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. 13, No. 2, July 19, 2011

 

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Copyright © 2011 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

** Limited Time Discounts for New DNA Testing from FTDNA

** DNA Charts on GFA Website

** New Discoveries From Our DNA Study

** Family Tree DNA on Facebook

** Social Networking Websites

** Spears-Graves Family Reunion, Aug. 5-7, 2011

** To Submit Material to this Bulletin & Other Things

 

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GENERAL COMMENTS

 

The timing of this issue of the bulletin is mainly to let you know about the opportunity to order DNA tests from Family Tree DNA at reduced prices for a limited time.  I encourage you to take advantage of this offer if you are able to, especially for the Y-DNA test is your family has not yet participated in that.

 

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LIMITED TIME DISCOUNTS FOR NEW DNA TESTING FROM FTDNA

 

Family Tree DNA, the DNA testing company that we most often use, is offering special prices, especially for people who have not previously tested.  Note that the sale is only through this Thursday, July 21, so you need to act quickly.  The prices are listed below.  In addition, there is a special price for existing customers (at the bottom of the price list) to purchase the Family Finder test (the autosomal DNA test that traces all ancestral lines about 5 or 6 generations back).  For more information about these tests, go to the FTDNA website at www.familytreedna.com.

 

When placing your order, be sure to do so as part of the Graves DNA project.  You can be assured of doing this either by ordering from the link on the main page of the GFA website (“How to sign up” in the DNA Study paragraph), or by going to the FTDNA website and entering Graves or Greaves in the “Search Your Last Name” block at the top right of their page.

 

      Y-DNA37 for $119 (Regular price would be $149)

      Y-DNA67 for $199 (Regular price would be $239)

      Family Finder for $199 (Regular price would be $289)

      Family Finder + Y-DNA37 for $318 (Regular price would be $438)

      Family Finder + mtDNAPlus for $318 (Regular Price would be $438)

      mtDNA Full Sequence for $219 (Regular Price would be $299)

      SuperDNA for $418 (Regular Price would be $518, includes Y-DNA67 and mtFullSequence)

      Comprehensive Genome for $617 (Regular Price would be $797, includes Y-DNA67, mtFullSequence and Family Finder)

In addition, existing Family Tree DNA customers may order the Family Finder 
add-on for $199

The promotion will start Friday the 15th at 6PM CST and will end Thursday, July 21, 11:59PM CST. Kits need to be paid for by the end of the promotion

 

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DNA CHARTS ON GFA WEBSITE

 

There are four different kinds of DNA charts on the Graves Family Association website.  The first 3 correspond to the 3 main kinds of DNA tests - Y-DNA, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), and autosomal DNA.  If there is no chart for the genealogy that you are descended from, or if there are lineages or test results that you think should be in the chart for your part of the family, please let me know.  It is not possible to anticipate all needs and keep everything completely up-to-date.  The fourth kind of chart is the miscellaneous category - one that doesn’t fall into any of the first 3 categories.

 

Y-DNA CHARTS

About 20% of the genealogies (181 as of now) listed in the numerical listing on the Charts page of the website have male descendant charts.  This includes some that don’t yet have any male descendant with the Graves/Greaves surname who has taken a Y-DNA test.  There are also some additional charts toward the bottom of that page that provide more detail for very large genealogies, or show how genealogies with a common ancestor (but whose exact connection is unknown) may be related.  Y-DNA has been the main tool for determining which genealogy a person is part of, and which genealogies share a common ancestor, since the Y-chromosome is passed on from father to son almost unchanged.  The main disadvantage of this testing is that only males with the surname of interest can be tested.  However, its mutation rate is very good for estimating how closely people are related within a genealogical timeframe.

 

MITOCHONDRIAL DNA CHARTS

There are very few of these on the GFA website, mainly because it is very difficult to use this test result to determine ancestry from a Graves/Greaves ancestor.  This kind of DNA is passed from mother to her children, but is not passed down by the male child to his children, so it is used to determine direct female ancestry.  One advantage of this test is that everyone has mitochondrial DNA and can be tested, but a disadvantage is that this DNA changes so gradually over the centuries that it cannot be easily used for determining closeness of relationships within a genealogical timeframe (100-500 years).  There are presently only 3 female (mtDNA) descendant charts on the website - 2 for genealogy 270 and one for genealogy 169.  There is also a table of all mitochondrial DNA testing results (at www.gravesfa.org/mtDNA_test_results.html), although this isn’t complete, since it hasn’t been updated for a while.

