GRAVES FAMILY BULLETIN

 

Vol. 17, No. 3, April 28, 2015

 

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 © 2015 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 website and our Facebook page.

 

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CONTENTS

 

** General Comments

** Proverbs From the Guild of One-Name Studies

** Unique DNA and Family History Event In NY City

** Special Offer From Family Tree DNA

** New Source for British History

** Updates to the GFA Website

** Interesting Observation About Y-DNA Testing

** More Help for Those Researching African-American Families

** Architect Michael Graves Has Died

** Discussion of How WeÕre All Related

** New Feature for AncestryDNA

** To Submit Material to this Bulletin & Other Things

 

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GENERAL COMMENTS

 

This is the first issue of this bulletin since Feb. 16.  I hope you find it helpful and interesting.  Note the special offer from Family Tree DNA for a Big Y test, expiring the end of April.

 

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PROVERBS FROM THE GUILD OF ONE-NAME STUDIES

 

The following are a couple of genealogy-related proverbs recently quoted on the Guild of One-Name Studies (GOONS) mailing list.

 

"To forget one's ancestors is to be a brook

without a source, a tree without a root."

- Chinese Proverb

 

"If you are the last living link

Between your grandparents and your grandchildren,

Don't break the chain."

- unknown

 

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UNIQUE DNA AND FAMILY HISTORY EVENT IN NY CITY ON JUNE 6

 

Family Tree DNA issued an announcement on March 23 of the first-ever gathering that will bring together genetically linked people.  The announcement said: ÒFamily Tree DNA is proud to offer you an opportunity to deepen your understanding of your genetic past and meet your cousins from around the world - and have a blast doing it!

Family Tree DNA has partnered with The Global Family Reunion to put on a unique event: the first-ever gathering that brings together genetically linked people.  While at the gathering, you will get to hear from top scientists and entertainers on all aspects of DNA and family.Ó  There was an early-bird registration price, but that was only good through April 1.  The event will be June 6, 2015 in the New York Hall of Science, New York City.

 

All proceeds from the Global Family Reunion go to benefit the Cure Alzheimer's Fund and the Alzheimer's Association NYC.

If you can't make it to New York, there will be simultaneous festivals around the world with a livestream of the speakers.

The Global Family Reunion will be an entertaining, eye-opening festival for all ages - a TED conference meets a World's Fair - so bring your kids, nephews, grandkids, and grandparents.  All proceeds from the event go toward fighting Alzheimer's disease.

 

What can you expect at Global Family Reunion?

¥    See more than 30 top speakers with fascinating presentations on genetics and family heritage, including Henry Louis Gates of PBS's Finding Your Roots, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, NPR host Scott Simon, and Family Tree DNA President Bennett Greenspan

¥    Meet thousands of cousins and figure out how you are related

¥    Explore more than 450 interactive science exhibits from the New York Hall of Science

¥    Enjoy live entertainment, including music by Sister Sledge, who will be singing "We Are Family," of course.  There will also be comedy from The New Yorker's Andy Borowitz and comedian Nick Kroll

¥    Take part in family-themed trivia contests, scavenger hunts, games, and potato sack races for those who are bold

¥    Help build the biggest family tree ever

¥    Meet the staff from Family Tree DNA, as well as Family Tree DNA partners such as MyHeritage and Findmypast, and get exclusive tutorials

¥     Break world records, including the biggest family photo ever

 

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SPECIAL OFFER FROM FAMILY TREE DNA

 

On April 24, 2015, Family Tree DNA sent the following announcement:

 

DNA Day 2015 is here!  Every year students, teachers, and the public take this day to learn more about genetics and genomics!  

Celebrate advances in the field of genetics with a Family Finder test, and don't forget to tune in to CBS Sunday Morning this Sunday, 4/26/2015 for an exciting DNA segment!

Family Tree DNA is looking forward to offering many exciting deals beginning summer 2015.  This DNA Day, use coupon code DNADayBigY to take $100 off Big Y.  This coupon is valid from 12:00 AM 4/25/2015 through 11:59 PM 4/30/2015.

 

The following image was included to answer the question of ÒWhy take the Big Y test?Ó  Although it is still fairly early in the use of SNPs to determine the relationship of parts of the Graves and Greaves families to each other, and the positioning of individuals within family, this test is an important step along that road.  Taking this test is encouraged.  Only males can take this test since only they have Y-chromosomes.

