GRAVES FAMILY BULLETIN

 

Vol. 15, No. 5, April 19, 2013

 

A Free, Occasional, Online Summary of Items of Interest to Descendants of all Families of Graves, Greaves, Grieves, Grave, and other spelling variations Worldwide

 

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Copyright © 2013 by the Graves Family Association and Kenneth V. Graves.  All rights reserved.

 

Information on 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.  If you received it from a friend and want to subscribe, send an email message with your full name to ken.graves@gravesfa.org.

 

Click on these links to visit the GFA web site and our Facebook page.

 

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CONTENTS

 

** General Comments

** Limited Time DNA Test Sale at Family Tree DNA

** Be Sure Your Autosomal DNA Test Is On Charts

** Uploading of Ancestry.com DNA Data to GEDmatch Now Available

** Why It Is Important To Know What DNA Segments You Share With Your DNA Matches

** Updates to the GFA Website

** Mocavo’s Surname Groups and Other Features

** How Do People Share Genealogical Information?

** To Submit Material to this Bulletin & Other Things

 

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GENERAL COMMENTS

 

We have another DNA testing sale at Family Tree DNA that ends in 3 days.  This is a good opportunity to take a test or order one for a family member.  FTDNA is still the only company offering a full range of mitochondrial DNA and Y-DNA tests form your direct female and male lines.

 

Although I didn’t mention it elsewhere in this bulletin, if you haven’t already joined our Facebook page, consider doing so.  If you have difficulty finding it, use the link on the GFA website.  It can be an effective and helpful way to communicate.

 

Please be aware that, although I have mentioned the importance of uploading autosomal DNA results and GEDCOMS to GEDmatch in this bulletin, as of right now, GEDmatch is not available.  Although I don’t know what the problem is, I expect it will be back online soon.

 

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LIMITED TIME DNA TEST SALE AT FAMILY TREE DNA

 

Family Tree DNA has just announced a sale on some of their DNA testing.  In addition to the limited time reduced prices, the comments about the way to use mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) test results to help find ancestors are interesting.

 

MY COMMENTS ABOUT USING MITOCHONDRIAL DNA TO FIND ANCESTORS

We have known for a long time that mtDNA can be used to determine ancient ancestry and population movements.  However, with the advent of Full Mitochondrial Sequencing (FMS), the matches you get are apt to be much more meaningful for connections within genealogical time (that is, the past several hundred years).  A partial DNA sequencing is sufficient if you want to find the ancient ancestral haplogroup of your direct maternal line.  It will probably also be sufficient if you know the mtDNA haplogroup of one of the probable ancestors in your maternal line (as a result of someone else testing) and you want to verify that you are descended from that same ancestor.

 

However, if you want to find people related to you on your all-female line, Full Mitochondrial Sequencing is much more likely to give positive results.  Even then, you may not find a recent connection, depending on how far back you and those who match you can trace ancestry, and how recently any mutations have occurred.

 

FTDNA ANNOUNCEMENT

We are pleased to announce our 2013 DNA DAY Promotion.  While the special pricing features all the major tests, we’re placing particular emphasis on the Full Mitochondrial Sequence and Family Finder. We’ll offer Y-DNA upgrades during a Father’s Day (June 16 in the U.S.) sale and will give you those details at that time.

 

In 2006, Family Tree DNA pioneered the use of mitochondrial (mtDNA) full sequences to solve maternal genealogical puzzles and to produce the deepest maternal haplogroups in the industry. At that time, only a few academic researchers were using the power of the mtDNA full sequence for anthropological studies.

 

Now 7 years later, all serious academic researchers use mtDNA full sequences for their maternal lineage research. Several prestigious institutions send their DNA samples to Family Tree DNA for complete mtDNA sequencing.

 

Knowing that this testing level is the best value for genealogy, we have preferred to see the mtDNA full sequencing used for all genealogical purposes. However, limited lab capacity forced us to use pricing as a mechanism to control the number of orders we receive. That’s about to change!

 

We are proud to announce we have successfully moved our mtDNA Full Sequencing line from Sanger DNA sequencing to what is called Next Generation Sequencing (NGS). This gives us much greater capacity to process tests, to reduce costs without sacrificing quality, and to ensure shorter turnaround times.

 

For a limited time we will be selling the FMS for $189 and whether you’ve tested HVR1 or HVR1+2, you’ll be able to upgrade to the Full Sequence for just $129!

 

(How about showing what prices were before?)

