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. 11, Dec. 15, 2005

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CONTENTS:

** Plans for Graves Family Reunion in Virginia in 2007

** The Puzzle of the Ancestry and Descendants of Capt. Thomas Graves of VA

** New Yahoo Group for Discussing Graves Family Association Issues

** How to Avoid Giving Personal Information Online

** Graves Family Bible and Photo of Archibald Randolph Graves Both Need a New Home

** To Submit Material to this Bulletin & Other Things

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PLANS FOR GRAVES FAMILY REUNION IN VIRGINIA IN 2007

It has now been decided that the reunion in Williamsburg, VA will be the weekend of June 15-17, 2007. Thanks to those of you who voted or otherwise communicated your opinion on when we should have the 2007 reunion. Of the 23 votes, 13 (56%) voted for the second half of June. Other votes were scattered among other times, with only 3 for the weekend of May 11-13.

The next step is to select the hotel where most of us will be staying and where our meetings will be held. The two places presently being considered are the Woodlands Hotel and Conference Center and the Patrick Henry Inn. I am currently leaning toward the Patrick Henry Inn, but will consider any comments any of you have on either of these or any other place we should consider. I plan to make the decision before the end of December.

After that, we will need to discuss what we want to do, and begin making arrangements for how we can get the most benefit from the things we do. For instance, can we and should we try to get speakers or guides for some of the history, tours, archeology digs, etc.? Do we want to try to coordinate our reunion with any other group (such as another family or hereditary organization)? How can we best publicize and promote this reunion, both to the relatives we already know about and the thousands of others out there who haven't heard about the Graves Family Association and this reunion? And then we need volunteers to do registration and help at the reunion. Please let us know any other ideas and needs that any of you can think of. To join the group and participate in the discussion, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gravesreunion2007/ and follow the instructions to join.

By the way, Mike Graves of Montgomery, Texas has volunteered to coordinate the trip to the eastern shore of VA.

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THE PUZZLE OF THE ANCESTRY AND DESCENDANTS OF CAPT. THOMAS GRAVES OF VA

This article was previously published on the GFA blog (at http://gravesfamilyassociation.blogspot.com/) on Nov. 10, 2005. Some updates and additions have been made.

We have shown by DNA testing that the descendants attributed to Capt. Thomas Graves of VA are almost certainly descended from 4 separate immigrants, rather than all being descended from Capt. Thomas Graves. For the evidence for that, go to the collection of family charts showing DNA test results at http://www.gravesfa.org/charts.html and scroll down to the section for Capt. Thomas Graves of VA. Or go to the master DNA test results summary on the GFA website and click on the link at the right end of any genealogy 169 set of results to see the same chart summary. The most pertinent charts and discussions are the first one, “All descendants of Capt. Thomas Graves” and the last four: (1) analysis and comparison of the several groups for descendants …., (2) problems with previous structure of Capt. Thomas Graves family …, (3) connections for Capt. Thomas Graves of VA and the Greaves family of Northamptonshire, England, and (4) connections for Capt. Thomas Graves of VA and Graves families of Hartford, CT.

For Francis Graves, purported son of Capt. Thomas Graves, his descendants and connections, scroll down to the next section (the last section) on the charts page of the website. There you can see a chart for Francis Graves (genealogy 220) and two summary charts for “all families” that include the Greaves family of Beeley (gen. 228), Rear Adm. Thomas Graves (gen. 28), John Graves of Concord, MA (gen. 166), Francis Graves, etc.

On the chart for all descendants of Capt. Thomas Graves, it can be seen that there seem to be several lines that are misplaced. It would be very helpful for people to do the research needed to prove where these lines belong.

1354 belongs in group 3 instead of group 1.
19872 doesn't seem to belong in group 1, but where it does belong is unknown.
1378 doesn't seem to belong in group 2.
3699 belongs in group 2 instead of group 3.
24420 may not belong in group 3.