 

 

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NEW SOURCE FOR BRITISH HISTORY

 

A website called ÒIntriguing HistoryÓ may be of interest to those of you who have British ancestry.  It connects people, events and places by period, century, and a wide range of historic themes, across 2,000 years of British history (although their website says 1,000 years).  This is a project that is experimenting with mapping and connecting historical information across a wide range of British historical themes of particular interest to family, local and social historians.  In addition to blog articles on various subjects, the site map provides links to a series of periods in history, historic themes, maps, etc.

 

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UPDATES TO THE GFA WEBSITE

 

The genealogies listed below have been revised or created.  Note that some of the Grieve and Grieves genealogies in this list pertain to the Grieve/Grieves article in the previous GF Bulletin.  Whenever the name of a genealogy is changed or a new genealogy is added to the website, the numerical index (charts page) is also updated.  The alphabetical index is often also updated, but (unfortunately) not always.

 

Genealogies recently revised and updated:

¥     Gen. 10, Elijah Graves of U.S. and Ontario, Canada

¥     Gen. 97, William Graves and Tabitha Sanders of NC & AL

¥     Gen. 157, Parents of George Clinton Graves of Lynchburg, VA

¥     Gen. 168, Thomas Graves of Hartford, CT & Hatfield, MA

¥     Gen. 218, Warren Graves and Harriette ------ of Caswell Co. & Rockingham Co., NC

¥     Gen. 447, Alexander Grieve and Marion Gibson of Borthwick, Temple, and Dalkeith, Midlothian, Scotland

¥     Gen. 636, Parents of Alfred Graves and Emily ------ of NC, VA & OH (probably part of gen. 22)

¥     Gen. 789, Alfred Graves and Annie May Walden Spoon of Randolph Co., NC

 

New genealogies created:

¥     Gen. 435, William Grieve and Ann Patterson of Ceres, Fife, Scotland

¥     Gen. 446, John Grieve of Dumfriesshire, Scotland

¥     Gen. 459, James Grieves and Helin Williamson of St. Andrews and St. Leonards, Fife, Scotland

¥     Gen. 460, James Grieve and Margaret Wood of Dalkeith, Midlothian, Scotland

 

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INTERESTING OBSERVATION ABOUT Y-DNA TESTING

 

It was recently pointed out on the ISOGG mailing list that men who are Y-DNA matches may occasionally be in different Y-haplogroups (although I am not aware of that ever happening in the Graves DNA project).  When that happens, the men are not actually descended from a common ancestor within genealogical time (that is, within the time that surnames have been in use).  The explanation for that is called Òconvergent evolution.Ó  (A Y-haplogroup as discussed here is defined as the most recent SNP that all members of a surname group share.)

 

Convergent evolution is defined in biology as the independent evolution of similar features in species of different lineages.  This term may not be technically appropriate when applied to Y-DNA test results, but what is meant is that the Y-DNA markers that were tested in two different men were the same (or almost the same) by chance (similar to the situation with autosomal DNA results where two DNA segments are said to be Òidentical by stateÓ).

 

Although this situation is probably unusual, it is one reason why testing more STR (single tandem repeat) markers is sometimes a good idea.  It is also a reminder that the ultimate test for Y-DNA matching may someday be testing SNPs (single nucleotide polymorhisms).  We have generally not yet found SNPs that distinguish one surname family from another, however, but I am expecting we will eventually have that ability.

 