 

Full MtDNA Sequence…. $189

Upgrades to FMS….$129

Y-DNA37 (new and add-on)…. $119

Y-DNA67 (new and add-on)…. $199

Y-DNA37 + Full MtDNA Sequence…. $308

Y-DNA12 + FF…. $218

Y-DNA37 + FF…. $288

Y-DNA67 + FF…. $368

Family Finder.... $169

Family Finder + Full MtDNA Sequence…. $358

SuperDNA…. $388 (Y-67 + FMS)

Comprehensive DNA…. $557 (Y-67 + FMS + FF)

 

The sale will begin tonight, April 18th, at 6PM CDT and will conclude at 11:59PM CDT on Monday April 22nd. All orders must be placed and paid for by the end of the sale to receive the promotional price.

 

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BE SURE YOUR AUTOSOMAL DNA TEST IS ON CHARTS

 

If you have taken an autosomal DNA test at 23andMe or at Family Tree DNA, check the charts on the autosomal DNA page of the Graves Family Association website to be sure your Graves/Greaves lineage is shown on the appropriate chart.

 

If you have tested at Ancestry.com or anywhere else, please check and let me know also.  To determine matching DNA segments on Ancestry.com, you will need to download your DNA raw data file from Ancestry.com and then upload it to GEDmatch as discussed in the next article.

 

If you have taken an autosomal DNA test and you have Graves or Greaves ancestry, no matter which company you have tested with, it will be very helpful for you to download your DNA data and upload both your DNA data and a GEDCOM to GEDmatch (as discussed in an article in the previous GF Bulletin).  I will help you or do it for you if necessary.

 

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UPLOADING OF ANCESTRY.COM DATA TO GEDMATCH NOW AVAILABLE

 

The ability to upload your Ancestry.com DNA raw data file has now been added to the GEDmatch website.

 

This is a very important development, since Ancestry.com does not presently provide any way to know which DNA segments you share on which chromosomes with your surname matches.

 

To download autosomal DNA results from Ancestry:

Go to Ancestry and sign in if you need to.  Then click on the DNA tab at the top of the page.  Click on “Manage Text Settings” (next to the orange View Results button).  Click on “Get Started” in the “Download your raw DNA data” section.  Then just follow the instructions.  Before downloading your data, it is necessary to re-enter your password.  Then you are sent an email to confirm the download.  After that, the data is downloaded as a zip file and then needs to be unzipped before you can look at it or upload it to GEDmatch.

 

To upload a GEDCOM and autosomal DNA results to GEDmatch:

Go to GEDmatch.  Scroll down to the section to “Upload Your Data Files.”  Select the upload option you want to perform, and click on the link.  You should upload your raw data files and your GEDCOM file.  (If you don’t have a GEDCOM file but you do have your family tree in a genealogy program, you can create one with that program.)  You should be sure to upload your GEDCOM with complete information that includes all known descendants of ancestors, not just your direct ancestors.  Unless you upload your complete file, you may inadvertently omit the individual who links you to another person’s genealogy.  After you click on the desired link for the upload, just follow the instructions.

 

After you have uploaded results to GEDmatch, be sure to let me know the ID numbers for your results and your GEDCOM, so that I can help you search.

 

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WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHAT DNA SEGMENTS YOU SHARE WITH YOUR DNA MATCHES

 

When you take an autosomal DNA test, your first thought may be to find who you are related to.  Whether you order the test from Family Tree DNA, 23andMe, or Ancestry, you get a list of people that you match, meaning you share enough DNA with them to be considered related within no more than perhaps 5 or 6 generations.  Then you look to see what surnames you and each person who matches you have in common.  If you are lucky, both you and the other person have done enough genealogical research and posted a family tree or GEDCOM to allow you to identify a common ancestor.  You then may assume that your shared surname or the identified common ancestor is the one causing the DNA matching.

 

Sometimes you may find more than one surname in common and more than one common ancestor.  If you have identified how you are related to one of your matches, you may feel that it doesn’t make any difference what DNA segment is inherited from the common ancestor.  After all, your objective was just to find connections.

 

However, we all know the many errors in submitted genealogies and even the difficulties in proving relationships in our own family trees.  How do we know that the ancestors in common are actually correct?  And how about most of the DNA matches where no common ancestor can be identified?  The way to confirm the correctness of genealogical (family tree) matches and to narrow the search for unknown matches is to match shared DNA segments with a particular ancestor.  Without that it is mostly guessing.

