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. 4, No. 6, Dec. 13, 2001

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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:

**John Graves of Concord Book

**DNA Analysis Project

**Financial Help Needed for DNA Project

**Recent Computer Viruses

**Who is a Graves/Greaves/Grieve, etc. Descendant?

**To Submit Material to this Bulletin & Other Things

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JOHN GRAVES OF CONCORD, MA BOOK

The manuscript was sent to the printer today. The delay was caused by a couple more unexpected problems, including the necessity to upgrade my laser printer to handle PostScript. I have been told that the time for printing is about 8 weeks, so February is still the expected date for completion.

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DNA ANALYSIS PROJECT

We are awaiting more test results from our testing lab, Family Tree DNA. As soon as those are received, I will be adding them to the analysis and notifying you of the results.

To look at the results summary and the preliminary conclusions, you can go to the website at http://www.gravesfa.org and click on the DNA link at the top of the page. Or you can go directly to that specific page at http://www.gravesfa.org/DNA_test_results.html.

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 but at this time it is most strongly recommended for those in the group descended from John Graves of Concord, MA (gen. 166), John Greaves of St. Mary’s Co., MD (gen. 247), Rear Adm. Thomas Graves (gen. 28), and the Graves families of Blount Co., AL. It is also especially recommended for anyone descended or possibly descended from Capt. Thomas Graves of VA, since the lack of documentation for much of that family makes conventional research very difficult. 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.

Other families 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 NEEDED FOR DNA PROJECT

A big thank you to those of you who have sponsored a family member or contributed money in support of the DNA testing of other family members. I have been making up the difference out of my own pocket, but it is becoming more and more difficult. All contributions for this purpose will be much appreciated. This may be even more important as we begin urging the addition of $49 per person for the supplemental testing discussed above.

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RECENT COMPUTER VIRUSES

I don’t usually discuss information about computer viruses. However, one of the most recent, the W32.BadTrans@mm virus has been unusual. It doesn’t seem to have been especially harmful so far, but it has spread very rapidly since late November when it was first noticed.

It was recently mentioned in Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter, Dec. 3, 2001. It is a “worm” that gets into computers when an infected file or e-mail is opened. If that computer has Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, the worm will send replies to all unread e-mail messages. The worm may also do other nasty things like logging keystrokes for the purpose of stealing personal information. Another good discussion of this virus is in a recent article by Elizabeth Kelley Kerstens at http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/columns/extra/4948.asp.

After I sent out the previous Graves Family Bulletin, I received back a number of e-mails that contained the virus. I am sure that some of you have the virus on your computer now and don’t even know it.

Then today I received a notice of a new virus called Gokar (W32.Gokar.A@mm) which was just discovered yesterday. This worm also attaches to all addresses in your Microsoft Outlook address book.

Your best defense is to get an antivirus program for your computer and keep it up-to-date. The best-known anti-virus programs are available from McAfee ( http://www.mcafee.com ) and the Norton division of Symantec ( http://www.norton.com ). The Norton site has a good description of this virus and a manual procedure to detect and remove it. As a temporary measure, you can also use one of the free virus detection services on the web, such as the one at http://housecall.antivirus.com.

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WHO IS A GRAVES/GREAVES/GRIEVE, ETC. DESCENDANT?

The Graves Family Association is interested in all descendants of Graves, Greaves, Grieve, etc. ancestors, no matter what their surname. Our mission is to help all descendants learn more about their part of the family and their ancestry.

Our point of view is that if you have an ancestor who had the Graves/Greaves/etc. surname, you are a Graves descendant, and your line of descent is all the people in that line, not just those with the Graves surname. And someone with a Graves ancestor 6 generations ago is just as much a Graves descendant as someone whose father was a Graves.

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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.