AN EXAMPLE FROM GRAVES GENEALOGY GROUP R1-168

On the Y-DNA master chart for the Graves/Greaves DNA study, there is a column for haplogroup.  A haplogroup in green has been confirmed by SNP testing, and one in red are predicted from STR values.  If a red haplogroup does not agree with other haplogroups in a genealogy group, that should not be taken as proof that the test with the red haplogroup does not belong in that genealogy group until the haplogroup is confirmed.  The other thing to understand about the haplogroups within a genealogy group is that the listing of a different SNP in the haplogroup does not necessarily mean that the haplogroups are different, since one of those SNPs is usually downstream (that is, more recent) from the other.  For example, genealogy group R1-168 for the Graves families of the Hertford/Harlow area of England (genealogies 65, 168, 169, etc.) has haplogroups R-M269, R-U106, R-M173, R-L21, and R-P311.  If you look at the Y-DNA SNP chart for haplogroup R on the Graves Family Association website here (chart just updated), you will see that L21 is downstream from P311, which is downstream from M269, which is downstream from M173.  But U106 is also downstream from P311, and U106 and L21 are indeed different haplogroups.  So either the sample with U106 or the one with L21 doesnÕt belong in this group, or one of them is wrong.  Since L21 is green, the U106 is the one that should be checked.  In addition, since the U106 sample is a close match to 5 other samples in this group, at least one other should also be confirmed, since the STR test results of all 6 of these samples are significantly different from the rest of this group to indicate that they may not really belong in the group.

 

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE

Although many SNPs can be tested for individually, the best thing for a person to do whose haplogroup needs to be confirmed is to order a Deep Clade test at Family Tree DNA.  In the R1-168 group discussed in the preceding paragraph, the haplogroups of only 2 tests have been confirmed.

 

It can be seen in the Graves/Greaves Y-DNA master chart that hardly any of the haplogroup assignments have been confirmed.  At least a few people in every genealogy group should order a Deep Clade test or specific SNPs to extend the line closer to the present and differentiate the families from each other.

 

THE Y-DNA SNP CHART FOR HAPLOGROUP R

For those of you who have not looked at this chart  (mentioned above in the R1-168 discussion) on the GFA website, it is a greatly simplified version of the complete R-haplotree that needs to be greatly enhanced by much more testing by Graves/Greaves male descendants.  The present version is shown below and on the GFA website.

 

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MORE HELP FOR THOSE RESEARCHING AFRICAN-AMERICAN FAMILIES

 

ANCESTRY.COM BLOG

In its blog of 27 Feb. 2015, Ancestry.com had an article called ÒRestoring Slave Families Using USCT Pension RecordsÓ.  This is a resource for learning more about those who served in the U.S. Colored Troops and applied for a pension.  The government generally requested much documentation, and there can be up to 100 pages in some of these files.  There are options to request a ÒPension Documents Packet,Ó which contains only 8 documents or to order the entire pension file; the recommendation is to request the entire file if you can afford it.

 

On March 2, the Ancestry.com blog had an article titled ÒRich Finds in FreedmanÕs Bank Records, 1865-1874  The article mentions the information that might be found in these records and how to search them.

 

All archived articles are available on this blog, and can be found by searching by category, date, subject, or name.

 

AMERICAN ANCESTORS VITA BREVIS BLOG

Vita Brevis is a blog of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, designed to offer the reader short essays by the SocietyÕs expert staff on their own research as well as news of the greater genealogical community.  A brief article dated 24 Feb. 2015 on Vita Brevis is called ÒResearching Your African American Family  This is a fairly new blog, and searching for other articles of interest by a couple methods is easy to do.

 

WEBINAR FROM NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

A free webinar called ÒAfrican American Resources at NEHGSÓ took place on Thursday, March 26, 3 p.m. EST.  They will probably be having other events like this in the future.

 

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ARCHITECT MICHAEL GRAVES HAS DIED

 

Celebrated American architect Michael Graves has died at 80 years of age.  Known for creating whimsical postmodern structures, he designed more than 350 buildings around the world.  He became well known to the masses later in life for designing products for people with disabilities and household goods such as whistling teakettles sold at Target and other stores.  He died of natural causes at his home in Princeton, NJ, on Thursday, March 12.

 

More information is in articles in USA Today and the New York Times.  Another article about some of those more personally affected by Michael Graves was in the Town Topics community newspaper in Princeton, NJ.  He is included on the page of Famous Family Members on the Graves Family Association website.  He is in genealogy 94 (Thomas Sims Graves of Culpeper Co., VA), which is probably descended from genealogy 220 (Francis Graves of VA), and before that from genealogy 228.

