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. 11, No. 6, June 23, 2009

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CONTENTS:

** General Comments

** Extension of Special Offer from Family Tree DNA to New Customers

** DNA Study Information

** Reunion in San Antonio, Texas this August

** Mrs. Greaves and Bakewell Pudding

** To Submit Material to this Bulletin & Other Things

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GENERAL COMMENTS

I know it seems like I just sent a Graves Family Bulletin, because I did. However, I just received a notice from Family Tree DNA that is important to pass on. They are extending their special DNA testing offer until June 30 – an extra week. This is too good an opportunity to miss. We have had a great response to the offer so far, and I hope even more of you will agree to be tested before this opportunity ends.

EXTENSION OF SPECIAL OFFER FROM FAMILY TREE DNA TO NEW CUSTOMERS

In the last bulletin we told you about the special offer from Family Tree DNA. That offer has now been extended through June 30, an extra 6 days.

They wrote that they have received many requests “asking us to extend our "Unparalleled 50% Promotional Discount" Y-DNA37+mtDNA for $119 (the regular project price is $248 – a reduction of more than 50%!!), as many people are only now becoming aware of the promotion. We have decided, therefore, to extend it until June 30th, 2009. Kits must be paid by July 7, 2009.” You can place your order as explained in the previous bulletin, or you can click on the following link: www.familytreedna.com/group-join.aspx?Group=Graves&Code=H42390

Reminder of the importance of Y-DNA testing

If your part of the Graves/Greaves/Grieves family has not yet been DNA-tested, it is very important to do so. The results of the test will show which other families you share a common ancestor with. The person being tested must be a male descended in an all-male line from a Graves/Greaves/Grieves ancestor, which usually means he must have one of those spelling variations as his surname.

For the purpose of investigating surname ancestry, the Y-DNA test is the most helpful. The Y-chromosome is passed on with little change from father to son, so this test is used for determining direct male ancestry. Only males have the Y-chromosome.

Free Y-DNA testing for those in the British Isles and Europe who qualify

The offer of free Y-DNA DNA testing to men who live in the U.K. or Ireland continues. We will also include those who live in other European countries. The requirements are that you be a male with the Greaves, Graves, or other variant spelling, name, that your part of the family has not yet been adequately tested, and that you provide information about your ancestry.

DNA STUDY INFORMATION

On our recent tour of England, we gathered DNA samples from two Greaves descendants. One is probably descended from genealogy 377, Reuben Graves of Cumbria (or a closely related family), and the other from genealogy 47, Thomas Greaves of Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire. This second sample is the most exciting, since it is connected with the Virginia family of genealogy 270, and is the first sample for this family from England; the others have been from descendants in Australia.

In addition, a descendant of genealogy 934 (Robert Greaves of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire) is being tested, and several other family members (whose families are not yet identified) are also being tested.

Any member of a Greaves or Graves family that has not yet been tested needs to find a family member to be tested so we can identify the earlier ancestry and better connect the related families.

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REUNION IN SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS THIS AUGUST

This is another reminder that a Graves Family Reunion will be held in San Antonio, TX, Aug. 7-9 (Friday-Sunday). The Southwest Chapter of the Graves Family Association, headed by Ron Graves, is organizing this. It will be for all Graves and Greaves families, not any specific family. It will be at the Holiday Inn Select, 77 NE Loop 410, San Antonio TX, about ½ mile from the airport.

The main meeting will be Saturday, Aug. 8, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., but it is hoped that many will be there for Friday and Saturday nights also. There will be a room from 6-10 PM on Friday night to meet and greet. There will be presentations and discussions led by Ken Graves and others. We will be talking about the various Graves/Greaves families (including yours), the latest DNA study results, our research programs to connect families, find earlier ancestry, and resolve problems, and answering any questions anyone has.

A block of rooms has been set aside for Friday and Saturday nights at the Holiday Inn Select at $89 per night plus tax. Continental breakfast, lunch and snack are included. To reserve a room, call them at 888-615-0518 and tell them it is for the Graves Family Reunion. Their website is www.hiselect.com/sat-intlapt. You can obviously stay elsewhere if you prefer. For all attendees, there will be a $30 per person registration fee.

