The goal of the Rea-Ray-Wray Surname Project is to distinguish between the various ancestral lines, worldwide. Any reasonable spelling variant is included (please feel free to suggest a variant you feel I have missed). One of our first goals for this project is to recruit Rea-Ray-Wray people or variants of the surname to test. Recruiting is currently under way to bring in more participants.

While the specific goals and objectives for each of our participants may vary, we are all interested in gaining answers to genealogical questions that cannot be answered through conventional research. DNA is a very powerful tool and, when used in conjunction with paper trail evidence, it can provide us with answers to some very important questions. DNA can tell us whether or not two or more poorly documented families, with the same or similar surnames, living in the same area at the same time are related. It can also bring surprising results, such as connecting two family lines that were before believed to be unrelated!! A number of our participants have hit a brick wall in the mid-1800s. For those participants, matching DNA with someone who can trace his lineage back to the 1700s or even 1600s is an incredible experience.