The descendants of John², Ralph³ share a common ancestor with genealogies 65 and 168, the families of Hartford, CT and Hertfordshire, England. The descendants of John², Thomas³ share a common ancestor with genealogy 47 of Whitfield, Northamptonshire, England. No related family in England has yet been found for the descendants of Thomas², but his DNA signature has not yet been fully defined. More tests are needed on this part of the family. And, finally, the DNA of the descendants of Francis² matches that of descendants of genealogies 166 (John Graves of Concord, MA), gen. 28 (Rear Admiral Thomas Graves of Charlestown, MA), gen. 247 (John Greaves of St. Mary’s Co., MD), and others. Based on matches with families in England and lack of matching each other, it is difficult to come to any conclusion other than that there was a separate immigrant ancestor in the 1600’s in Virginia for each of these lines.

So, if not all the lines attributed to Capt. Thomas Graves are his descendants, which ones really are from him? And who are the immigrants for the other lines? Listing and researching all men with a Graves surname in early Virginia is needed. I have believed that the most likely correct line from Capt. Thomas Graves is the one from John2, Ralph3, mainly because the Croshaw name is carried in that line, and that is said to have been the maiden name of Capt. Thomas Graves’ wife. Volume 2 of the fourth edition of Adventurers of Purse and Person, just published this year, is, unfortunately, not of much help in clarifying the correct lineages. An additional interesting question is, if the line of John², Ralph³ is the true line, what happened to the descendants of the other male lines; did they all die out?

One other interesting possibility is the account written by Gov. John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony about a Thomas Graves who went from Mass. To Virginia with his family, and all were lost at sea except for one daughter who married Nathaniel Eaton. No dates were given in this account. Could this explain the absence of other descendant lines? Or did Gov. Winthrop just record an incorrect rumor?

More research in Virginia may help with part of this puzzle, and researching the related families we have now found in England may provide the rest of the answer. Do you have ideas? Would you like to help find the answers?

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NEW YAHOO GROUP FOR DISCUSSING GRAVES FAMILY ASSOCIATION ISSUES

A new Yahoo group has been started for discussion of all Graves Family Association activities, including promoting and publicizing the Association, increasing membership and interest, traditional research, the Graves/Greaves/Grieve DNA study, publications, the website, trips, reunions, and any other programs of the Graves Family Association. We are looking for your thoughts on what we should be doing, how it can be done, who will do it, etc. To join the group and participate in the discussion, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gravesfamilyassociation/ and follow the instructions to join.

This group is not for queries about finding specific Graves/Greaves ancestors, since that is covered by other mailing lists, bulletin boards, etc.

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HOW TO AVOID GIVING PERSONAL INFORMATION ONLINE

When you sign up for Yahoo groups to get a user name and password, one of the things that are requested is your date of birth, to be used only to identify you in case you forget your password and they have to send it to you. You do not need to give a real date of birth; just remember whatever date you provide. This advice also applies to any security question you are ever asked, including postal code, mother's maiden name, etc. You can always use fictitious information as long as you remember what you provided.

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GRAVES FAMILY BIBLE AND PHOTO OF ARCHIBALD RANDOLPH GRAVES BOTH NEED A NEW HOME

BIBLE: Sally Mohle of Fairfax, VA has a huge Graves family Bible from the family of Francis Edward Graves of Wolftown, Madison Co., VA. She will be moving soon and won’t have room for this in her new home. If anyone would like to have the Bible, she will send it free. Let me know if you are interested.

PHOTO: Chris Graves wrote: “I found in an antique store in Folsom, Calif., the cabinet photo of Archibald (Archie) Randolph Graves. His date of birth was December 15, 1894, and he died in Sacramento Co., CA on July 24, 1967. I imagine someone is wanting this baby picture. Does anyone know if Archie R. Graves has living relatives? G J Chris Graves, Newcastle, CA, email caliron@cwnet.com.”

Archie Graves was descended from William Graves of Dover, NH (genealogy 165) by way of William Graves, born 1778 in Deerfield, NH, who married Mary Davis, and lived in Thomaston, Maine. He may not have living descendants, but he does have living cousins. If you are interested, contact either Chris or me.

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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.

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