Albert Perry Father of all Men found in South Carolina 340,000 Years old

Albert Perry carried a secret in his DNA: a Y chromosome so distinctive that it reveals new information about the origin of our species. It shows that the last common male ancestor down the paternal line of our species is over twice as old as we thought.

One possible explanation is that hundreds of thousands of years ago, modern and archaic humans in central Africa interbred, adding to known examples of interbreeding – with Neanderthals in the Middle East, and with the enigmatic Denisovans somewhere in southeast Asia.

Perry, deceased, was an African-American who lived in South Carolina he was originally from Florida . A few years ago, one of his female relatives submitted a sample of his DNA to a company called Family Tree DNA for genealogical analysis.

Geneticists can use such samples to work out how we are related to one another. Hundreds of thousands of people have now had their DNA tested. The data from these tests had shown that all men gained their Y chromosome from a common male ancestor. This genetic “Adam” lived between 60,000 and 140,000 years ago.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23240-the-father-of-all-men-is-340000-years-old/

DNA Report An African American Paternal Lineage Adds an Extremely Ancient Root to the Human Y Chromosome Phylogenetic Tree https://www.cell.com/ajhg/fulltext/S0002-9297(13)00073-6

Genealogy of A00, A0, and the Reference Sequence Lineages on which mutations were identified and lineages that were used for placing those mutations on the genealogy are indicated with thick and thin lines, respectively. The numbers of identified mutations on a branch are indicated in italics (four mutations in A00 were not genotyped but are indicated as shared by Mbo in this tree). The time estimates (and confidence intervals) are indicated kya for three nodes: the most recent common ancestor, the common ancestor between A0 and the reference (ref), and the common ancestor of A00 chromosomes from an African American individual and the Mbo. Two sets of ages are shown: on the left are estimates (numbers in black) obtained with the mutation rate based on recent whole-genome-sequencing results as described in the main text, and on the right are estimates (numbers in gray) based on the higher mutation rate used by Cruciani et al.6

According to New Scientist when FamilyTreeDNA’s technicians tried to place Perry on the Y-DNA phylogenetic tree and ... they just couldn’t:

"His Y chromosome was like no other so far analysed. Michael Hammer, a geneticist at the University of Arizona in Tucson, heard about Perry’s unusual Y chromosome and did some further testing and concluded:

Bonnie and her team’s research revealed something extraordinary: Perry did not descend from the genetic Adam. In fact, his Y chromosome was so distinct that his male lineage probably separated from all others about 338,000 years ago Jacqueline Johnson's unidentified male cousin's Y-DNA mutation seemed to be older than current estimates for the age of anatomically modern humans. For example Y-DNA Haplogroup A, also known as Y-chromosome Adam, is the father of all human males, and is estimated to be 254,000 ybp according toMendez et al 2013. However Y-chromosome Adam's descendant A00 seems much older than 254,000 ybp although there has been some healthy debate on it's age — Elhaik et al 2014 places the age of A00 at 208,300 ybp and Karmin et al. 2015 dated it to between 192,000 and 307,000 ybp (95% CI). This also means Y-chromosome Adam is even older than once thought. While A00's age may be subject to debate, it is clearly the most ancient divergent Y-DNA haplogroup yet discovered. And it was found in Jacqueline Johnson's male cousin from South Carolina.

ALBERT PERRY

Jacqueline Johnson traced this cousin’s paternal line back to a former slave named Albert Perry (born between 1819 and 1827) who lived in South Carolina and first appeared on the 1870 census five years after the civil war and the emancipation of slaves.

