Success

Many members of the project have had great success with using their DNA results to advance their genealogical research, by proving or disproving theories and using those results in conjunction with paper-based research to document their family history. Below are some such success stories; please let us know if you have used your DNA test results to further your research so that we can post details on this page.

Seven Perry Brothers of old Granville County, North Carolina

In 2011, Bennett Hester Perry Jr. of Hendersonville, NC, did a Y-DNA test which closely matched other members of Family Group 9. He was the last, living, male heir (carrying the Perry surname) to hold title to Cascine plantation, a historic property in Franklin Co., NC, founded in 1752, which was once owned by two of the “7 Perry brothers,” Jeremiah and Burwell.  Bennett was a sixth generation descendant of Burwell Perry and inherited title to Cascine from his father via an unbroken chain of male Perry ancestors. Group 9 also has other members who link their pedigrees to the 7 brothers. More information about Family Group 9 and the ‘7 Perry brothers’ is located in the comments section at the bottom of this page and at the bottom of the Group 9 Ancestors page.  An article on the ‘7 Perry brothers’ is available at the top of the Group 9 Ancestors page (or click: https://perry-dna.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/The-7-Perry-Brothers-Granville-Co-NC-Revised2016.pdf ).

The Perry families of Kilboy and Woodrooffe, Tipperary and Liscannor, County Clare, Ireland

Recently, members of three Irish Perry families joined the Perry DNA project. Tester 81613 is a descendant of Edward Perry of Liscannor, county Clare (ca. 1815-1888). His DNA matched tester 89370, a proven descendant of the Kilboy, Tipperary Perry family. With careful research it has now been proven that Edward Perry was the son of John Perry of Kilboy (ca. 1792-1872). Tester 88340 is a proven male line descendant of the Perry family of Woodrooff, near Clonmel in County Tipperary. It had long been supposed that the Perry families of Kilboy and Woodrooff were related. However, this tester failed to match the two proven Kilboy desendants and so a common descent has been disproven in the male line. A participant from the Perry family of Cahir (unproven) has recently received his results, which proves that there is a relationship between the Kilboy and the Cahir Perrys.

Hathcock/Perry family

One of our participants found that his DNA matched well with that of a Hathcock family member who tested with a different company. Upon further investigation, he found that their family history indicated that Sally Hathcock had two children with a (to them) mysterious male Perry. The two children and succeeding generations used the surname Hathcock. We can’t be sure that Sally ever married a male Perry as they were both likely teenagers at the time. No records have been found about the relationship between Sally Hathcock and a male Perry as the Montgomery Co. NC courthouse, where records would have been, not only burned, but burned three times! But thanks to DNA testing, both our Perry participant and the Hathcock participant now know (beyond any doubt) that they are indeed related; and that the story passed down through the generation about a mysterious male Perry and Sally Hathcock are indeed true. The true record of this connection survived in their DNA.

Perry family of Kentucky and Indiana

George Perry died in 1861, shortly after moving to Indiana with his large Perry family. They had eleven children. He left no records as he could not read or write. Neither could his widow, Julian. But the census gave clues, with a Perry relative living nearby (who also could not read or write) who turned out to be a sister. We were able to back track to Henry County, Kentucky where his marriage record was found. There were several Perry families in the county, and one had to be his, as he was born in Kentucky between 1802 and 1808, per census records. The other Perry families had sons of about the correct age to be George, who gave various years of age in each census. He did not seem to know his correct age, or if he knew it, could not add and subtract to reach the correct birth year.

Our research led us to believe George was related to Benjamin Perry, born in Virginia around 1752, who settled Port Royal in Henry County, Kentucky. But we could not find a paper trail to prove it. Talking a Perry who was documented back to Benjamin Perry into doing the DNA test, and another Perry male of George’s undocumented line, proved they were related with absolute matches. Success!!!

And as fate would have it, two weeks after submitting the DNA samples, an old court order book was found in the Courthouse behind a cabinet, which listed the children of Benjamin Perry when he died in 1839. George was his youngest son.

Willis Perry family success with Family Finder test

One Perry researcher had documented their male Perry line back to Willis Perry, who was born in 1810 in North Carolina. It was suspected that Willis was a descendant of the North Carolina (Group 3) Perry family, whose ancestor, John was born in 1650 and the y-DNA certainly matched, although there was no evidence as to which of his children Willis descended from. A female descendant of this line took the Family Finder test and matched with a proven descendant of Priscilla Perry, a daughter of Jacob, which indicates that Willis must have descended through this line.

Richard Hill

Richard Hill used both the Y-DNA and Family Finder tests to find out about his birth family. As Richard has a ‘Perry’ match in his line, he is a member of our project. You can read his fascinating story on his website.