Progress to Date
Summary of Y-DNA findings and ongoing research to identify connections between the different Rutherford lineages and their origins.
Categorized Results
Rutherford descendants who have Y-DNA tested are found in three main groups in the Rutherford & Ruth** Surname project. These three distinct groups have been named: Family C, Family F and Family L. The distant genetic relationship between them is explored in the Haplogroup Overview.
Group C — Early American Lineages
Group C consists of descendants of early American Rutherford immigrants who arrived in America at the beginning of the seventeenth century and settled in Virginia.
Group F — Scots-Irish & Ulster-Scots Lineages
Group F consists of descendants of mainly Scots-Irish and Ulster-Scots lineages. This group was formed by testers from Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, New Zealand and the USA, who knew their ancestors came from Ireland, but because of the lack of genealogical records, not where in Ireland, or which county, town or townland — or how their family was related to the other Rutherford branches. Y-DNA testing has revealed that all of Group F share a common progenitor born in the sixteenth century. The research now is focusing on who this common ancestor was, and where he lived.
Group L — Scottish and Ulster-Scots Lineages
Group L consists of descendants of mainly Scottish and Ulster-Scots Rutherford lineages within the Rutherford and Ruth** Surname project. These testers belong to the R-U106 haplogroup branch of R1b, distinct from Groups C and F, which descend from R-P312. Y-DNA testing is helping to distinguish separate branches, identify shared ancestry, and connect these families toward their points of origin.
July 2026