https://mountainsrivers.com/2020/06/17/y-chromosomal-adam/

Name:Albert Perry

Age in 1870:43Birth Date:abt 1827

Birthplace:South Carolina

Dwelling Number:336Home in 1870:Landsford, Chester, South Carolina

Race:BlackGender: MalePost Office:Landsford

Occupation: LaborerCannot

Read: YesCannot Write:YesMale Citizen

Over 21:Yes

Inferred Spouse:Rosanna Perry

Inferred Children:Cesar Perry John Perry Clyde Perry Perry

• Who/why he matters: Albert Perry (a 19th-century African-American man from South Carolina; his male-line descendants submitted Y-DNA to consumer testing) is the historically identified patrilineal ancestor whose descendant’s Y chromosome led researchers to discover the extremely rare Y-haplogroup A00 (often called “Perry’s Y”). PMC

• Main finding (2013): Mendez et al. reported that this Y chromosome sits at the basal position of the Y-chromosome tree (haplogroup A00) and, using their mutation-rate assumptions, estimated a TMRCA for the Y-tree of ~338 thousand years ago (95% CI = 237–581 kya). That made headlines because it pushed the Y-tree root much farther back than prior estimates. PMC

• Where else A00 was found: The same divergent A00 markers (or very close matches) were also detected at low frequency among the Mbo people of western Cameroon, linking the African-American sample to a West-Central African source. PMC

• Subsequent work & refinement: Later critiques and re-analyses argued that the very large age estimate depended heavily on mutation-rate choices and methodology; revised analyses give a younger (but still very old) divergence time (e.g., ~208kya in some reanalyses). Additional Big Y (deep Y sequencing) tests on Perry descendants have further resolved branches under A00. PMC+1

What the key papers show

1. Mendez et al., 2013 — Am J Hum Genet: original report of the A00 lineage discovered via an African-American sample (descended from Albert Perry). Describes sequencing of ~240 kb of the Y, discovery of A00, TMRCA estimates (the 338 kya figure), and detection of matching Y-STR profiles in Mbo from Cameroon. (Open access at PMC). PMC

2. Elhaik et al., 2014 — Eur J Hum Genet: forensic-bioinformatics critique arguing that Mendez et al.’s dating and some methodological choices inflated the age estimates; provides a lower revised date estimate and discusses rate choices and sequence comparisons. PMC

3. Follow-up sequencing / citizen-science updates (FamilyTreeDNA / Big Y reports, DNA-Explained commentary): these sources document later Big-Y upgrades for Perry descendants, new subbranches under A00, and how commercial deep-Y testing refined the tree. These are good for tracking the ongoing haplogroup refinements (not peer-reviewed papers but useful progress notes). FamilyTreeDNA Blog+1

• A00 is rare but real. The haplogroup defined from Perry’s descendant is a deeply branching Y lineage found at very low frequency in parts of central/western Africa (Mbo). PMC

• Dating is model-dependent. The extraordinary early TMRCA reported in 2013 sparked debate — later reanalyses and methodological critiques showed the estimate is sensitive to the mutation rate and the sequence portions compared; reasonable revised estimates place the split still very ancient but not necessarily as extreme as the original headline numbers. Treat single-locus TMRCA claims cautiously. PMC+1

• Genealogical vs. deep evolutionary meaning: For genealogical (family) research — Albert Perry is useful as a documented historical patriline — but for deep human origins, A00 mainly shows one very old surviving Y lineage; it doesn’t on its own rewrite human fossil or genome-wide history (those require broader autosomal and multiple-locus evidence). PMC+1

Useful links

• Mendez, F.L. et al., An African American paternal lineage adds an extremely ancient root to the human Y chromosome phylogenetic tree. Am J Hum Genet 2013. (PMC — includes figures, methods, TMRCA calculations). PMC

• Elhaik, E. et al., The ‘extremely ancient’ chromosome that isn’t: a forensic bioinformatic investigation of Albert Perry’s X-degenerate portion of the Y chromosome. Eur J Hum Genet 2014. (critique and reanalysis). PMC

• DNA-Explained / FamilyTreeDNA blog posts about later Big Y updates on A00 and Perry descendant test results (for haplotree updates / practical genealogical notes). DNAeXplained - Genetic Genealogy+1

“Albert Perry’s lineage” has been used in two senses:

1. Deep-time Y-DNA lineage (haplogroup A00) –

   • Discovered through testing a patrilineal descendant of Albert Perry, an African American who lived in South Carolina in the 1800s.

