Nicholas Martiau
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Nicholas Martiau (abt. 1591 - bef. 1657)

Captain Nicholas "Nicolas" Martiau aka Martin, Martian, Martieu, Marlier
Born about in Île de Ré, Francemap [uncertain]
Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of — married before 1625 in Virginia Colonymap
Husband of — married 1645 in York County, Virginiamap
Descendants descendants
Died before before about age 66 in York County, Colony of Virginiamap
Profile last modified | Created 24 Sep 2010
This page has been accessed 14,081 times.
US Southern Colonies.
Nicholas Martiau resided in the Southern Colonies in North America before 1776.
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The Birth Date is a rough estimate. See the text for details.

Contents

Biography

Jamestown Church Tower
Nicholas Martiau was a Jamestown colonist.
flag of the Jamestowne Society

Nicholas Martiau, Captain aka Martin, "Father of Yorktown," Captain of Militia, Virginia Burgess, Yorke Shire Justice, Military Engineer, Planter and Wine Maker

Nicolas Martiau's will

Uncertain Origin, Unknown Parents

Nicholas Martiau is said to have been born in 1591 at l’île de Ré, France, an island off the west coast of France near La Rochelle, or at Nantes, Loire-Atlantique, Pays de la Loire, France.[1][2] Although his FindAGrave memorial shows he was born on 2 April 1591,[3] documentation of his birth has not been found, and his parents are unknown. Nevertheless, he certainly came from a family with resources, as Nicholas was well-educated and was trained as a Military Engineer in England.[4]

This profile reports specific birth date and place, April 2, 1591 at Nantes, Loire-Atlantique, Pays de la Loire, France, (without evidence or citation).[citation needed] Nicholas Martiau and Eleonore Desormiers have been removed as parents. His parents are unknown.

Was He a Huguenot?

Captain Mahew once testified that, during a heated argument about the king of France, Nicholas Martiau placed his hand over his heart and declared, "Although I am here this sparke is in France and will not hear the King wronged."[5]

He is often identified as a French Huguenot. Nicholas was the godfather of Richard Toche and attended his baptism on May 11, 1615 at the French Huguenot congregation on Threadneedle Street, London. However, it does not seem that he was a Catholic; they were not allowed to emigrate to the colony of Virginia. He certainly must have taken the oath of Supremacy, as all office holders were expected to do, and he was a member of the House of Burgesses and a justice. Nicholas and his family were members of the established Church of England.[5]

Spelling of His Name

Nicholas' name has been spelled variously: Martin, Martian, Martiaw, Martiew, Martue, Martu, Marti, and more.[5] The Journals of the House of Burgesses ... records the spellings: "Martian, (Martieu, Marlier)."[6] We do have examples of his signature. For instance, there is a letter written from Elizabeth City in 1625 in which he signs his name "Martiau." This signature matches the other documents he signed, which are at the Museum of London. This is also the spelling used on the power of attorney which the Earle of Huntingdon issued, when he was dispatched to Virginia as a naval engineer.[5]

Marriages

Some researchers believe Nicholas married once, some twice, and some three times. The only marriage which has excellent evidence is Jane (Unknown) Berkeley Martiau.

  • He is sometimes assumed to have married, as his 1st, an unknown wife. A first wife is sometimes deemed necessary as the mother of daughter, Elizabeth, depending on how her dates are understood (see the profile for Elizabeth Martiau for more info).
  • He married by 1625, possibly as his 2nd, and as her 2nd, Jane (Unknown) Berkeley, the widow of the prominent settler, Lieut. Edward Berkeley/Bartley.[4]
  • He married after 1640 to Isabella Beech. She must have predeceased him, as no wife mentioned in his will.[5] McCarthy identifies Isabella as "the widow of Capt. Robert Felgate."[7]

Children

Jane and her first husband, Edward Berkeley/Bartley, had one child together, a daughter named Jane Berkeley who seems to have remained unmarried and lived with her mother and step-father, Capt. Martiau. In a 1639 patent to "Capt. Nicholas Martian" in Charles City County, both "Mrs. Jane, his wife" and "Jane Barkeley her daughter" were mentioned as headrights.[8] In the register of Bruton Church, Williamsburg, there is an entry of the death of "Jane Berkley, 1666". At that date, she would of been about 53 years of age.[9][10]

