The prime focus of this project is multifold and is best described according to the goals shown below: The aim is to establish relationships between as many Kraus/Krause/ other variations of the surname as possible worldwide. At the present time the groups are: 1) Identify the relationships of those Kraus(e) families whose ancestors lived in German villages on the Volga. The direct ancestors left the Barony of Thuengen in what is now northern Bavaria in 1766 to settle first in the village of Stahl-am, one of the German colonies near Saratov on the Volga in Russia. The Haplotype for this group is G2. Further information on this group is available at Dick Kraus Surname Project. 2) Descendants of the Krause group that was located in West Prussia/Pommern/Pomerania area of what is now part of Poland. Results of Y-Chromosome DNA results has shown that to-date, there are at least seven different branches of the Krause surname that have a common Krause ancestor. The haplotype for this group is I2a. Further information for this group is available at Branch-One Krause Project. 3) Additional groups that descend from a common male ancestor that are not part of the ones described in 1 or 2.