 

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DISCUSSION OF HOW WEÕRE ALL RELATED

 

ANCESTRY AND RELATEDNESS OF U.S. PRESIDENTS

We all generally know that because of extensive intermarriage within populations, anyone whose ancestors lived somewhere such as Colonial America for any length of time is probably related to everyone else in that population, often in multiple ways.  And, of course, if we go back far enough, we find that everyone in the world is apparently related to everyone else, however distantly.  An interesting story about this appeared on March 17 in Elite Daily, titled Ò12 Year Old Girl Discovers That All But One US President Are Directly Related to Each Other

 

According to this story, a 12-year-old girl, with the help of her grandfather, discovered that all the presidents except for Martin Van Buren share a common ancestor, King John of England (the king who signed the Magna Carta).  There is always some uncertainty about the correctness of lineages like this, but it does show my point.  One place to see the actual lineages from King John to each of the presidents is in this article on the Reality Blogs website by Tim Dowling.

 

UPCOMING PRESENTATION ABOUT ANCESTRY OF U.S. PRESIDENTS

Gary Boyd Roberts, renowned genealogist, scholar, and author, gave a free lecture on the ancestry of American presidents, with special emphasis on Abraham Lincoln, on Wednesday, April 15, 6-7 p.m., at the New England Historic Genealogical Society, 99-101 Newbury St., Boston, MA.  Although free, registration is required by clicking here and then clicking ÒAdd to cart.Ó  (This bulletin was intended to be published before this event happened.)

 

HENRY LOUIS GATES AND HUMAN INTERCONNECTEDNESS

An article by Henry Louis Gates and Julie Granka on April 8 in the Ancestry blog is called ÒThe Interconnectedness of the Human Family  The point is made that with each more distant generation on our family tree, the number of potential ancestors is doubled.  Going the other direction, if each ancestor in your family tree had 2.5 children on average, you would have 8 first cousins and more than 110,000 seventh cousins.  And if your ancestors averaged 4 children instead, you would have over 6 million seventh cousins.  Allowing for Òpedigree collapseÓ, cousins marrying close or distant cousins reduces those numbers significantly, but it is obvious that most people from the same continent are related, probably multiple times, to everyone else in the same population.

 

The article goes on to try to make the point that AncestryDNA, the autosomal DNA test from Ancestry, can help you find many of those relatives and ancestors that could never be found by traditional document research.  See the following article for more discussion of that claim.

 

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NEW FEATURE FOR ANCESTRYDNA

 

There was an article in the April 2 issue of EastmanÕs Online Genealogy Newsletter about this titled ÒAncestryDNA Launches Revolutionary New Technology to Power New Ancestor Discoveries.Ó   On an April 9 article in the DNAeXplained blog, Roberta Estes discussed AncestryDNA and Ancestry Circles, how they work, and some of the shortcomings.

 

My experience is that when you go to Ancestry.com now, the first thing that is displayed is a screen that says: ÒWeÕre turning family history inside out.  Now you can find new ancestors just through your DNAÓ (referring to their ancestryDNA autosomal DNA test).  If you click on the ÒShow me howÓ link and are a paying member of Ancestry.com, the page that is displayed shows an ethnicity estimate, DNA matches, new ancestor discoveries, and DNA Circles (for people who are already in your family tree).  In my case, I am in 13 DNA Circles based on my ancestry chart plus DNA matches.

 

According to Ancestry.com, ÒNew Ancestor DiscoveriesÓ are potential ancestors and relatives that are found by comparing my DNA to people who have already built family trees beyond parts of mine.  ÒClicking on the photo of your potential new ancestor or relative will lead you on the path to discovering amazing new details of your family story as you determine how they may fit into your family tree.Ó  When I first looked at my potential ancestors/relatives, I saw that I had 2, but when I looked again a few minutes later, I had 4 - strange.  The 4 were John Henry Evans, Nancy Caroline Cantrell (wife of John Henry Evans), William Blackburn Evans (brother of John Henry Evans), and China Capps (wife of William Blackburn Evans).  John Henry Evans was a son of Charles Evans and Sarah Blackburn, and I know I have Blackburn ancestry.  My conclusion is that they have identified a group of possible Blackburn descendants, which is not a new discovery.  These people are relatives but definitely not ancestors, and unfortunately there is no revelation of a new ancestor or new discovery.  Unfortunately I cannot see which segments of which chromosomes are being shared, so there is no way for me to evaluate this matching further.

 

My conclusion is that these tools are interesting and of some help, but they have a long way to go to be as helpful as they may be eventually, and they certainly donÕt provide the proof that a chromosome browser would.

 

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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.