United States McCraw Family Association Reunion

BECKLEY (WVNS) – Beckley played host to a special family reunion over the weekend.

The biannual reunion for the United States McCraw Family Association brought together descendants of William Maccraw, who is the first-known American ancestor for the majority of the McCraws in the country, and McGraws in southern West Virginia.

Each year, the location of the reunion changes. Scott McGraw, who’s originally from Walton County, was integral to bringing this year’s reunion to Beckley, West Virginia.

“When the opportunity came, I knew I wanted to bring the association here to my, you know, family’s home in order to show them off the beauty of West Virginia, as well as my McGraw family. I’m a McGraw it’s but the United States McCraw with the C Family Association. My great great grandfather, John McGraw, for who the city of McGraw’s and Wyoming County was named, changed our family name for reasons we still don’t understand in about 1870.  I wanted to make sure that we can share some West Virginia history, our culture, and the story of our family with our greater family.”

Scott McGraw

Scott’s distant cousin, Steve McGraw, shared a little about what they do at the reunions.

“We actually go over our family stories and then we discuss DNA. Our organization has been heavy into DNA for at least 20 years. And so we have a lot of background information that we have been able to verify by DNA. And we have several different genealogists in our family who put together a huge book about our family. And when DNA became active and became prevalent, we were able to prove everything they did. And they were doing this by going to courthouses and churches and cemeteries to get this kind of information. And that was back before the Internet, before any thing else, automatic like that. And so when the DNA came in and verified all of their genealogical conclusions, we knew we had a wonderful family result and a wonderful family legacy.”

Steve McGraw

Reunion attendees also checked out local museums, plays, and other activities that the surrounding New River Gorge had to offer.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WVNS.