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. 10, No. 10, Sept. 4, 2008

 

===============================================

 

Copyright © 2008 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

 

===============================================

 

CONTENTS:

 

** General Comments

** Trip to England in June 2009

** Special DNA Testing Offer Extended Through Sept. 30

** Free DNA Testing for Family Members in the U.K. and Ireland

** Books Available from the Graves Family Association

** The Numbering of Genealogies on the GFA Website, and How to Find Them

** A New Book About the Donner Party

** Keeping the Same Email Address Forever

** To Submit Material to this Bulletin & Other Things

 

===============================================

 

GENERAL COMMENTS

 

I was not planning to send another Bulletin so soon after the one of last month, but I wanted to let you know of the extension of the reduced price offer for new DNA testing.  If your part of the family has not yet been tested, now is the time to get it done.  The offer of free testing for those who qualify in the U.K. and Ireland is also continuing.  Even if you don’t qualify yourself, please help find males with the Graves/Greaves/etc. surname who do.

 

===============================================

 

TRIP TO ENGLAND IN JUNE 2009

 

As announced in the previous issue of this Bulletin, the trip to England will be June 4-16.  I will be receiving a supply of the brochures describing the trip within the next couple of days and I will immediately mail them to all who have expressed an interest.  If you don’t receive a brochure by the end of next week or if you haven’t told me you might want to go, please let me know as soon as possible.

 

There will also be a copy of the brochure on the GFA website in PDF format that you will be able to download and print.

 

Please let me know promptly if you are interested in being part of this tour of England so I can provide you with the most up-to-date information.  Also, let your relatives and other Graves/Greaves descendants in your community know about the trip, and encourage them to sign up also.  If we can increase the size of the group, we may be able to reduce the cost for everyone.

 

===============================================

 

SPECIAL DNA TESTING OFFER EXTENDED THROUGH SEPT. 30

 

Family Tree DNA has just announced that it is extending its Sizzling Summer Sale until September 30th!  This promotion is geared toward those who have not yet tested by offering the following incentives.

As we have emphasized in previous newsletters, it is really important for those of you in Graves/Greaves/Grieves families that have not yet been tested to take part in our DNA study.  In most cases, this may be the only way we will ever know for sure which families are related and descended from a common ancestor.  The easiest way to order a test is to go to the Graves Family Association website at http://www.gravesfa.org, scroll down to the DNA Study section, click on the link for “How to sign up.”  Then just follow the instructions.  Let me know if you have any problems or questions.

Product

Promotion

Original 

Sale 

Y-DNA12

Free mtDNA

$189

$99

Y-DNA25

Free mtDNA

$238

$148

Y-DNA37

Reduced

$189

$119

Y-DNA37+mtDNA

Reduced

$339

$189

Y-DNA67

Reduced

$269

$218

Y-DNA67+mtDNAplus

Reduced

$409

$288

mtDNAplus

Reduced

$189

$149

The purpose of this sale is to grow our database and that of Family Tree DNA and at the same time encourage those “fence sitters” to climb off the fence and get tested.

IMPORTANT: This promotion requires that payment be made either by credit card or received by the conclusion of the sale on September 30th, 2008.

 

===============================================

 

FREE DNA TESTING FOR FAMILY MEMBERS IN THE U.K. AND IRELAND

 

A brief mention of this was made in the previous issue of this Bulletin.  Because it is so important to get descendants of the families of Greaves, Graves, Grieves, and other spellings in the U.K. and Ireland to take part in our DNA study, we will pay the full cost for Y-DNA testing for male descendants with any variation of the surname who provides enough ancestral information to be helpful to the study., and who are not too closely related to someone who has already been tested.  It is our goal to be able to connect all the families that are related, and DNA testing is the only tool that will let us know for sure that families share a common ancestor.  Please help to find people who are willing to be tested.

 

===============================================

 

BOOKS AVAILABLE FROM THE GRAVES FAMILY ASSOCIATION

 

All the following books that have been published about various Graves families are still available for purchase from Ken Graves, as described on the GFA website.  See the Books page in the Products section of the website.  (All shipping prices are within the U.S.  Shipping beyond the U.S. may be more.)

 

ROBERT GRAVES of Anson Co., NC and Chesterfield Co., SC, Ancestors and Descendants

This book is about all known descendants of Robert Graves, sixth generation descendant of Capt. Thomas Graves, who arrived in Jamestown, VA in 1608. The probable descent of Robert is: (1) Thomas, (2) John, (3) Thomas, (4) John, (5) Thomas, m. Ann Davenport, (6) Robert.  (This is now known to be part of genealogy 270 rather than 169.)  Published in 1980, 408 pages, $26.00 + $3.00 shipping.

 

SAMUEL GRAVES of Lynn, MA

Born in England, may have lived in Gravesend, County Kent. He came to America about 1630, and settled in Lynn, MA. Published in 1985, 446 pages, $36.00 + $3.00 shipping.

 

THOMAS GRAVES of Hartford, CT and Hatfield, MA

Born before 1585 in England, settled in Hartford before 1645, and moved to Hatfield, MA in 1661. Includes everything in the 1896 book by John Card Graves, plus much more. Published in 1985, 710 pages, $46.00 + $3.00 shipping.

 

GRAVES FAMILIES OF THE WORLD

A summary of all Graves/Greaves families everywhere. Contains a summary genealogy (at least the first 2 generations) of 200 families, a brief description of 39 others with insufficient information for a genealogy, and discussion of possible connections between some of the families. Published in 1994, 509 pages, $41.00 + $3.00 shipping.

