As genealogists, we work to trace our family histories and to identify relatives, both near and far. Most of us have shared our family trees with other genealogists, not knowing if a relationship exists, but nevertheless hoping to find an elusive connection. Accompanying these generous acts of collaboration has often been the lament "if only we could find out whether or not we are even related".

The SPURLOCK Surname DNA Project was created to establish a growing databank of DNA profiles of Spurlock lineages to aid in genealogical research. DNA analysis provides a tool for identifying participants who share a common male ancestor and when used together with documented Spurlock pedigrees, can also aid in establishing links between Spurlock groups who previously were thought to be unrelated or those groups of “unknown” ancestry. This includes all variant surname spellings.

An analysis of the mutations in the Y-chromosome can also be used to estimate the "Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA)" in terms of number of generations since the separation occurred.