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. 6, December 7, 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

** Mid-Atlantic Chapter GFA Meeting in Arlington, VA, Jan. 15

** Reminder About DNA Testing Offer from FTDNA

** Publicizing and Promoting the Graves Family Association

** Graves Family Association Facebook Page

** More About Including Living People in Genealogies

** How Would You Prefer to Receive This Bulletin?

** Interesting National Geographic Program and DNA Research on Ancient Remains

** Clarification Regarding Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter

** To Submit Material to this Bulletin & Other Things

 

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GENERAL COMMENTS

 

There is a variety of subjects discussed in this issue of the Bulletin.  I am especially interested in doing more to publicize and promote the Graves Family Association.  Our new Facebook page seems to be a step in the right direction, and I would like to hear from you regarding your thoughts about other things we could do, especially things you would like to help with.

 

Also, please consider taking a DNA test or finding a family member who will take the test if your Graves or Greaves family has not yet been tested.  Remember that the GFA may pay for testing for some families, especially those in England.

 

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MID-ATLANTIC CHAPTER GFA MEETING IN ARLINGTON, VA, JANUARY 15

 

There will be a meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Graves Family Association in the Williamsburg Room of the Army Navy Country Club, Arlington, VA, at 12 noon, Sunday, January 15.  Attendees will be eating the ANCC Sunday buffet at $22 per person.  Payment does not need to be made in advance.  The buffet is one they have every Sunday, and there is always plenty of good food.  Dress will be informal, with coat and tie for men, and dress, skirt, or slacks for women.  All Graves and Greaves descendants from all families are urged to attend.  To let them know you expect to be there, contact Ernie Graves at erniegraves@compuserve.com.

 

The program will be a presentation by Ken Graves, with plenty of opportunity to ask questions about your part of the family or anything else that interests you.  This is a great opportunity to meet or renew acquaintance with other Graves descendants, learn about new discoveries, and get off to a good start with genealogical searching in the new year.  I hope to see you there.

 

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REMINDER ABOUT DNA TESTING OFFER FROM FTDNA

 

The special reduced price off on DNA testing from Family Tree DNA will end at midnight, December 31, and all new tests and upgrades must be paid for by then.  For the success of our effort at connecting all the various genealogies and finding your earlier Graves/Greaves ancestry, it is important for all families to be tested.

 

DNA testing continues to be an extremely important tool for finding connections between the various Graves/Greaves/Grave families.  There are still many genealogies on the Graves Family Association website that have not had any descendants tested.  If yours is one of those, I urge you to try to find a male descendant with the Graves/Greaves surname and have him take a Y-DNA test.

 

Note that financial assistance from the Graves Family Association may be available, especially if your family is from outside North America.  To inquire about this, contact Ken Graves at ken.graves@gravesfa.org.

 

The DNA test for males with the Graves/Greaves surname that is the most helpful for finding Graves or Greaves ancestry is the Y‑DNA 37 or 67 test.  For males who would also like to explore other lines, adding the autosomal test (Family Finder) is desirable.  For everyone with Graves or Greaves ancestry, the results of the Family Finder test may be helpful to our project, and will almost certainly be of interest to you.

 

You can see more details in the article in the previous issue of this Bulletin at http://www.gravesfa.org/gfb13-5.html, including prices.

 

For new orders you should remember to always order as part of the Graves DNA project by going to the GFA website at www.gravesfa.org, scrolling down to the DNA Study section, and clicking on the “How to sign up” link, or going to the FTDNA website at www.familytreedna.com, entering Graves in the “Search Your Last Name” box in the upper right, clicking on the Graves link under projects, and placing your order.

 

For those of you who have previously ordered tests from Family Tree DNA, just login to your personal page on their website and place your upgrade order.

 

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PUBLICIZING AND PROMOTING THE GRAVES FAMILY ASSOCIATION

 

In the GF Bulletin of Nov. 19, 2007 (vol. 9, no. 8), I wrote: “In spite of the Graves Family Association having been in existence for over 30 years, most Graves/Greaves/Grieve family members probably don’t know that we exist.  It would be very helpful to initiate an ongoing program to publicize the Association in the U.S., Canada, England, Australia and elsewhere.  This would include stories in newspapers and magazines to tell what we do and how we can help people.  It could also discuss some of the great success stories we have had, connections with famous people, unusual events in the lives of descendants, and other things that might be considered newsworthy.  We would very much like to hear from any of you who have experience with publicity and promotion, or who know people who might be able to help.”

