Third Generation

3. William John "Hawker" ACREE Jr. (^^)⁵ was born in 1710 in Hanover, Hanover County, Virginia Colony, British Colonial America.^6,7,8 From EARLIER ACREES COLONIAL GENERATIONS: "According to combined DNA, genealogical and circumstantial evidence that is accumulating as a consequence of the Acree Surname DNA Project, it appears that five documented Acree progenitors (Joshua, William of Georgia, Isaac, John and Abraham) were all sons of William Acree of Hanover Co., Virginia.

That man, judging from his sons' years of birth (mid-1730s), would have been born in the early years of that century. He settled in Hanover Co. about 1730, probably as a recent immigrant from the English/Scottish "borders" area (see below), and soon married Elizabeth Willis who lived there with her parents. He died about 1767, when he was succeeded in Hanover Co. affairs by his known son, Joshua.

DNA evidence has shown that William Acree of Hanover Co. was unrelated to the William Acree (1752-1833) who was born in Frederick Co., Maryland, and died in Wayne Co., Kentucky."

From MyHeritage.com: "Through a combination of genealogical research and genetic testing, the Acree Surname DNA Project, initiated in 2006, has found that most men with the surname Acree living in the U.S. descend from this William Acree, who settled in Hanover County, Virginia, after arriving in America about 1730 as a young man. Despite many years of effort by scores of serious Acree family researchers, his family origin is entirely unknown. He is believed, from both family lore and genetic testing, to have roots in the English-Scottish border area and to have left Britain in the post-1715 Scots-Irish emigration wave.

He is estimated to have been born about 1710 and to have died about 1767. He married Elizabeth Willis soon after arriving in Virginia. Genetic evidence supports the undocumented consensus among researchers that the couple had five sons with surviving male lines, all born in the 1730s: Abraham, Isaac, John, Joshua, and William, whose specific years and order of birth are unknown.

William was succeeded in Hanover County affairs by his son Joshua, while the others moved away as adults. Hanover County was historically a "seed" area, where so-called “borderers” gathered before they or their offspring migrated south. Abraham settled in Caroline Co., Virginia, just across the Pamunkey River. Isaac migrated to Warren Co. North Carolina. John settled in Bertie Co., North Carolina. William moved initially to Warren County, North Carolina, but thirty years later moved on to Wilkes County, Georgia. No immigration record has been found for William. He may have been the William 'Hacker' (a phonetic equivalent to Acree), who is documented to have arrived in Virginia in 1730, a speculation that was posted on the Acree Project’s website a few years ago and apparently caused one or more Acree lineages to erroneously assign 'Hacker' or 'Hawker' to William as a middle or nickname. That mistake has led to extensive copying on the internet that unfortunately cannot be corrected. There is no documentation whatever that includes a middle name for William. These days, he is sometimes called William Acree, Sr. to distinguish him from his son, William of Georgia.

Any Acree-surnamed male can determine if he descends patrilineally from William Acree of Hanover Co. by taking an inexpensive Y-chromosome DNA test to see if he possesses a distinguishing 'Y-SNP” mutation.'"

In the Acree DNA Project Lineages, he is called the progenitor of the "Virginia Acrees." The study states that he may, "descend from an unknown patrilineal ancestor... who was probably born a couple hundred years before him in the U.K."

Full Text: "Fifty-four participants in the Acree Surname DNA Project, identified alphanumerically here, have been tested. Their genetic profiles may be viewed on our Project's webpages at the Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) testing firm and here. Their paternal lines, excluding ancestors born after 1900, follow.

Thirty-six participants represent the majority within our project, with matching test results ("haplotypes") that include a rare fractional allele ("microallele") and show 0-3 differences within 46 markers. Nearly all of them descend from William Acree (c1710-c1767) of Hanover Co., Virginia, so they are collectively called the "Virginia Acrees" within our project. They are grouped below by four of his five sons - John, Abraham, William and Joshua. Two of them have the surname Williamson but are known to descend from a specific 19th-century Acree adoptee. Four others have incomplete lineages, including an unconnected Acree and participants with the surnames Brown, Peel and Collier, who descend from an unknown patrilineal ancestor of William who was probably born a couple hundred years before him in the UK.

Three of our participants, who descend from a different William Acree (1752-1833), have matching test results that distinguish them. This William, progenitor of those called the "Maryland Acrees" within our project, was born in Frederick Co., Maryland, and moved as a youth with his newly-widowed mother and Quaker relatives to Guilford Co., North Carolina, in the mid-1760s. Forty years later, after raising his own family there, he took them and their families to Wayne Co., Kentucky. His genealogically/genetically deduced father was William Akers (1726-1765) of Frederick Co.

Three of our participants have that Akers surname. Two live in the US; one in the UK. The two US participants match each other genetically, thereby providing the ancestral haplotype for their well-known progenitor, William Akers (c1650-1715), who was born in England and emigrated to Hunterdon Co., New Jersey, in the late 17th century. The UK participant matches the two in the US reasonably well but inconclusively.

One participant has the renowned Dacre surname, from which Acree, Akers and similar surnames may have evolved long ago in England. Unfortunately, he has only a tenuous DNA match with the three Akers participants above, and his family background in the UK is indefinite.

Three participants, who are believed to descend from Jacob Acra (c1710-1772) of Middlesex Co., Virginia - progenitor of the "Virginia Acras", have test results that fail to distinguish them, not only from other participants, but from each other as well. Thus, Jacob's ancestral haplotype remains undefined.

The lineages of our remaining eight participants, having differing test results, follow, with the exception of Acree051, whose lineage is unknown." He emigrated about 1730 from England, United Kingdom.⁹ He died in 1767 at the age of 57 in Hanover, Hanover County, Virginia Colony, British Colonial America.⁶ (He may have died in 1739.)

William John "Hawker" ACREE Jr. (^^) and Elizabeth WILLIS (^^) were married about 1730 in Virginia Colony, British Colonial America.⁶ (He may have been married to Agnes Shearin (LCFW-S3B) and Elizabeth Willis may have been his mother.) Elizabeth WILLIS (^^) was born in 1710 in Hanover, Hanover County, Virginia Colony, British Colonial America.^6,7,10 (She may have been born in Great Britain.)
She died in 1740 at the age of 30 in Hanover County, Virginia Colony, British Colonial America.^6,11

William John "Hawker" ACREE Jr. (^^) and Elizabeth WILLIS (^^) had the following children:

William John "Hawker" ACREE Jr. (^^) and Joan TERIS were married after 1740.¹³ Joan TERIS was born in 1711 in Gloucestershire, England.¹³