Hi Linda, The first thing to do is to find out if a DNA study for the surname (or heritage) you are interested in already exists. Worldfamilies has a large compilation of projects listed that you can find by doing a search at: http://www.worldfamilies.net/search/search.php I realize that 'Graves' might not be your maiden name or the one that you're planning to study, but it's a good example to illustrate. The Graves DNA Project was founded in 2001 (see timeline): http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gkbopp/DNA/DNAtimeline.htm and the Administrator is Ken Graves. Ken is very well-respected and has a very large database of Graves genealogical data. Best regards, Katherine