 

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UPDATES TO THE GFA WEBSITE

 

New and updated genealogies continue to be added to the GFA website.  Recent ones include the following:

Revised

58, Pinkney Graves and Susan ------ of Caswell Co., NC

73, Hardy Graves of SC & Pike Co., AL

118, Latham Graves of NC, TN & Blount Co., AL

127, James Graves and Laura B. Anderson of Caswell Co., NC

270, John Graves/Greaves of Northamptonshire, England and VA

368, Phillip Graves and Elizabeth Strickland of TN & TX

400, Thomas Greaves and Mary ------ of Radford, Nottinghamshire, England

574, Nancy Graves and John William Cole of SC, Richmond Co., NC & Lincoln Co., TN

625, William Graves and Harriet ------ of MS, LA & TX

 

New

259, Doctor Graves and Mary ------ of Fayetteville, Fayette Co., GA

265, Thomas Greaves and Alles Archer of Birmingham, Warwickshire, England

266, Austin Graves and Mary Ann Bishop of NY

293, Aaron Graves and Sarah Ann Harvey of OH and IA

294, Spencer Graves and Rachel ------ of Caswell Co., NC

307, Monjett Graves and Alice Henry of Caswell Co., NC

314, Jacob Graves and Edy ------ of Caswell Co., NC

376, Sam Graves and Lilia ------ of Caswell Co., NC

378, Edward Graves and Mary Donnell of Memphis, TN and Alamance and Guilford Cos., NC

 

In addition, some of the charts have been updated, and some minor changes have been made to some of the other website pages.

 

Some of the major changes and additions to the website that have been discussed over the years have not yet been made.  However, I am hoping that there will be progress in the not-too-distant future.

 

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MOCAVO’S SURNAME GROUPS AND OTHER FEATURES

 

According to the April 5 issue of Mocavo Genealogy Blog, Mocavo has terminated Mocavo Forums and has started Mocavo Surname Groups.

 

They wrote: “There’s also a new twist in our Surname Groups that allows the most valuable content to float to the top of the page. You can vote positively or negatively on each question and answer.  As a result, the most popular questions and most relevant answers rise to the top so that you don’t have to dig through heaps of information to find the good stuff. Next to each question or answer within a Surname Group, you will see arrows.  If you find a question you are interested in or response that is particularly helpful, you can “vote it up” so that more people will see it. If you find a question to be wildly off topic or unhelpful or if you think an answer is inaccurate, you can “vote it down” so that it will migrate to the bottom of the page. The topics at the top of the page will be the ones with the highest number of “up” votes so that you can quickly see the most valuable questions and answers.”

 

The Graves surname group is presently at position 132 on the list of most popular groups.  When I tried it, the Search function to find a particular surname didn’t seem to work, but you can easily find any surname of interest by going to Mocavo, clicking on the link for Groups on the left, and then adding / and the surname of interest to the end of the URL at the top of your browser.  All surnames for which Mocavo has any information seem to be included.

 

The Surname Queries link for each surname is the Message Boards of Ancestry.com.  However, there also seems to be a Mocavo Queries link, which you can get to by clicking on the “Go to All Queries” link after the Surname Queries.  Even for the most popular surnames, there were almost no queries posted and no answers for those that were posted.  But this is a new feature and it will be interesting to see what success it has.

 

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HOW DO PEOPLE SHARE GENEALOGICAL INFORMATION?

 

The April 10 issue of The Weekly Genealogist (vol. 16, no. 15), the online newsletter of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, takes a reader survey every week.  The April 3 survey asked how people share their genealogical information. The responses from the 3,898 people who responded were:

 

94%, Email

63%, Postal mail

54%, Telephone calls

46%, Online message boards or forums

49%, Genealogical or historical website

18%, Published book or article

18%, Commercial website

12%, Lectures and presentations

10%, Personal website

11%, Social media website

5%, Personal blog

2%, Someone else's blog

2%, Instant messages

<1%, Twitter

14%, Other

 

The reason this article was of interest to me is the apparent discrepancy between these communications channels and those of the general population (especially the younger part of the population) for non-genealogical purposes.  Young people seem to prefer online chats and text messaging, and social media sites such as Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, and others.  They want to be able to share information quickly and easily and to get an immediate response.  For them, postal mail is from the dark ages, and email and telephone calls aren’t much better.  In addition, many business people are overwhelmed with too many email messages and are looking for a better way to communicate.  I suspect that, as these people get older and some of them get interested in genealogy, there will be a large change in how they get and share genealogical information.

 

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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 to gfa@gravesfa.org via PayPal.

 

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.