This section includes discussion of relationships between Graves (and other spellings) families and emigrants from European countries.

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN GRAVES/GREAVES FAMILIES

Since it is believed that all the Graves/Grave/Greaves families from the British Isles are descended from a very few original ancestors (maybe about six or fewer), it is apparent that most of these families are related to each other. Some of the families from other countries may also be related. The following examples mention some of the possible relationships, but you will probably notice many others.

• The families of Joseph Graves (282), Lt. William Graves (238), Joseph Graves (133), and David Graves (183) are all associated with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. They may all have been descended from Rear Adm. Thomas Graves (28).
• The families of Jacob Strawder Graves (281), William Graves (37), Thomas Graves (280), and John Graves (Johann Sebastian Graff) (105) may be related.
• The families of Elijah Graves (10) and Daniel Graves (207) both lived in Ontario, as did the family of Josiah Graves (289).
• The families of Humphrey Isaac Greaves (50), Jonathan Greaves (18), and Joseph Blythe Greaves (156), all of NC and with name similarities, arer probably related.
• Most of the families of Randolph Co., NC (as listed in the book publication section) are related.
• The families of Samuel Graves (212), John Graves (1) and Joseph Graves (8) all lived at one time in Bedford Co., PA, and may be related.
• There may be a connection between the families of Thomas Graves of DE, Quaker (85), Levi C. Graves (244), Jesse Graves (167), Lewis Graves (45), John Graves and Sarah ------ of VA & OH (160), Anna R. Graves and Sylvester Ratcliff of OH (797), Jonas Graves and Mary Bethel of Vinton Co., OH (798), Martha Graves and Isaac Cox of NJ (138), Margaret Graves and William Morton of Ireland & PA (367), Mary Graves and Anderson R. Hunter of Ross Co. & Stark Co., OH (650), and Rachel Graves and Joseph Wyatt of Ross Co., OH (780).
• The families of James Graves (150) who married Mary Copeland, Ransom M. Graves (245), William M. Graves (246), and Thomas Graves (147) may be related. They are almost certainly all descended from Capt. Thomas Graves of VA (169).
• The families of Lance Graves of VA (276) and Thomas Graves of Northampton Co., VA (126) may be related. It is possible that these families are related to those of St. Mary's Co., MD, mentioned below.
• The families of Samuel Graves of NJ & PA (212), John Graves and Ann Thomas of MD & Bedford Co., PA (1), and Joseph Graves and Elizabeth Johnson of Bedford Co., PA (8) all lived in Bedford Co., PA, and later lived in Ohio and Iowa.
• William Greaves of Greenhill, South Yorkshire, England (336), John Greaves of St. Mary's Co., MD (247), Joshua Graves of MD (346), John Graves and Sarah Noble of MD & KY (96), John M. Graves of St. Mary's Co., MD & KY (261), John Sanders Graves of MD & KY (115), Joseph Graves and Matilda Simpson of KY (62), and Philip Graves and Sarah Hunsinger of MD & KY (784) are probably all related.
• The family of Henry Graves of the Isle of Man (229) may be connected with that of George Graves of England (255).
• There are probably connections for Richard Graves of Wymondham, Norfolk, England (198), William George Grave of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk (199), and Daniel Graves of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk (668).
• The families of Abel Graves (655), Katherine Grave (686), John Grave (377), William Graves (600), William Grave (504), Mary Grave (653), Samuel Grave (572), and John Grave and Ruth Mattinson (800) all lived in Cumbria/Cumberland, England and may be related.
• The Graves family of Yorkshire and Mickleton Manor (68), Parents of Richard Graves of Waterford, Ireland (364), and Mary Graves and Patrick Cody of Wexford, Ireland (267) are probably related.
• The Greaves family of Beeley, Derbyshire (228) and the Greaves family of Macclesfield, Cheshire (334) may be related.
• The families of James Graves of Cottenham, Cambridgeshire (269), William Graves and Mary Peck of Cottenham, Cambridgeshire (648), and James Graves of Haddenham, Cambridgeshire (139) may be related.

EMIGRANTS FROM EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

A comparitively large number of Graves/Grave/Greaves are on the lists of early settlers arriving from Europe. Most of these emigrated from England and settled in America, but some were from other countries, and some went to Australia or elsewhere. Most of the known immigrant Graves ancestors are listed below. In some cases it cannot be proven that the earliest known person in the family was the immigrant, but this is believed to be the case.

Most other ancestors and branches of the Graves families in America and elsewhere are believed to have descended from these ancestors. However, there are undoubtedly other lines, and some of the ancestors shown here are probably related, at least distantly.

It has long been believed by most people that all the Graves families in America descended from a very few immigrant ancestors. Although it may be true that a few immigrant ancestors account for most of the descendants in America, it is also evident from the following long list of families that there have been many, many immigrant Graves families.

The number in parentheses for each ancestor is the arbitrary identifying number assigned to each one.