Children of Nicholas Martiau and Jane (Unknown) Berkeley Martiau:

  1. Nicholas Martiau, Jr d before reaching majority
  2. Elizabeth Martiau; mar Col. George Read
  3. Mary Martiau; mar Col. John Searsbrook
  4. Sarah Martiau; mar Capt. William Fuller

Jane (Unknown) (Berkeley) Martiau died before 1640, and according to Stoudt, found in the County Court Records is the subsequent marriage of Nicholas to Isabella Beech. She is not mentioned in his will, so must have predeceased him.[5]

Immigration to Virginia

Nicholas immigrated in 1620 from England to Virginia, aboard the ship Francis Bonaventure.[11][12] He arrived in Virginia on 11 May 1620, bearing a power of attorney of Henry Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon.[5][4] He was charged with the task of "two sorts of fortifications one for the induringe of assaults and Battery ... the other for chusinge and taking some place of advantage and there to make some Pallysadoes wch hee conceiveth the fittest, and for wh'ch this frenchman is sunguler good."[5] In other words, Martiau was to design fortifications to protect the settlement from Indian attack. He was found at Elizabeth Cittie in the List of the Living compiled on February 16, 1623[/4].[13]

When the Muster of January 1624/5 was taken almost a year later, Nicholas was still living at Elizabeth Cittie, "Nicholas Martue, age 33 years."[13][14] The Muster reveals that Nicholas Martiau came to the colony aboard the "Francis Bona Venture", a 240-ton ship.[15] He designed the tall wooden palisade which reached from the James River to the Charles (later York) River, enclosing Old Yorke Village.[9] Besides those at Yorktown, he also designed fortifications at Fort Story; and at Old Point Comfort, and Fort Monroe.[16]

Offices Held and Professional Accomplishments

The Earle had obtained for Martiau the special form of naturalization, granted only by the king, which included the right to own property, hold public office, and to vote.[5]

Nicholas Martiau became a member of the House of Burgesses for Incorporated Elizabeth City for 1623-24, Kiskyacke (Kiskiack) and the Isle of Kent for 1631-32, Kiskyacke for 1632 and 1632-33.[6][17] He was Justice of York County from 1633 to 1657[18] and also Captain of the local Militia.

Property Held

Nicholas Martiau was a settler of Elizabeth City, Charles City and York County, Virginia. On October 8, 1630, the Virginia Council passed a decree granting 50 acres of land to every person who would settle within a year or two on the York in the Chiskiake (Yorktown) area. Captain Martiau moved onto the York peninsula, settling at the Yorktown on the York River. The Captain had 600 acres confirmed to him for moving to Chiskiake the first year, plus 700 more acres for paying for the adventure of other headrights, in March 1639.

This total of 1,300 acres made up the Martiau Plantation, which grew the chief commodity of tobacco. The property began at Martiau Creek, included the site of present-day Yorktown, and extended along the river southeast.[5] Nicholas Martiau's home was situated downriver from Yorktown, high on the bluff where the York River widens, before it enters the Chesapeake Bay.[5]

Years later, Captain Martiau was granted letters-patent for 2,000 acres on the south side of the Potomac River (1654); he gave this tract to his son-in-law, Colonel George Reade, who had patent on it dated March 1657. He would buy and sell other minor properties over the years.[15]

Slaveholder

When he wrote his will in 1656, Nicholas Martiau included two "negroes": Phill and Nicholas. In his will, Nicholas granted them their freedom and one cow each.[19] This may have been the first incidence of a bequest of freedom in the colonies.[5]

Last Will & Testament

Nicholas Martiau's will, as "Nicholas Martian," is recorded in Volume I, Deeds, Orders, Wills York County, Virginia.[5] It was written March 1, 1656 and proved April 24, 1657 at Yorktown, York County, Virginia.[5][20]

A transcribed copy of his will can be found at: https://whiteroadresearch.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-will-of-nicholas-martiau.html

