Several of our family members have joined the Black O'Kelleys DNA Project. Our home page on the Family Tree DNA website is: https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/blackokelleys/about. Participants' names are not displayed for confidentiality. Through this process we were able to confirm our heritage to the white O'Kelley family identified in the records research. Additionally, DNA relatives from all genetic lines of the participants have been found with new cousins and history from which we descend. All are encouraged to join our DNA Project and discover who and where you descend from all lines of your maternal and paternal ancestry.

Our direct O'Kelley [male] Y-DNA results indicate that we are descendants of the Perry family who most likely indentured or adopted David Kelly, born 1763, to the Kelly family where the name was inherited and continues on to this day. The Perry DNA Project, http://www.perry-dna.org/pages/ancestors.html, identifies this linkage in their Family Group 3.

The Perry DNA database includes only the first matching O'Kelley descendant we found whose last name is Nottingham. He approached us trying to identify his biological father. His DNA matched other white descendants of the O'Kelleys who also match the Perrys. The all inclusive Kelley/Kelly/O'Kelly surname DNA project includes all of our matches in their Family Group 2.

Explore the leading DNA ancestral databases to find out more about your history and join our project to trace the lineages from which we descend through science as many African American records are missing or difficult to uncover. We recommend doing the DNA tests that includes both the maternal (mtDNA) and paternal (Y-DNA) sides.

Ancestry.com DNA - http://dna.ancestry.com

Family Tree DNA - https://www.familytreedna.com

23andMe.com - https://www.23andme.com

Gedmatch.com uploads participants submitted data from the major DNA websites then merges the records to find matches between all sources.