 

AUTOSOMAL DNA CHARTS

There are presently only 2 autosomal DNA charts for genealogies on the GFA website - one for genealogy 169 and one for genealogy 270.  There is a third chart for Davenport ancestry, which is pertinent to genealogy 270.  I have not had time to look at all autosomal results to see whether there are matches on other descendant charts (through male, female, or mixed lines).  If you have found matches with other Graves/Greaves descendants, please let me know, so that I can create the appropriate chart or add your matching line to an existing chart.  Autosomal matching results are called Family Finder matches on the Family Tree DNA website, and Relative Finder matches on the 23andMe website.  Although a test is only expected to show matches up to 5 generations back on all your ancestral lines, you can see on the charts mentioned above that some results show connections 8 and 9 generations back.

 

MISCELLANEOUS CHARTS

There are very few of these.  The latest one that has just been added is on the Charts page in the genealogy 270 section that shows some connections between the Talley family and the Graves family of genealogy 270.

 

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NEW DISCOVERIES FROM OUR DNA STUDY

 

We have had a second person descended from William Graves of Dover, NH (genealogy 165) tested.  His results exactly matched the previous person tested, so we now know the DNA signature of William Graves and that this Graves family is not related to any other that has been tested. 

 

The results have been received for a  37-marker Y-DNA test for genealogy 953 William Grieve and Eleanor Turnbull of Northumberland, England & York Co., New Brunswick, Canada).  Based on the 12 marker results, it was thought that this might match genealogy 47, but the full results showed it is not even close.

 

As the newer results of DNA testing are reviewed, I will be reporting on what is found.

 

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FAMILY TREE DNA ON FACEBOOK

 

This past spring, Family Tree DNA had a special offer on Facebook.  At that time, they wrote in their Facts & Genes newsletter: “If you have a Facebook account and have not added Family Tree DNA, then you are STILL missing out! There are plenty of great deals to come! To make sure you receive notification of special offers on Facebook, click "Like" on our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FamilyTreeDNA).”

 

If you already have a Facebook page, you might want to check into this.  If you don’t have one, this might be one other reason to get one.

 

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SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES

 

There are many social networking websites.  Facebook is probably the best known, with an estimated 70 million unique monthly visitors, and a registered membership of more than 640 million.  Others include MySpace, Twitter, Linkedin, etc.

 

Although I signed up for an account on Facebook (I don’t remember why), I have never used it, and don’t have any immediate plans to.  My concern is that using it would take too much of my time, and the benefits to me would be slight.  If you use Facebook and have figured out a way to benefit from it and keep it from gobbling up too much time, let me know.  I occasionally receive invitations from people on various networks to be their “friend”, but I don’t accept them for the reasons given above.  Please don’t take this personally; I just don’t have enough time.

 

I am under the impression that it would be helpful for the Graves Family Association to have a Facebook page.  If anyone would like to set that up and help run it, please let me know.

 

If you want to learn more about social networking, go to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites) or http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/social-networking-websites or just enter “social networking sites” in your browser.

 

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SPEARS-GRAVES FAMILY REUNION, AUG. 5-7, 2011

 

There will be a Spears-Graves Family Reunion Aug. 5-7 at the Quality Inn in Clarkston, Washington.  This is the family of genealogy 84, part of the Graves/Greaves family of Caroline Co., Albemarle Co., and Halifax Co., VA.

 

Reunion events will include tours of the exhibits at the Center for Arts and History in Lewiston, and a tour of underground Lewiston, disc golf, a book signing by Will Graves of Wolves in Russia, and lots of eating, socializing, and genealogy.  For information, contact Judi Wutzke, wutzke@clarkston.com.

 

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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 or 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.

 

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