The HILL DNA Project was founded in June of 2002 by E. Ray Hill, a descendant of Jonas Hill (Group 1). He affiliated the project with Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) in Houston, TX in July of 2002. The fast and steady growth of the Hill Surname DNA Project can be credited to Ray’s knowledge of many HILL lines and his years of connections with the active researchers associated with those lines. Ray’s efforts were augmented by the help of researcher Travis Hill, who generously sponsored six early participants, and Byron Hill (Group 5), former administrator for the HILL-L Discussion List and the HILL-DNA-L Discussion List at Rootsweb. Together, Ray, Travis and Byron continued to seek out other HILL families and other known researchers. Ray's concept of a 3rd party support site listing the research of the participants per group was groundbreaking and the hallmark of the website for many years. Within the first 18 months that the project was online, the number of participants soared to over 100. Today the HILL Surname DNA Project is one of the most active and most successful surname DNA Groups in existence. On January 1, 2005, Ray Hill turned the administration of the project over to Byron Hill. Byron purchased a dedicated domain name for the project's 3rd party support site, and continues to update and improve the way information is presented here at FTDNA and on the site. “Ray Hill has been the driving force behind this project since the very beginning. He has served the participants so well that I can’t imagine being able to do the job without his guidance. I made a few improvements to the original the site, all with Ray’s blessings. I have insisted that he remain active as a consultant. This is his baby, and I will do my best to live up to the great service Ray has given to our research.”-BH