Note that often there have been many immigrants of the same name during the same time period. For instance, there were at least 6 immigrants to America named Thomas Graves in the 1600's. So great care must be used to be sure the correct person is identified.

• Parents of Adam Graves (43) migrated from England. Adam lived in MD, then moved to Canada with the Loyalist migration in the 1770's.
• Constant Graves (130), b. 1751, said to have emigrated from Scotland or Ireland to New England about 1775.
• Deacon George Graves (65), b.c. 1600 in England, and settled in Hartford, CT about 1636.
• George Graves (255) was b. 1795 in Lincolnshire or Yorkshire, England, and moved to MA about 1813.
• George Graves (64), b. 1775, lived in Plaistow, London, England. Two of his sons emigrated to the U.S. by 1870.
• George Graves (272) of Sussex and Hampshire, England had a grandson who went to the U.S. in 1885.
• Richard Greaves of Yorkshire and Derbyshire, England (70); descendants went to NY state in 1821.
• Humphrey Isaac Greaves (50), b.c. 1745 in England, settled in NC before the Rev. War.
• James Graves of Cambridgeshire, England (139) had at least 1 child, James Graves, who emigrated to the U.S. in the mid-1800's and settled in NE.
• John Graves (166), b.c. 1605 in England, arrived in America in 1635 and settled in Concord, MA.
• John Graves (116), possibly b.c. 1735, maybe in southern England, and settled in Frederick Co., VA by 1760 or before.
• John Graves of Roxbury, MA (337), b.c. 1590-95, arrived in MA in 1633 from Nazing, Essex, England.
• John Graves (254) lived in Lincolnshire, England. At least one of his daughters moved to the U.S. in 1846.
• John Graves (277) emigrated from the London, England area to the U.S. in the mid-1800's.
• Joseph Blythe Greaves (156), possibly b.c. 1760, possibly in England.
• Margaret Graves/Greaves (367) married William Morton in 1769 in Kilmore or Ardagh, Ireland. They migrated to the U.S. in 1789, settled in DE, then PA.
• Mary Graves (267) married Patrick Cody in Wexford, Ireland, and they went to Quebec, Canada about 1834.
• Richard Graves (117), b.c. 1612 in England, settled in Salem, MA in 1635.
• Samuel Graves (83), b.c. 1595-1600 in England, settled in Lynn, MA about 1630.
• Taylor Graves (253) was born in Ireland, moved to Liverpool, England, then moved to the southern U.S. in the 1850's.
• Thomas Graves (287) emigrated from England to Quebec, Canada, perhaps in the early 1800's, and lived in VT.
• Rear Admiral Thomas Graves (28), b. 1605, probably in Stepney, England, arrived in America about 1628 and settled in Charlestown, MA.
• Thomas Graves (168), b. before 1585 in england, possibly arrived in Salem, MA in 1629, settled in Hartford, CT by 1645.
• Thomas Graves (213), possibly b. early 1600's in England, was the first inhabitant of Nahant, MA in 1629 or 1635.
• Thomas Graves of New Castle Co., DE (85) probably an original immigrant before 1700, was a Quaker, probably from northern Ireland.
• Capt. Thomas Graves of VA (169), b.c. 1585 in England or Ireland, arrived in Jamestown, VA in 1608.
• Thomas Graves (131), engineer, of Gravesend, England & MA, b.c. 1585, arrived in MA in 1629 and lived in Newtown (later Cambridge), MA.
• William Graves (205), b. 1822 in Cambridgeshire, England, arrived in OH in 1851, settled in IA in 1853.
• William Graves (266) lived in Yorkshire, England. His son, William Lawrence Graves, moved to Saskatchewan, Canada in 1905.
• William Graves and Elizabeth York of Dover, NH (165), b. in England, perhaps about 1622.

• John Graves (Johann Sebastian Graff) (105), b.c. 1703 in the German Palatinate, arrived in America in 1730.
• Ferdinand Graves (257) was born in Hanover, Germany, and moved to the U.S. in the mid-a800's.

• Charles Graves, grandson of Henry Graves of the Isle of Man (229), went to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia about 1847.
• James Graves of Hertfordshire, England (230) was probably bapt. 1725 in Hertfordshire. Some of his descendants went to New Zealand and Canada in the early 1900's.
• John Graves (113) lived in Carlton, Snaith, Yorkshire, England. Descendants went to Queensland, Australia in 1857, and to the U.S.
• John Greaves (61) of Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, England was b. 1813. Descendants went to Australia and U.S. in the late 1800's.
• Richard Grave of Wymondham, Norfolk, England (198) went to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in the 1850's.
• William George Grave (199) was of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England. His son of the same name went to Melbourne, Australia in the late 1800's.
• William Greaves (114) lived in Pontefract, Yorkshire, England. Descendants went to Victoria, Australia in 1854.
• William James Graves of London, England (164) had son, William Henry Graves, b.c. 1851, who went to Queensland, Australia in 1874.