Commemoration

In 1931, an 11-foot Vermont granite monument, with commemorative bronze plaque was erected near the site of Martiau's home and graveyard on Ballard and Buckner Streets, in the village of Yorktown. The monument was erected by the Huguenot Society of Pennsylvania, in cooperation with the National (Federation of) Huguenot Societies and the Yorktown Sesquicentennial Commission.[15]

The National Park Service (NPS) exhumed his body in May 1936 from the original grave on Buckner Street in the family cemetery. The NPS concluded the body as in grave number 6 was likely at of Nicolas Martiau.[21]

Death and Legacy

We know that Nicholas Martiau's will was proved on April 24, 1657 at York County, Virginia. Nicholas probably died at his home on the Martiau Plantation, near "Old Yorke Village" (present day Yorktown), York County, Virginia Colony.[5]

See Martiau Family Cemetery in Capt Nicholas Martiau FindAGrave memorial for additional details on the original burial site. The graves of Nicholas Martiau and his family were relocated to the present-day site of the Grace Church, Yorktown, Virginia.[9] The FindAGrave memorial gives his death date as April 16, 1657.[3]

Sources

  1. "La Flotte - Deux illustres enfants honorés." (The Fleet - Two Illustrious Honored Children) Le journal des propriétaires de l'Ile de Ré p 101. (Accessed via The Wayback Machine, 5 July 2016)
  2. Jean-Michel Bergougniou, La Marcophile Navale
  3. 3.0 3.1 Find A Grave: Memorial #7831230 for CPT Nicolas Martiau (accessed 16 June 2018)
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lewis, Mark, Lewis at Home: Chapter 9 – Councilor John Lewis 9 Jul 2011, accessed September 29, 2014 (Accessed via The Wayback Machine, 3 Apr 2016.)
  5. 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 Stoudt, John B., Nicolas Martiau, the Adventurous Huguenot, the Military Engineer, and the Earliest American Ancestor of George Washington. (Pages 19-20, 44-51) Norristown, PA: Norristown Press, 1932, HathiTrust accessed June 24, 2015
  6. 6.0 6.1 Virginia. General Assembly. House of Burgesses; McIlwaine, H. R. (Henry Read), Journals of the House of Burgesses of VA, 1659/60-1963. (Vol 1 1619-1658/1659, Pages xii, xii-xiv) Richmond, VA: [Library Board, Virginia State Library] Archive.org accessed June 24, 2015
  7. McCartney, Martha W., Documentary History of Jamestown Island Vol. III: Biographies of Owners and Residents, Colonial National Historical Park (Agency), Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Va., 2000, online NPS.gov Pages 234-235.
  8. Nugent, Nell Marion, (1934) Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants, 1623-1800, 1st ed. Richmond: Dietz Print Co., Archive.org Page 121.
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 Conner, D. W., Nicholas Martiau Grace Episcopal Church, April 1, 2010, accessed February 7, 2015
  10. Smyth, John, The Berkeley Manuscripts. The Lives of the Berkeleys ... 1567-1640, Gloucester, Printed by J. Bellows, 1883, Archive.org accessed February 7, 2015.
  11. Passenger List of the Francis Bonaventure 1620 Research and compilation by Anne Stevens, packrat-pro.com.
  12. Find A Grave: Memorial #7831230, citing Adventurers of Purse and Person, VIRGINIA, 1607-1624/5, vol 2, pgs 503-5
  13. 13.0 13.1 Hotten, John Camden, (1874) The Original Lists of Persons of Quality; Emigrants; Religious Exiles ... London: Hotten, Archive.org (Pages 184, 249).
  14. Nicholas Martiau Descendant Association, Nicholas Martiau Timeline accessed February 7, 2015 (Accessed via The Wayback Machine 2 Mar 2016)
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 Smith, Jonathan Kennon, Captain Nicolas Martiau. Lib of Wm & Mary College
  16. Nicholas Martiau Descendant Association, "History: Martiau: A Common Ancestor." November 30, 2008, accessed June 24, 2015 (Accessed via The Wayback Machine 14 Apr 2016)
  17. Jamestowne Society: Martiau, Nicholas - A5208; born 1591/2, died 1657, York Co.: (Muster of 1624/5), Kiskyacke: 1632 (Burgess). (accessed 25 Sep 2021)
  18. Watson, Annah Walker Robinson, Some Notable Families of America ... (Pages 75-6) New York: 1898, Archive.org accessed June 24, 2015
  19. (Apr., 1894) "Declaration of Sir John Harvey." The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. Virginia Historical Society, Vol. 1, No. 4 , pp 425-26, footnotes. JSTOR.org.
  20. The original of Nicholas Martiau's will is lost, but a transcript is on file in Volume 1, Deeds, Orders and Wills York County, Page 377.
  21. The Huguenot Publication No. 12, 1943-45

