Martha Gale Torregrossa's Page

Hey Gale !   I am fascinated to hear of your mtDNA connections to Conrad and Mason !!  How did you manage to connect up with me ?  Where/when did you have your DNA tests done ?  As you can see, I am plenty excited and FULL of questions now !  Have you sent your results to GEDmatch?  Do you have a tree online?

My maternal haplogroup is A2.  ALL of my ancestors are from North Carolina.  Tho a few came originally from SC and VA, they all eventually ended up together in NC, in Guilford county where I was born. My Revels are of Robeson co (perhaps earlier from Sampson & other co), as well as my Jones (tho I think the Jones maybe came there from Anson co.)  My Conrod/Conrad's came from Marlboro/Chesterfield co SC (possibly from Charleston before that), then crossed the border into Anson co > Richmond co > Guilford & Rockingham co.  My earliest known Conrod married a Hinson woman. My Conrad g-g-grandma had 2 kids with an Allen; later went back to Guilford co and mrd a Tatum.  I understand from my newly found Conrad 4th cousin that one of her uncles and his descendants live now in Winston Salem.  Some Conrads moved to OH and Chicago.  My Revels g-g-grandma married a Mason man from Person co at abt age 15 in Guilford co; then, after his untimely death, mrd a McKnight.  They moved to Winston Salem for a time.  The Masons seem to have been in the Person/Caswell area since it was Orange co.  Some mrd into Dempsey, migrated to OH, IN, NEB. That's all on my Dad's side of the family.  My Mom has Rhodes and Phillips, who seemingly ran from Danville VA thru Rockingham and Guilford co NC, before moving to Richmond VA later.   

It does not surprise me that you are connected to Quakers and Mennonites.  I have wondered many times about possibly my Conrads being involved with the Moravians in Winston Salem...have an early document naming my oldest known as KOONROD.  I also know some of the Mason's dealt with Quakers...lots of Quakers in Guilford co, and some talk about going to Quaker school in IN. 

Racially, we are considered tri-racial.  We have a long family history of being part-white and part-Indian, documented FPOC's (Free Persons of Color), few slaves, and a paper trail to the Lumbee.  (I expected to find another tribe as well.)  For whatever it's worth, per my DNA test, I am 66% Euro, 31% African, and 2% Asian.  I had it refined by an outside researcher, who said 61% W. Euro (Irish/English/French), 37% W. African, 1.3% Native American (U.S.), and 0.7% Mideast/North African, with a strong, large spot of East Asian on the X chromosome.  It is what it is.

Please let me hear from you soon.  Hope my excitement doesn't scare you off  ^>^ 

Alva