{"id":77972,"date":"2026-06-18T08:00:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/?p=77972"},"modified":"2026-06-18T14:52:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T19:52:14","slug":"big-y-african-ancestry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.familytreedna.com\/es\/big-y-african-ancestry\/","title":{"rendered":"How Big Y-700 DNA Testing Confirmed African Ancestry"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/1″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”856104″]By: Laurie Constantino<\/p>\n

Three brick walls. Thirty years of research. See how Big Y-700 DNA testing helped confirm the African ancestry of Joshua “Old Jock” Perkins \u2014 and what’s still unresolved.<\/h2>\n

Documentation gaps are one of the most common obstacles for Americans researching African ancestry. For descendants of Joshua “Old Jock” Perkins, Big Y-700 DNA testing<\/a> proved what historical records alone could not \u2014 and opened a door that had been closed for generations. Two brick walls have been broken. One remains.<\/p>\n

Can Big Y-700 help with identifying African ancestry?<\/h2>\n

Big Y-700 DNA testing can help confirm African ancestry by identifying Y-DNA haplogroups passed from father to son. In the Perkins family case, it proved that all five sons of Joshua “Old Jock” Perkins shared a common ancestor of African descent.<\/p>\n

Three Brick Walls \u2014 and What Big Y-700 DNA Testing Revealed<\/h2>\n

Not every brick wall gets broken the same way. Here’s how Y-DNA testing tackled three very different genealogical challenges in the Perkins family tree.<\/p>\n

Brick Wall 1: Challenging a Family’s Racial Identity With DNA<\/h3>\n

Question: Did Old Jock Have African Ancestry?<\/strong>
\nDespite documented evidence identifying Joshua \u201cOld Jock\u201d Perkins (1732\u20131801) as a \u201cfree person of color,\u201d some descendants insist he had wholly European ancestry. Y-DNA testing<\/a> conclusively proved Old Jock was of African descent on his paternal line.<\/p>\n

Status: Resolved.<\/strong> See how Y-DNA broke through this brick wall.<\/a><\/p>\n

Brick Wall 2: Proving Family Relationships Without Documentary Evidence<\/h3>\n

Question: Were Old Jock’s Five Sons Really His?<\/strong>
\nOld Jock had five sons: George, Isaac, Jacob, Joshua Jr., and Lewis. Circumstantial evidence suggests each of the five sons\u2019 identities, but documented evidence to prove their relationships to Old Jock does not exist. When combined with the circumstantial evidence, the Big Y-700 test<\/a> proved all five men were descended from Old Jock.<\/p>\n

Status: Resolved.<\/strong> See how Big Y-700 confirmed the connection.<\/a><\/p>\n

Brick Wall 3: Tracing an Unknown Paternal Line Through Y-DNA Matches<\/h3>\n

Question: Is There a Perkins-Driggers Connection?<\/strong>
\nOld Jock\u2019s father is unknown. Initial Y-DNA testing suggested Old Jock\u2019s father could be a descendant of Emanuel Rodrigues Driggus Driggers (1607\u20131685). Although most historians believe Emanuel was Angolan, some deny his African heritage and claim Emanuel was European on his paternal line. The Driggers Y-DNA story is complex, and further Y-DNA testing is needed to break through this brick wall.<\/p>\n

Status: Unresolved.<\/strong> Follow the Perkins-Driggers investigation.<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”82188″ media_lightbox=”yes” media_width_percent=”75″ lbox_title=”yes” lbox_caption=”yes” lbox_social=”yes” uncode_shortcode_id=”135623″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”204097″]<\/p>\n

Before the DNA: Building the Perkins Family Tree<\/h2>\n

My dad was young when his white-skinned, red-headed mother died. After her death, he lived off and on with his maternal Perkins grandmother; she wasn\u2019t much of a talker. Frustrated by how little he knew about his family background, my dad devoted his retirement years to family history research, focusing on his mother\u2019s Perkins family.<\/p>\n

No one in my Perkins line has died in the place they were born.<\/strong> From 1732 to the present, early generations moved from state to state, always to the latest frontier. Because my dad researched before genealogical records were digitized, he spent many vacations traveling to places his Perkins family had lived, searching for clues about their lives.<\/p>\n

During his travels, he heard rumors of dark-skinned family members<\/strong> but found no evidence the rumors were true. My dad grew up believing his Perkins roots were in England.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image media=”82189″ media_lightbox=”yes” media_width_percent=”65″ lbox_title=”yes” lbox_caption=”yes” lbox_social=”yes” uncode_shortcode_id=”345029″][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”120547″]By the late 1980s, my dad had built a solid, documented record for George Perkins<\/strong>, my 5th great-grandfather, born in 1754 in South Carolina. However, my dad hit a brick wall when he tried to identify George\u2019s father.<\/p>\n

Land<\/a> and tax records<\/a> from 1787\u20131807 place George and several other Perkins men in Washington County and Carter County, Tennessee. After finding these records, my dad took a research trip to the Knox County Public Library<\/a> in Tennessee, where he found the McClung Historical Collection.
\nIn the McClung Collection, he found a genealogical treasure trove: detailed notes from Perkins v. White<\/em><\/a>, an 1858 trial<\/a> that litigated the Perkins family\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

The 1858 Trial That Put the Perkins Family’s Race on Record<\/h3>\n

The case arose in July 1858 when Old Jock\u2019s great-grandson brought a libel action suit against his neighbors for repeatedly saying the Perkins family were \u201cNegroes\u201d. According to Tennessee law, this meant the family:<\/p>\n