Our Keele/Keel Surname Project, launched in 2016, seeks to extend knowledge of ancestors with this surname including variants such as Kiel, Kehl, Kehll, and others. The project is not limited to any one specific Keele/Keel family or group. All Keele/Keel families are welcome to join. It is hoped that,by establishing a surname project for Keele/Keel, we can encourage testing by individuals with this name and learn more about Keele/Keel families. The project website can serve as a forum for information exchange about Keele/Keel ancestry. Male Keele/Keel participants doing YDNA testing are encouraged to test at the YDNA 37 or YDNA 67 level, at a minimum. Upgrades to more advanced tests may be made in the future. In addition, both males and females with Keele/Keel ancestry in their matrilineal line (mother's mother's mother etc.) and who have done mitochondrial DNA testing (mtDNA) will be provided a place on the Keele/Keel surname project website to post haplogroup information and well as information about any analyses done of matches that.might advance understanding of Keele/Keel families. Finally, males and females with Keele ancestry who have done the Family Finder autosomal DNA test (or similar) will be provided a place on the Keele/Keel surname project website for posting information about analyses they have done of matching segments of chromosomes found in individuals with Keele ancestry. The original purpose of this project was to confirm or refute kinship between (1) Keeles who descend from James T. Keele (b. 1833 Washington County, Illinois, who in 1869 m. Martha Dillard, and died in Butler County, MO, and (2) Keeles believed to descend from immigrants Arthur Keele (b. 1715) and Sarah Monnette/Monnotte (both b. London and d. Henry County VA; immigrated 1757). Several Keele/Keel-surnamed males who descended from each group did YDNA tests to confirm or refute kinship between the two groups. The men who participated in this testing DID match one another, enabling several participants' Keele patriline to be extended back to the immigrant Arthur Keele.