One of the original Adventurers (stockholders) of the Virginia Company of London, and one of the very early planters who founded Jamestown, VA. He was also the first known person named Graves in North America. 

He arrived on the Mary and Margaret in 1608 in the Second Supply (the first relief to the original colony). His wife Katherine (Croshaw?) arrived in 1616 with their two sons John and Thomas, Jr. 
Thomas was a member of the first house of Burgesses. He is recorded in The Adventures of Purse and Person, VA, 1607-1624/5; 17th Century Colonial Ancestors, Hutton, 1976; and Captain Thomas Graves and His Descendents, (Sweeney). 
Thomas Graves transported his wife Katherine and 2 sons, John and Thomas Jr and 8 others including Henry Singleton and Thomas Edge.. (Head rights) "Cavaliers and Pioneers" Nugent. 
Thomas Graves, Esquire, is referred to as a Gentleman from Dublin in the Realm of Ireland in a patent for land..20 Nov 1622. 
None of the sons claimed the land on the Eastern Shore and all of his daughters went to Maryland. 
Although John Card Graves states that Thomas was accompanied by his wife Katherine, sons John and Thomas and eight others, including Henry Singleton and Thomas Edge, most other historians agree that he did not bring his wife and children over until later. It is likely that he did not even marry Katherine until 1610, and his first first child was born about 1611. 
Thomas Graves was one of the original Adventurers (stockholders) of the Virginia Company of London and one of the very early Planters (settlers) who founded Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in North America. He was also the first person named Graves in North America. Captain Thomas Graves is listed as one of the original Adventurers as "Thomas Grave" on page 364, Records of th Virginia Company of London, vol. IV. The Records of the Virginia Company state that in 1622 was granted "a patent to Thomas Graves of Doublin in the Realm of Ireland, gent.." The First Colony (consisting of knights,gentlemen, merchants and others of the city of London) made a settlement at Jamestown on May 13, 1607, which became permanent. 
Thomas Graves early became active in the affairs of the infant colony. Shortly after his arrival, while on an exploring expedition he was captured by the Indians and taken to Opecancanough's town. Ensign Thomas Savage, who had come to Virginia with the first supply on the John and Francis in 1608, was sent by Capt. John Smith and rescued him. 

In 1617 the Virginia Company, hoping to expand population and agricultural production in the colony, encouraged private or voluntary associations organized on a joint stock basis to establish settlements in the area of the Company's patent. The Society of Smith's (or~Smythe's) Hundred (later called Southampton Hundred) was organized in 1617. In addition to Captain Thomas Graves, the Adventurers included Sir Thomas Smith, Sir Edwin Sandys, and the Earl of Southampton. Soon after April 29, 1619, Governor Yeardley wrote to Sir Edwin Sandys: "I have entreated Capt. Graves, an antient officer of this company, to take charge of the people and workes". 

Capt. Thomas Graves was a member of the First Legislative Assembly in America, and, with Mr Walter Shelley, sat for Smythe's Hundred when it met at Jamestown on July 30, 1619. 

The time of Capt Thomas Graves' removal to the Eastern Shore is not known. It was, however, after August 1619, since he was then a representative from Smythe's Hundred to the first meeting of the House of Burgesses. It was also prior to Feb 16, 1623, for "A List of Names of the Living in Virginia Feb. 1623" shows Thomas Graves "at the Eastern Shore". His patent for 200 acres on the Eastern Shore is of record 14 March 1628 (Patent Book No. 1, p. 72, Land Registrar's 0ffice, Richmond, Va.). 

This land was in what was then known as Accomack, now a part of Northampton Co.It was granted by Dr. Thomas Pott, Governor of Virginia, and was on the eastern side of the Bay of Chesapeake, westerly of the lands of Capt Henry Flute, an explorer of the Bay, "by virtue of the adventure of five and twenty pounds paid by the said Capt.Thomas Graves to Sir Thomas Smyth, Treasure of the Virginia Company." He paid a "quit rent" of one shilling for fifty acres, payable at the feast of St. Michael the Archangel (Sept.29) each year on a part of his land. 

In the census of February 1625, Capt.Thomas was one of only 51 people then living on the Eastern Shore. He was put in charge of the direction of local affairs later in 1625. In Sept. 1632 he, with others, was appointed a commissioner "for the Plantacon of Acchawmacke". He was one of the Burgesses to the Assembly, representing Accomac, for the 1629-30 season and for the 1632 session. He attended many of the meetings of the Commissioners, but he was absent from Dec 30, 1632/3 until Oct. 23, 1633/4. It appears that he was out of the country. 

The old Hungars Episcopal Church is locate about seven miles north of Eastville, on the north side of Hungars Creek. Hungars Parish was made soon after the county was established, and the first minister was Rev. Francis Bolton, who was succeeded by Rev. William Cotton. The first vestry was appointed in 1635. The first vestry meeting was on Sept. 29, l635, at which Capt. Graves headed the list of those present. The first church edifice was 
erected in 1690-95 and was still standing around 1900, one of the oldest churches in the country. In addition to Capt. Thomas Graves, the other persons named by the court as vestrymen of Hungars Church were William Cotton, minister, Obedience Robins, John Howe, William Stone (first Protestant Governor of Maryland), William Burdett, William Andrews, John Wilkins, Alexander Mountray, Edward Drews, William Beniman and Stephen Charlton. 

Captain Thomas Graves died between November 1635 when he was witness to a deed and 5 Jan 1636 when suit was entered against a servant to Mrs. Graves (Adventurers of Purse and Person, pp. 188-189) . His birth date is not known, but is believed to be about 1580. That would have made him only about 55 years of age at his death. 

Very little is known about Katherine, wife of Capt. Thomas Graves. Her maiden name may have been Croshaw. (There was a Raleigh Chroshaw, Gent., who arrived with the second supply with Thomas Graves.) Just when she came to Virginia is not recorded. She and her children are not included in the 1625 census of the Eastern Shore, although Capt. Thomas Graves is. The patent granted to John Graves (son of Capt. Thomas Graves) on Aug 9, 1637 states that the 600 acres granted to him in Elizabeth City was "due in right of descent from his father Thomas Graves, who transported at his own cost himself, Katherine Graves his wife, John Graves the patentee, and Thomas Graves, Jr., and 8 persons." (Cavaliers and Pioneers, Nugent.) The 50 acres assigned for each person transported shows they came after 1616. The other 8 persons transported did not include any members of Capt. Graves' family. 

The girls, Ann, Verlinda, and Katherine obviously came later, and Francis was born in Virginia. The last reference to Mrs. Graves shows her living at the Old Plantation, Accomac, as of May 20, 1636. Since Captain Thomas Graves had been active in the affairs of Virginia from his arrival, the absence of any mention of him during certain periods indicate he had returned to England.