 

There were additional articles about promoting the GFA in the August and September issues of 2009 (vol. 11, nos. 8 and 9), especially about contests, videos, and social networking sites.  I would like to have your thoughts and suggestions about all these ideas, and your help in implementing any that interest you.  How can we best publicize and promote the Association?

 

A summary of some of the ideas for publicity and promotion of the GFA is below.

 

•Facebook, Twitter, GenealogyWise, and other sites

•YouTube (e.g., GFA video)

•Articles in printed media and online, telling success stories, how we help people, connections with famous people, etc.

•Increase traffic to GFA website (e.g., by encouraging more links from other sites)

•Encourage website visitors to register

Contests

§   to create best T-shirt design

§   to create best bumper sticker and car window decal

§   best family (or GFA) song (recordings will be put on the GFA website and perhaps on YouTube)

§   best family (or GFA) video

 

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GRAVES FAMILY ASSOCIATION FACEBOOK PAGE

 

The Graves Family Association Facebook page is turning out to be very helpful.  Using it might be a good reason to join Facebook.  (Just because lots of trivia is posted on Facebook doesn’t mean you can’t just ignore that aspect of it.)  I am going to try to post comments and information every now and then to stimulate interest in and discussion about the GFA.  The recent discussion there about including information about living people in genealogies has been interesting.  I have since posted about the GFA meeting in Arlington, VA in January, and other subjects.

 

You can see the GFA Facebook page by clicking on the link on the GFA website or at http://www.facebook.com/groups/gravesfa/.

 

Since I have only used Facebook for about the last month, there are many things about it I don’t understand.  These mysteries include what things others see on your personal page, and how to set various levels of security. Is there anyone who can explain clearly everything we should know about using Facebook? For instance:

·          When someone wants to join the GFA group, any member is allowed to add them, but how can members see who is waiting to be added?

·          I think that each of us has control over what messages we receive from Facebook. For instance, we can click on “Notifications” at the top right of the page to turn notifications on or off, and we can specify whether we want to receive all posts or just some. And we can apparently specify for each post whether we want to follow it or not. But what is the purpose of being able to “Like” a posting?

 

Other than trying various things on Facebook, and asking other people who are experienced with Facebook, the best way to learn how to use it and get answers to questions is in their help section at http://www.facebook.com/help/.

 

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MORE ABOUT INCLUDING LIVING PEOPLE IN GENEALOGIES

 

In an article in the October issue of this Bulletin, I expressed my opinion that there is not much security risk to including names of living people in genealogies, and a genealogy is of much less value and interest when it doesn’t include information about your close relatives. I published some of the responses to that article in the November issue.

 

This subject is apparently of considerable interest to many, and it was suggested that the question be put on the Graves Family Association Facebook page. That has now been done. You can go to that page at http://www.facebook.com/groups/gravesfa/ to see many comments about this and other subjects.

 

In his most recent newsletter (Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter, Dec. 5, 2011), Dick Eastman says: “Denying records access to descendants and others with legitimate interests will never slow identity thieves.”  You can see this article at http://eogn.com/wp/?p=18610.

 

The following are some of the additional comments on this subject via email to me.

·          “As to whether a book includes living people or not is an easy answer although not easy to do. I think most of us would like to know the names of those people who are most closely related to us that we do not already know. If you would include on your website a signup page with download legal page to sign and return allowing for use of your name in the book. Only people who agree are included and those that do not are excluded. I would personally hope that all who are interested would sign.” [My thought about that is that I don’t really want to get involved with legal aspects of this, and I know from experience that most people wouldn’t respond. If people send me information (without saying that it is not to be published) or I get it from online sources, doesn’t that mean that it is already in the public domain and available to be republished? If anyone has the responsibility isn’t it the one who provides that information to me or publishes it online originally?]

