I have a paper family tree that does not match the surnames on my Y-DNA results.

Question

My paper trail Surname is Bailor going back to the Swiss Beyeler Family of Guggisberg!  My recent Y-DNA show 100% matches with Moore and Muir over 37 Markers.  No Bailor's show up in any of the results.  Further, my Family Tree DNA results show the most likely distant relative as Collins Moore (1698-1743)! He lived in Oxford, Massachusetts. He was a Quaker. Now I have Quaker Moores in my tree but they are on my Paternal Ggrandmother's side! Not my paternal Y-DNA pathway!  What and how do I do next to resolve this issue?

Comments

It's possible no other Bailors have DNA tested yet ?

---

Fred, what do you mean by "100% matches"? A GD of zero?If you have zero GD at 37 markers, your MCRA could have lived 500 years ago. A Y111 test is needed with GD below perhaps 8 in order to have useful matches in a genealogical timeframe.

Answer 1

It is possible that you do not have any male relatives in the Bailor lineage who have tested with FTDNA.

Without knowing your haplotype, I can only surmise that at 37 markers you may be in a relatively common haplogroup. Currently 37 markers is considered a low resolution for matching.

You may want to look at the Beiler Project on FTDNA, included is the spelling of the surname Beyeler.

https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/beiler-beyeler-boiler-byler

Answer 2

So you are the one in the FTDNA listing who shows his ancestor as Collins Moore 1698-1743?

If you haven't done it yet, I suggest you try to contact your closest matches and compare genealogies.

Otherwise, examine your tree one step at a time, beginning with your father, and confirm that you have other DNA evidence (autosomal for several generations) that confirm the paper trail.  Generally, a result such as yours suggests that somewhere along the line there was a "non-paternal event."  It isn't necessarily a question of a wife being unfaithful.  Often, before better records were kept, an orphaned neighbor child would be taken in by a family, and over time the default surname might have become that of the new family.

Comments

A Y37-marker test can show many "close" matches with men having different surnames. I've got a Wells, Hardesty, Ploc, Worley, Ramsey, Downing, also Downen at GD0-1. Unless Fred has a known cousin also tested, then an NPE should not be the interpretation.

---

Then what is?

---

* the number of potential candidate closest matches using a 37-marker test can easily be with dozens of different surnamed men.

* The testee's surname group may not even be among those that happened to be tested

It is tempting to just take what matches are provided. But, unless the limitations of the test are understood, a so-called "match" can lead down a rabbit hole. What are the actual chances a cousin with MRCA who even lived less than 400 years ago has had their Y-DNA tested - extremely small.

---

In this case, there are 20 results listed on the page I found.  I am not that skilled at navigating the FTDNA website for projects I do not participate in, so there may be others.

For what I did find, there is one Moore surname, one Fulk/Falck, six Beyeler, one Beiler, and 11 unspecified.

So maybe I was completely wrong.  Fred should come back and clarify who his matches are.

P.S.  But I still think confirming his first few generations through autosomal DNA would be useful.