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.
11, No. 7, July 9, 2009
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Copyright
© 2009 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 http://www.gravesfa.org
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CONTENTS:
**
General Comments
**
Reunion in San Antonio, Texas, August 7-9, 2009
**
Another Special Offer for DNA Testing from Family Tree DNA
**
Updates to the GFA Website
**
Is it John Woodcock Graves or William Woodcock Graves?
**
Fulfilling the Promise of the Graves Family Association
**
To Submit Material to this Bulletin & Other Things
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GENERAL
COMMENTS
Like
the previous bulletin, this is being sent mainly because we have received
another special offer for DNA testing from our testing company, Family Tree
DNA. This is the best and easiest
way for you to confirm descent from a common ancestor and get some clues about
your earlier ancestry. There are
still many families that have not been tested, so I hope people in many of
those families will take advantage of this offer.
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REUNION
IN SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, AUGUST 7-9, 2009
As
previously announced, the reunion of the Southwestern Chapter of the GFA will
be held at the Holiday Inn International Airport, located one mile from the San
Antonio International Airport and just seven miles from downtown San
Antonio. Their website address has
changed, and is now http://www.holidayinn.com/sat-intlapt. All descendants of any Graves, Greaves,
or other spelling family are urged to attend. This is not just for one particular family. Ken Graves and others will be speaking
and will be available to answer questions.
A
block of rooms has been set aside for Friday and Saturday nights at the Holiday
Inn at $89 per night plus tax.
Continental breakfast, lunch and snack are included. To reserve a room, call them at
888-615-0518 and tell them it is for the Graves Family Reunion. You can obviously stay elsewhere if you
prefer. For all attendees, there will
be a $30 per person registration fee.
For
more information, contact Ron Graves at gravesronn@cs.com,
with a copy to Dick Graves (rwgravy@aol.com),
Eddie Graves (egraves@sw.rr.com), and
Ken Graves (ken.graves@gravesfa.org).
===============================================
ANOTHER
SPECIAL OFFER FOR DNA TESTING FROM FAMILY TREE DNA
After
the success of the special promotion in June, we are very fortunate to have
another special offer for DNA testing from Family Tree DNA. They wrote: “We have decided to offer for the month of July a variation of
our recent promotion:
Y-DNA37
- promotional price $119 (reg. price $149)
Y-DNA67
- promotional price $199 (reg. price $238)
mtDNAPlus
- promotional price $119 (reg. price $149)
These
are the best prices, marker for marker, of any company in the market.”
This
offer is directed mainly toward new customers - people who have not yet
been tested. However, if you have
already had a Y-DNA test but not a mtDNA test, you can order the mtDNA test at
this special rate.
If
your part of the Graves-Greaves-Grieves family has not yet been tested, it is very important for at least one male
with the Graves/Greaves surname to take the Y-DNA test. If you are a family member but not a
male with the surname, please try to find another family member who qualifies
and is willing to be tested.
The
offer of free Y-DNA testing for
those who live in the U.K. or Ireland continues.
===============================================
UPDATES
TO THE GFA WEBSITE
A
page has been added to the Products section of the website for books by family
members. If you know of others who
should be added, or if you would like to add information to an entry, please
let me know.
Genealogy
385 (George W. Graves and Margaret ------ of Davie Co., NC) has been added to
the website, and a section has been added to the Charts page for Graves families
of Davie and Rowan counties, NC.
It is suspected that this family and a few others may be descended from
or related to Conrad Graves of Rowan Co., NC (genealogy 15), but no one from
any of these families has participated in the DNA testing program yet.
In
GFB11-6 for June 23 was an article about Mrs. Ann Greaves who is credited with
creating the world-famous Bakewell pudding. She has now been added to the website page for notable
family members.
===============================================
IS
IT JOHN WOODCOCK GRAVES OR WILLIAM WOODCOCK GRAVES?
In
the Graves Family Bulletin for June 19, 2009 (GFB11-5) is an article about
William Woodcock Graves, author of a popular English hunting song. However, when I added him to the
website page for notable family members, his name became John Woodcock
Graves. So which is correct? Was he John or William?
Although
I have not found primary record sources to verify his name, the IGI does
confirm that his name was John Woodcock Graves, and that his parents were
Joseph Graves and Ann Matthews. A
Google search gives his name predominantly as John, with only a few references
to him as William. Can anyone
provide better proof? I think he
was probably part of genealogy 377 but don’t know the connection. Can anyone figure it out?
===============================================
FULLFILLING
THE PROMISE OF THE GRAVES FAMILY ASSOCIATION
I
often receive questions and sometimes complaints about someone having sent me
corrections or updates to genealogies but the genealogies not having been
updated. Or someone wonders
whether I have received information because they did not receive a
response. Or someone wonders why I
have not done some other task they have asked for.
These
and other similar questions are of considerable concern to me. I have always had the situation, since
I started the Graves Family Association in 1976, that I have never had enough
time to do all the tasks that need to be done. A tremendous amount of progress has been made over the years
in publishing newsletters, bulletins, and books; creating and updating
genealogies; creating and maintaining the website; starting and running the DNA
study; organizing and participating in family gatherings and trips; etc. However, I will never be able to do
more than a small fraction of what I and others would like to have done.
I
can think of 3 possible solutions to this problem. The most obvious one is to get other people to help. A few wonderful people have helped to
organize and run regional chapters of the Graves Family Association, and many
people have submitted information for genealogies. However, in spite of requests by me over the years and a
Volunteers page on the website requesting help, no one has volunteered (and
followed through) to help with tasks such as creating and maintaining the
website, updating the genealogies, contacting and recruiting new members,
publicizing and promoting the GFA, locating Graves/Greaves descendants in the
U.K. and requesting their genealogical information and DNA samples, searching
for and compiling research information in the U.S., U.K., and elsewhere
(births, marriages, deaths, census records, etc.), and doing research in
English records to try to find earlier ancestries and connections between
families. Perhaps part of the
problem is that many people feel they don’t have the necessary expertise to do
any of these jobs. However, some
of you do, and anyone can learn.
Or perhaps it is felt that I’m already doing the job pretty well, so
there’s no need to help.
A
second possible solution is to find or create and use better technology to
automate or simplify some of what needs to be done. I am working on that, but I need help in identifying what to
do and how to do it. And then I
need help in actually implementing whatever is selected.
A
third approach is to lower expectations.
Many family associations do much less. Many DNA studies don’t do any genealogy research and aren’t
connected with a family association.
This doesn’t seem like a very good approach, but if we promised less
there might be less room for disappointment.
My
preferred response is to try to continue to do everything that is being done
now, to provide more of what you want, and to increase member
participation. I also want to
ensure the continuation of the GFA into the future, beyond the time when I am
no longer able to do the work. The
key to the success of this and any organization is the enthusiasm and
participation of the members, and an organizational structure that helps make
that happen. We need your ideas
and your help to make this happen.
Do you have skills that can help?
What should we do? Please
share your thoughts.
===============================================
ABOUT THIS BULLETIN:
This
bulletin is written and edited by Kenneth V. Graves, ken.graves@gravesfa.org.
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.
COPYRIGHTS:
Although
the contents of this bulletin are copyrighted by the Graves Family Association
and Kenneth V. Graves, you are hereby granted permission, unless otherwise
specified, to re-distribute part of all to other parties for non-commercial
purposes only.
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.