   • That descendant’s Y-DNA carried the rare basal haplogroup A00, the earliest known branch of the human Y-chromosome tree.

   • Subsequent testing showed related Y lineages in Mbo men of Cameroon, suggesting Albert Perry’s paternal ancestry ultimately traced to West-Central Africa.

2. Genealogical / family history (recent centuries) –

   • Albert Perry himself was a formerly enslaved African American man in Edgefield County, South Carolina. Records place him in the late 19th century.

   • His direct male-line descendants (through sons and grandsons) were the ones who submitted DNA samples to Family Tree DNA, which led to the discovery.

   • His surname “Perry” comes from the enslaving family, a common pattern where freedmen retained or were assigned their former enslavers’ names.

   • Public genealogists and the citizen-science group “The Perry Y-DNA Project” have worked on tracing his descendants. Some of his male-line descendants are still living and tested through FamilyTreeDNA’s “Big Y” platform to further define A00.

• Albert Perry is believed to have been born between about 1819 and 1827 in South Carolina. rootsandrecombinantdna.com+2WikiTree+2

• He first appears in documented U.S. census records in 1870, in Chester County, South Carolina. rootsandrecombinantdna.com+1

• His death date is unknown in these sources; genealogical sources do not reliably record when or where he died. WikiTree

Key dates from genetic / haplogroup studies

• The haplogroup A00 (often called “Perry’s Y”) was discovered in 2012 via DNA testing of a male descendant of Albert Perry. rootsandrecombinantdna.com+2DNAeXplained - Genetic Genealogy+2

• The discovery was published in peer-reviewed form in 2013 in the paper “An African American paternal lineage adds an extremely ancient root to the human Y chromosome phylogenetic tree.” rootsandrecombinantdna.com+1

• Mendez et al. (2013) estimated that the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of all contemporary human Y-chromosomes (including the A00 lineage) lived about 338,000 years ago (with a 95% confidence interval of 237,000 to 581,000 years ago). Nature+2PMC+2

• A later analysis (Elhaik et al., 2014) revised this estimate downward: about 208,300 years ago (95% CI of ~163,900–260,200 years). Nature+2PMC+2

What is known

• The genetic test that discovered the haplogroup A00 came from a male descendant of Albert Perry. Specifically, one of his great-grandsons submitted a Y-DNA test. DNAeXplained - Genetic Genealogy+2rootsandrecombinantdna.com+2

• The family history sites (like Roots & Recombinant DNA) say that this great-grandson was a descendant through Albert Perry’s son, Clyde Perry, born in 1867. The wording “grandfather of the first A00 tester” refers to Clyde Perry. mcmanusfamilyhistory.com+2mcmanusfamilyhistory.com+2

• Albert Perry was born into slavery somewhere around 1819–1827 in South Carolina. He appears in census records in 1870 in Chester County (or York/Chester Counties). rootsandrecombinantdna.com+2PMC+2

Generation	Name / info	Notes / Relation
1	Albert Perry (born circa 1819-1827, in SC)	Ancestor whose male‐line descendants were tested. (rootsandrecombinantdna.com)
2	Clyde Perry (born 1867)	Son of Albert Perry; described as “grandfather of the first A00 tester.” (mcmanusfamilyhistory.com)
3	A male child of Clyde Perry (name not always given in public sources)	That male would be the father of the great grandson who tested. This is the generation that submitted the Y-DNA test. (rootsandrecombinantdna.com)
4	Great-grandson of Albert Perry	The man who actually did the Y-DNA test, leading to discovery of haplogroup A00. The sources do not publicly give his full name (initials etc.), for privacy. (DNAeXplained - Genetic Genealogy)