisfactory professional assistance, I would appreciate help. The most important feature to be added to the
website is a members only section that would be password protected and would
contain information of special interest and benefit to members. It would also allow members to update their
personal information and pay dues online.
Other
features to be added will include an online store where books, Graves/Greaves
products, etc. can be purchased.
If
you have the expertise and the willingness to assist with some of this, please
let me know.
===============================================
OTHER
HELP NEEDED WITH THE
Publicity and Promotion: Getting the goals and
activities of the Graves Family Association mentioned in magazines and
newspapers around the
Membership Recruitment: One of the tasks that
would be very helpful is contacting all genealogy and history societies in the
===============================================
DISCUSSION
WITHIN FAMILY GROUPS
There
seems to be a desire and a need for groups of
The
question is: what is the best way to bring the members of each of these groups
together and allow them to communicate effectively? Some of the ways that are available are:
· Email by an individual: By
this I mean a person in a group sends an email of interest to an arbitrary list
of people he or she chooses. The list of
people is usually not very complete and, if it exists as an actual list, it is
maintained only on the sender’s computer.
This is the way most communication is presently done.
· Email List: These lists
provide for the maintenance of a list of participants (who can opt in or out of
the list) and, in the case of the Yahoo lists, provide other features such as
storage of photos, the ability to send questionnaires, etc. Examples are the lists I have set up on Yahoo
for GFA issues and for discussion about the June reunion in
· Bulletin Board: There are
bulletin boards for surnames and other subjects that exist on various
websites. We could create bulletin
boards on the GFA website if they would be helpful and used.
There
may be other options also, as well as combinations of options. Do you agree that there is a need for this
kind of communication? What do you think
is the best approach? Why do you think
the existing methods of communication aren’t used much? What method do you think you and others would
be most apt to use?
===============================================
JUNE
2007 REUNION IN
If
you are thinking about attending the reunion on June 14-17, 2007 in
There
is a preliminary registration form and schedule of events on the website. If you haven’t yet returned the information
on the form so that we can plan, please do so.
The final registration form with all costs is not yet available, but we are
working on it.
TRANSPORTATION
TO AND FROM THE AIRPORT
The
following information is from an Elderhostel site. The
Arriving by Airplane: The closest airports to
From
From
Williamsburg/Newport News Airport: We recommend using one of
these taxi services: Associated Cab Shuttle (757-887-3412) or Williamsburg Taxi
Service (757-221-0004). Reservations are recommended for these companies. You
can also call Williamsburg Limousine Inc. (757-877-0279) or Yellow Cab
(757-722-1111) upon your arrival at the airport; however these companies do
not take advance reservations. Travel time is about a half hour.
From
===============================================
HELP
NEEDED FOR PLANNING JUNE REUNION IN
I
really need some help with a couple of planning tasks. It is very difficult to do all the planning
for this event on my own from
At
the
It
might also be nice to have some entertainment.
There are lots of
Finally,
on the tour to the
===============================================
FUTURE
DIRECTIONS FOR OUR DNA STUDY
MORE FOR Y-DNA
For
the past 5 or 6 years the Graves Family Association has been conducting a DNA
study to find and confirm our Graves-Greaves ancestries and discover how many
of those families are related to each other.
We have tested only males with the
With
Y-DNA testing, there is also the hope that specific markers may be discovered
for each major line of each family. We
presently have some large families where all tested descendants of all or most
lines from the early ancestor have the same test results. It is possible that with almost every birth
there may be some small mutation. If we
can find that mutation, then it will be a marker that will positively identify
all descendants of the first person who had that mutation. Right now we don’t know how to do that, but
it is a possibility for the future.
MITOCHONDRIAL DNA
However,
the science of genetic genealogy is rapidly advancing, and other opportunities
will be opening for us to explore. Mitochondrial
DNA (mtDNA) tests have been available for some time. (Mitochondria are the energy-producing
structures found in the nucleus of cells.)
Although mtDNA is passed on from the mother to all her children, only
the daughters pass it on to their children.
Testing mtDNA can’t be used to trace surnames directly because the
surname of a female line usually changes every generation. However, this testing can be used for purposes
such as determining whether daughters were by a man’s first marriage or his second. One practical application in our study might
be to determine whether Katherine Croshaw was the mother of the daughters of
Capt. Thomas Graves (genealogy 169), since there is presently no proof that
Katherine’s maiden name was Croshaw.
X CHROMOSOME AND AUTOSOMAL
DNA
Of
the 23 pairs of chromosomes possessed by every person, the X and Y chromosomes
are the ones that determine gender.
Females have two X chromosomes and males have an X and a Y chromosome. There is potential in the analysis of the X chromosomes. In addition, the other 22 pairs of
chromosomes (called autosomal chromosomes) can also be tested. Although all the genetic material in these
chromosomes is from our ancestors, it is very difficult to determine which part
is from which ancestor. The genetic
material in each chromosome from the father is mixed in an unpredictable way with
the genetic material from each matching chromosome from the mother. However, by testing enough descendants of a
family and using powerful computer processing on the test results, it is
believed that ancestors can be determined many generations back. One of the exciting aspects of this is
everyone in a family can be tested, and there is the potential for the results
to show all ancestors, not just one direct line.
A
non-profit organization called Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (SMGF)
is developing these techniques as part of their world-wide research
program. We will be working with
them. I will provide more information
about this program soon.
===============================================
SPECIAL
OFFER FROM FAMILY TREE DNA TO THOSE WHO HAVE TESTED WITH OTHER LABS
Although I am not aware that
any Graves-Greaves-Grieves descendants have tested with testing companies other
than Family Tree DNA, if there are any out there, the following is a special offer
from Family Tree DNA to convert them to our database.
“From time to time we receive
requests to allow people who have tested with other labs to join Family Tree
DNA Surname Projects. We have always avoided adding results from other labs to
our database because as a question of results integrity, we wanted all project
members to be tested with Family Tree DNA.
In discussing this subject
with a few group administrators we settled on a solution that was to their and
our satisfaction: we agreed to offer our 12, 25 and 37-marker tests at a below
cost rate, so that we can allow those individuals to get tested with us and
join your Surname Projects. But this will be offered for a limited time.
The individuals will fill in
a LAB CONVERSION FORM found at http://www.familytreedna.com/pdf/PROMO_GAP.pdf,
and send it back to our office for verification, so that we can enter the
order. Due to the fact that this is a below cost offer, we are limiting the
time during which it will be available. Those forms need to be filled and
returned to us by March 31, 2007. Should you have any questions, please do not
hesitate to contact us.”
===============================================
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
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
If
you do not already belong to the GFA, you can join by sending $20 per year to
Graves Family Association,
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.