For more information, contact Ron Graves at gravesronn@cs.com, with a copy to Dick Graves (rwgravy@aol.com), Eddie Graves (egraves@sw.rr.com), and Ken Graves (ken.graves@gravesfa.org).

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MRS. GREAVES AND BAKEWELL PUDDING

One of the interesting bits of trivia (or history, depending on your point of view) when visiting Derbyshire, and Bakewell in particular, is the story of how Mrs. Greaves invented the famous Bakewell pudding. There is more than one version of the story, but they all involve Mrs. Ann Greaves and her accidental creation of this pastry. Mrs. Greaves and her husband are buried in the cemetery of the church that overlooks the town of Bakewell.

The most common version is that the Bakewell Pudding was first created in the 1860s when Bakewell's coaching inn was the White Horse. The White Horse was built in 1804 on the site of an earlier inn. It is by the roundabout in the centre of Bakewell and is now called the Rutland Arms. Back in the coaching days it was the landlady of the White Horse, Mrs. Greaves (wife of the innkeeper), who usually did the cooking but on the monumental day, when entertaining important guests, the task of making a strawberry tart was left to an inexperienced assistant. The egg and sugar were omitted while making the pastry. Then the jam was spread over the unusual pastry base, and the egg and sugar mixture was put on top and an extra (secret) ingredient was added. The customers liked this new sweet, and the rest is history.

What became of the secret recipe? One story is that Mrs. Greaves left the recipe, in her will, to a Mr. Radford, who in turn passed it on to Mr. Bloomer. Mr. Bloomer's son still makes (and sells) this 'original' pudding. But, according to the Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop, Mrs. Wilson who owned the cottage where the shop now is, acquired the recipe from the assistant cook (rumour is that is was stolen). Mrs. Wilson was a candle maker in this cottage and she decided that she would start to make this pudding.

There are three bakeries in Bakewell selling the world famous Bakewell Pudding, and it will come as no surprise that each claims to have the original, secret recipe. During the summer season, over 12,000 puddings are sold each week. The Bakewell Pudding is quite different from the more familiar Bakewell Tart.

A book has been written about Mrs. Greaves. It is called ANN SUMMERS, CREATOR OF THE WORLD FAMOUS BAKEWELL PUDDING by Paul Hudson (ISBN 9780955225178) The residents of the Peak District would probably connect the creation of the world famous Bakewell Pudding with Mrs. Ann Greaves, the wife of the innkeeper of the Rutland Arms which dominates the centre of the town of Bakewell. That would probably be the limit of their knowledge about this hard-working, popular and interesting lady who was prominent in Bakewell life during the first half of the 19th century. Ann was born in Derbyshire, her maiden name was ‘Summers’, she married the first innkeeper of the newly-built Rutland Arms Inn, James Hudson, she had four children and she lived to the ripe old age of 88! This book is the culmination of many years of research by local-born Paul Hudson, a direct descendant of the famous Mrs. Greaves, the lady who instigated the baking of the first Bakewell Pudding in the kitchens of her Rutland Arms Inn in the early 19th century. He has set out to correct the several anomalies about the story of Mrs. Greaves, the lady who put Bakewell on the world map all those years ago. She played such an enormous part in the future prosperity and popularity of the town by creating the first Bakewell Pudding all those years ago and by passing it down for all to enjoy. During the course of this research, the author discovered that his family was directly connected with many notable characters of their day and places of special local interest including Chatsworth House and Haddon Hall. He has moulded this information culled from numerous documentary records to form an absorbing study of work. Read about Sir Humphry Davy, the world-famous scientist; Sir Joseph Paxton, the head gardener of Chatsworth House and designer of the famous Crystal Palace; George Stephenson, the railway pioneer; and the ‘Bachelor Duke’ of Devonshire. The story of the Bakewell Pudding, Mrs. Greaves’ large family of Hudson and Greaves descendants and who has the original and genuine Bakewell Pudding recipe is all explained in this new book. It has taken several years of research to complete and has brought the author in touch with a great many new and previously unknown relatives and the fascinating stories they have collected over the centuries.

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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.

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