 

REAR ADMIRAL THOMAS GRAVES of Charlestown, MA

Born 1605 at Ratcliff or Stepney, England, settled in Charlestown, MA about 1637. Includes descendants in England of his great-grandfather, Thomas Greaves. Published in 1994, 267 pages, $23.00 + $3.00 shipping.

 

DEACON GEORGE GRAVES of Hartford, CT

Born in England, settled in Hartford, CT about 1636, as one of the original proprietors. Published March 1995, 446 pages, $35.00 + $3.00 shipping.

 

JOHN GRAVES of Concord, MA

Born in England, settled in Concord, MA about 1635. Published March 2002, 1703 pages, $75.00 + $5.00 shipping.

 

The following books are not yet available.  Announcements will be made as soon as more is known.  It is planned to publish these and all future books as print-on-demand books, to avoid the problems of a large up-front cost and a large unsold inventory.

 

GRAVES FAMILIES OF RANDOLPH CO., NC

This is ready to be published but has not yet been indexed.

 

CAPT. THOMAS GRAVES OF VA

A great amount of effort is being put into this, adding all the information that has already been received and doing additional research and verification.  This will consist of more than one book, the first being the descendants of John Graves/Greaves of Northamptonshire, England and Virginia (genealogy 270).  There is still an unresolved question of which parts of the family were actually descended from Capt. Thomas Graves, and we hope to be able to eventually resolve that.

 

===============================================

 

THE NUMBERING OF GENEALOGIES ON THE GFA WEBSITE, AND HOW TO FIND THEM

 

There are several ways to find and access genealogies on the Graves Family Association website.  You can use:

1)      the Numerical Listing (charts of ancestral connections), which is available from the link on the DNA Research page, or from the link in the DNA Study section of the main page, or from the site map.

2)      the Alphabetical Listing, which is available from the link on the Ancestral Research page, or from the link in the Genealogies section of the main page, or from the site map.

3)      the Search capability in the top right corner of every page.

4)      Another way to access any genealogy you want when you know the genealogy number is to go directly to it with your browser.  You can do this by entering the URL (the web address) of the genealogy, such as http://www.gravesfa.org/gen169.htm  If you want to go to another genealogy, just replace 169 with whatever number genealogy you want to see. (Note: If the genealogy number is less than 100, precede the number with 1 or 2 zeros to make a total of 3 digits.)

5)      Bookmark a genealogy of special interest to you in your browser so you can easily return to it at any time.

 

If you can’t find a genealogy that was previously on the website, it may be because the genealogy has been added to another, or earlier generations may have been found which would cause the name to change.  To check either of these possibilities, go to the page for Deleted or Combined Genealogies (available from the alphabetical listing page and from the site map).

 

Meaning of Genealogy Numbers

In response to one puzzled member who was unclear about the meaning of the genealogy numbers, I recently wrote:

I usually try to give both the name of the genealogy and the number to help avoid confusion. Because there are so many genealogies on the GFA website and so many of the names are similar, I had to assign numbers to them. The numbers are purely arbitrary and when I created a new genealogy I just assigned the next sequential number. There is no relationship between the numbers, and they have no meaning.  Their only purpose is for easy identification of genealogies.

 

===============================================

 

A NEW BOOK ABOUT THE DONNER PARTY

 

France Bequette, a journalist who lives in France, is writing a book about the Donner Party and her great-grandmother Mary Ann Graves.  The Donner Party was a group of pioneers crossing the great plains to California who got trapped in an early snowstorm near what is now called Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada mountains in 1846.  Many of the members of the party died.  A number of books have previously been published about the tragedy, but as far as is known, this will be the first book on the subject in French.  The family of Franklin Ward Graves (descended from Thomas Graves of Hartford, CT & Hatfield, MA, genealogy 168) was a major part of the group.

 

She would like to bring these people and their descendants to life in her book.  She would appreciate all information from sources such as letters, diaries, etc., about any of the survivors (especially Mary Ann Graves).  Please send information directly to her at france.bequette@free.fr.

 

===============================================

 

KEEPING THE SAME EMAIL ADDRESS FOREVER

 

Changing email addresses is a nuisance for both you and the people you correspond with.  It is now easy to keep the same email address even when you change internet service providers (such as switching from Verizon to Comcast, etc.).  You can get an email address at Google, and arrange it so that all your mail is forwarded to whatever account you specify.  Whenever you change providers, people still use your Google address, and you just change the forwarding to your new provider.  You can even get several email addresses for different purposes, all at no charge.  When commercial companies (for instance, stores that you order from online) need an email address, you might prefer to give them one that you can later delete in case you get on mailing lists you don’t like.

 

Other  companies such as Yahoo also provide similar services.  If you are away from your regular computer, you can also access your email on these services from any computer (for instance, at a library).  Many colleges and even some high schools now provide lifetime email forwarding addresses to alumni.

 

If you sometimes change your email address because you get an increasing amount of spam, the best solution is not to get a new email address, but to use antispam software.  The best kind of software for this allows you to specify which email addresses are OK and to challenge all that are not on your acceptable list.  One good service that I use for this is SpamArrest at www.spamarrest.com.  All emails go through their website.  There is also software that can be installed on your computer, such as that at www.spamfighter.com/Pro for users of Outlook and Outlook Express.  The worst solution for eliminating spam is using a service or software that searches for unacceptable key words in an email and blocks the message if it finds them.

 

===============================================

 

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.

 

To remove your name from this subscription list, send an e-mail message to ken.graves@gravesfa.org asking to be removed.