·          “Perhaps a compromise is in order.  How about listing living people as "Living Graves, b. 1945, Indianapolis, IN" and show them connected to their deceased parents?  Surely that would avoid litigation and having to "ask permission," but would still provide some useful information.  Personally, I would like to see my name listed in a book that someone has spent much time and effort to get published.  I sent a book to my sister's husband last year on the genealogy of his family.  He was overjoyed to receive it.  The most important thing to him was to be able to point to his own name in the book!” [Should I be concerned about being sued? That threat would be a good way to get me to throw up my hands in disgust and find another hobby.]

·          “Part of the challenge of researching our families is doing the search and trying to get it right.  There are mistakes in some people's research, and the person submitting data may not even be connected to the family they think they are, and find out later.  Then you have a book printed that has wrong information and it makes it even more confusing for future generations.  I ran into this with one side of my family over ten years ago when someone did a great job of listing all the people from county records, put it online, and decided who some people belonged to and they weren't by the same & similar names, and it was totally the wrong family they had put together.  I knew my relatives personally and was able to correct it.  With technology today, there is no way people can't locate living researchers or anyone if they want to contact them.  The data that is verified and proven, or have personal knowledge of, or even unknown, would be the best to publish.

Also, I agree with Dick Eastman in his reply to you [quoted in GF Bulletin, Nov. 22, 2011]: ‘My suggestion is to always protect the interests of your living relatives before trying to create "complete genealogies." Future genealogists should be able to find records of twenty-first century citizens, whether you list them or not.  Why risk alienation, and perhaps legal problems, by putting them in a book or other document that can still provide valuable information without listing living people?’”

 

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HOW WOULD YOU PREFER TO RECEIVE THIS BULLETIN?

 

The format of the Graves Family Bulletin is somewhat limited, and sending it by email means that not everyone receives it.  Some internet service providers consider anything that is sent to many recipients or longer than a certain length as spam.

 

I can continue to send it as I have been doing, or I can send you a link to the newsletter on the GFA  website.  Are you completely satisfied with the way the Bulletin looks?  Would you prefer that I just send you a link to the Bulletin (and perhaps an index listing of the articles), rather than the entire Bulletin as an email message?

 

Even if you don’t receive a bulletin, you can always read the latest issue and all previous issues on the Graves Family Association website at http://www.gravesfa.org/bulletin.html.

 

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INTERESTING NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PROGRAM AND DNA RESEARCH ON ANCIENT REMAINS

 

CeCe Moore has reported about a recent TV program on her blog at http://www.yourgeneticgenealogist.com/2011/11/national-geographics-explorer-how-to.html. There she mentions that the National Geographic Channel debuted the newest entry in their Explorer series, "How to Build an Ancient Man" or as it was called by her cable company "Reconstructing a Stone-Age Human".  A 4,000-year-old matted tuft of human hair was recovered from the permafrost in Greenland.  Through DNA testing, the scientists were able to reconstruct almost the entire genome, and came to some surprising conclusions.

 

One person, commenting on it at the ISOGG list said: “Made me think about the possibility of rebuilding our own more recent ancestors by piecing together their genome from their descendants through Family Finder and Relative Finder matches.  For those that didn't catch the Explorer episode when it first aired, National Geographic usually reruns these a few times, so keep an eye out in the TV listings.  Also, it will eventually be made available for viewing on their website (http://channel.nationalgeographic.com).”

 

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CLARIFICATION REGARDING EASTMAN’S ONLINE GENEALOGY NEWSLETTER

 

In an article in the last issue of this Bulletin, I suggested that some of you might find Dick Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter  and blog interesting.

 

To learn more, go to his website at http://blog.eogn.com/ and you will see many examples of the articles he provides.  The newsletter articles are from his blog.  The newsletter is available daily or weekly via email, or as an RSS news feed. The regular newsletter is free, but you can pay to subscribe to the Plus Edition to get additional articles (which is what I do).

 

I am not recommending this as a good way to learn about genealogy, especially for beginners.  The best ways for those just starting in genealogy is to take a course or courses at your local genealogy society (or perhaps at a local school or senior center), take a genealogy course online, read a how-to book about genealogy, visit your nearest LDS Family History Center, and ask others to help you.

 

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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.

 

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