The objectives of this project are:
All males with the surname Acree living in the U.S. and abroad are encouraged to participate. Males with close surname variations (including Acre, Acres, Acrey and Akre) are also invited to participate - to assess the extent of common origins, particularly those living abroad who had known emigrants to colonial America in their patrilineal ancestry.
The project compares the unique Y-Chromosome (Y-DNA) profile segments that fathers pass intact to their sons, which remain basically stable from generation to generation, with only minor, infrequent mutational changes:
Acree-surnamed females may participate by convincing an Acree-surnamed male relative (father, brother, uncle or cousin) to provide requisite Y-DNA.
This project may provide physical evidence that will further validate Acree lineages found through documentary research. It may help those who have sought to extend their Acree lines back to colonial-era America, by suggesting ancestral focal points for further research. The efforts of those who have been successful in establishing personal descent from colonial-era Acrees may be assisted by evidence of genetic commonality or disparity among project participants, with resulting implications for extended ancestry. It may help Acrees (with various surname spellings) living in the British Isles to establish kinship with others there and in the U.S.
While the Acree surname is relatively uncommon, it is more prevalent than many suppose, with favorable incidence for a DNA project. According to the census, there were 7035 individuals with Acree/Acre/Acres/Acrey/Akre surnames resident in the U.S. in the year 2000, nearly two-thirds of whom spelled their name Acree. The more numerous Acker/Aker/Eaker individuals appear to have primarily Germanic/Scandinavian origins. That surname cluster, however, also arose independently in the British Isles, where it may have been related historically to the evolution of the Acree surname, which has seldom been spelled with two e's on that side of the Atlantic.
Most of the Acrees who were born in the U.S. and have successfully traced their early paternal ancestry, descend from a few residents of colonial Virginia and Maryland who are believed to have emigrated from the British Isles, often spelled their name Acre, and appeared in documents using that spelling and others that were phonetically similar. Many of their sons migrated to the Carolinas and Georgia in the mid to late 1700s.
Most of the early Acree/Acre lineages that have been published or appear on the internet show descent from six 18th-century progenitors:
Joshua was the son of an earlier William Acree (c1710-c1767) of Hanover Co., Virginia, whose ancestry has not been established. That earlier William was probably also the father of William and Isaac, who reputedly migrated together from Hanover Co. to Warren Co. He was probably also the father of John, who took a similar migration route from Virginia to Bertie Co., as well as the father of Abraham, who resided just across the Hanover/Caroline county line - the Pamunkey River from William. (Ancestral trees have been posted elsewhere on the internet that affirm these probable but unproven father-son relationships.) The William from Maryland does not appear to have been related to the others and may have been the son of a Quaker family who immigrated to the Philadelphia area and moved with coreligionists to successive Quaker settlements in Frederick and Guilford counties.
Surname DNA projects such as this usually begin by testing as many people as possible who have identified their ancestors from documentary research - attempting to find close genetic matches and arranging them by earliest claimed ancestors.
This project was initiated by its coordinator in August 2006 with the advantage of having identified the genetic profile of "Cashie" John Acree, Sr. of Bertie Co., North Carolina (above), which is available to participants for comparison. This "ancestral haplotype" was initially found through an exact match of 46 Y-DNA marker values between two distant Acree cousins who had independently traced their lineages to John Sr. from his second and third sons, John Jr. and William. The match, considered newsworthy, was the subject of a promotional press release. Click the link below to see it:
Since then, the ancestral haplotype has been further validated by matches with two second cousins who descend from John Sr.'s first son, Edward, through his great-grandson, Nathan. The project has also identified the ancestral haplotype of William Acree of Wilkes Co., Georgia (above), which, significantly, is identical to that of John Sr. This discovery emerged from the matching profiles of four distant cousins (one of them an Acrey), who have traced their lineage to William through his son, John - three through John's grandson, Allen (who is, coincidentally, the father of Vina Acree, an ancestor of former Senator John Edwards).
These combined genetic findings indicate that William was closely related to John Sr. and was most likely his brother. Documentary confirmation is unavailable, but, from these test results and circumstantial evidence, it is probable that they were both sons of the above-mentioned William Acree of Hanover Co., Virginia.
Here is a depiction of the lines in which successive Acree fathers passed this nearly identical genetic profile to their sons - from two Acree progenitors, through several generations, down to our project participants:
Future participants whose test results match the haplotype will be confirmed as descendents of John Sr., William, their brothers, or close cousins (in the U.S. or British Isles). Specifics must be determined through documentary evidence. A preponderance of matches, as the project proceeds, would strengthen the case that most Acrees living in the U.S. today descend from a lone 17th or early 18th-century immigrant.
Future participants whose test results do not match the haplotype will provide alternative genetic profiles. If several differing profiles develop as the project proceeds, it would suggest that Acrees in the U.S. descend significantly from multiple immigrant ancestors.
The project would greatly benefit from participants who trace their lineage from the other four 18th-century progenitors mentioned above: Joshua, Isaac, Abraham and the William from Maryland. Descendents of the first three, who were probably brothers of William and John Sr., are expected to match the established haplotype. Descendents of the William from Maryland are less likely to match it, because he was apparently unrelated to those earlier colonists.
Unanticipated DNA results may be unwelcome to participants. This physical evidence may cast doubt on well-documented Acree lines of descent that were previously considered firmly established, by indicating that an informal adoption or an undisclosed illegitimacy of birth probably occurred in one or more generations within a lineage. These so-called "non-paternity events" were (and remain) far more common than we generally appreciate. Their frequency rate in our culture is estimated to be about two percent in each generation.
The test is simple, painless and private. Participants will receive a kit in the mail, swab inside their cheeks with cotton tips provided, and submit these specimens by mail.
Because the several DNA testing laboratories look at different sets of markers, one laboratory has been selected to ensure consistency of results: Sorenson Genomics, which uses an effective set of markers, double-checks its findings, enables favorable pricing, and provides short turn-around time from specimen submission to the communication of results. Relative Genetics, which has employed the Sorenson laboratory and provided excellent service to the project since its inception, was recently acquired by DNA Ancestry, which now provides testing in partnership with Sorenson.
Just as a comparison of one person to another is aided by focusing on a greater number of characteristics, a comparison of genetic profiles is made more conclusive by testing for a greater number of markers. More thorough testing, however, is more expensive. DNA Ancestry offers Y-DNA tests for 33 and 46 markers.
For project participants, a 15% discount from the prices shown on the DNA Ancestry website (link below) has been extended until May 31, 2008. Each participant is fully responsible for paying the cost of his test. The project coordinator is unaffiliated with the testing company and does not receive any financial compensation for his work on this project.
John Acree, Sr. (born c1735 in VA) & Patience (born c1740 in VA)
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John Acree, Jr. (born c1762 in NC) & Penelope Hayes (born c1767 in NC)
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Joab Cotton Acree (born 1799 in NC) & Sophia Campbell Marshall (born 1805 in VA)
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James Hardy Acree (born 1832 in TN) & Nancy Peyton Waugh (born 1840 in KY)
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James Walter Acree (born 1874 in TN) & Wilhelmina Sachse (born 1888 in MO)
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Parents - private
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Participant - private
Within a month, you should receive your results from DNA Ancestry. They will be a series of values associated with the markers for which you have been tested. After communication of those results to the project coordinator, they will be displayed anonymously on the project's password-accessible webpage (which will continue to reside for a time at the Relative Genetics website) - allowing comparison with the results of other participants. An alphanumeric identifier will replace your name there.
by Charles Acree. All rights reserved.