DNA Matches and Mis-matches

[J Yarbrough]

I was surprised that the same surname can have such a major "genetic distance" s can be shown on the Family Tree DNA website. If a surname shows a distance over 4, tehn it can have matches with other surnames.
I guess there are several obvious explanations for those results.

We can get more of a standard and identify distinct lines for the Yarbrough project if each of us "recruit" more participants.

[Leenard Yarbrough]

The Patriarch page and the Results pages have been grouped into "Family Groups" with few genetic distances within each group.
It seems as though there are distinctly different Yarbrough lines which do not connect to a common ancestor for perhaps a hundred generations.
Peter Yerburgh (pronounced Yarborough), a genealogist and Yarbrough historian,  traces his line back to the earliest Yarbrough's in England and is documented in Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition. His test results do not match any marker with any American Yarbrough. His theory is that American Yarbrough’s descend from a line originated from Yorkshire England. There were most likely several unconnected Yarbrough lines who took the name from a location when surnames began to be used.
Other factors were that in the 1600's through the American Revolution - England shipped paupers and orphans to the Americans and Canada. Some probably took the name of the family that accepted them. War and its consequence of widows and orphans, may have taken the name of a new husband or adopting family which has added to confusion.

We have one case where someone with another surname has been found to be a Yarbrough; and in another case a non-Yarbrough matches exactly with Family Group 1.

We have a Yarbrough test participant that does not match any other Yarbrough and the family believes the ancestor took the name to avoid problems after the Civil War.

We strongly recommend a 37-marker or higher test to help identify distinct lines. It helps to get two distant cousins in a line to help form a base line of a Yarbrough branch.