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In 1931, the Huguenot Society of Pennsylvania, along with the National Federation of Huguenot Societies and the Yorktown Sesquicentennial Commission, erected an 11-foot Vermont granite monument, with commemorative bronze plaque, near the site of Martiau's home and graveyard on Ballard and Buckner Streets, in Yorktown, Virginia.
Hello. I normally work in early New England but while familiarizing myself with the subject matter I chanced across the following info you may or may not find useful.

Re. whether or not he was a Huguenot: In an explanation between the rights of new colonists through their naturalization or 'denization by letter patent' Bockstruck explains: "...One of the earliest such examples [of denization of a Huguenot] was Nicholas Martiau who came to James town Virginia in the spring of 1620." In the same paragraph Bockstruck also explains that in 1681 King Charles II granted a blanket 'denization without charge' for aliens to the Huguenot refugees, Martiau being the precedent.

Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt "Denizations and Naturalizations in the British Colonies in America, 1607-1775" Baltimore, MD., USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2005.

Sorry but I'm unable to locate a hyperlink in archive.org and the Ancestry.com hyperlink provided in my hardcopy [print out] of this material isn't valid (???). I don't know which Nova Scotia ancestor I was researching when I printed out the Bockstruck material so I can't return to the image source in Ancestry.com in order to make a copy of the hyperlink from a live image access. My bad. I should have written down my ancestor's name on the hardcopy. Also, I tried to locate this book in FamilySearch.org, but they don't appear to have the Bockstruck material. Just an FYI: Bockstruck appears to be widely quoted in other periodicals.

Ancestry.com has records from the Bockstruck book - a search for a particular person is necessary. Also, various libraries including Dallas Public Library has it so maybe inter-library loan is available. Dallas has the complete Bockstruck collection as Lloyd worked there for many years and was instrumental in building their genealogy collection.

Here is a link to the Ancestry search for this book: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/49119/

Martiau-43 and Martiau-2 appear to represent the same person because: identical data
posted by Robin Lee
On behalf of US Southern Colonies Project / Jamestown Team, I would like to make the following minor changes to this profile:

(1) Improve Sources #1, 4, 12, and 14 -- mostly non-working. I can replace or add a "non-working" comment if I can't find a replacement or fix. (2) Add Jamestown and Jamestowne Society stickers, together with sources supporting them. (3) Add a more robust source for arrival ship; there's only the FindAGrave there now.

I don't plan to make any other improvements or relationship checks at this time.

posted by Betty (Skelton) Norman
I think Elvis is a descendant of his as Nicolas' Wikipedia profile says so but the connection finder doesn't agree. Can we find out?
posted by Emm Balluff
Regarding which Jane de Berkely he married...if he married the widow of Edward, she would have been far to old to get pregnant, much less have 4 children starting in the 1620’s. It would have put Edward’s widow at near 70 when her children were born.
posted by Rebecca Mead
Martiau-37 and Martiau-2 appear to represent the same person because: same dates and family, clear duplicate
posted by Robin Lee
:pg 425 The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 1 edited by Philip Alexander Bruce, William Glover Stanard "Captain Nicholas Martian was a foreigner, probably a Frenchman (and of course a Protestant, or he could not have held office). There is copied in the Northampton records an order of Assembly, dated March 28, 1656, which states that Captain Nicholas Martin obtained his denization in England, and could hold any office or employment in Virginia. He was born 1591 (Hollen), came to Virginia probably before 1620; was Burgess 1623 for Kiskyache, and the Isle cf Kent 1631"
posted by Andrea (Stawski) Pack
:The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 1 edited by Philip Alexander Bruce, William Glover Stanard
"Captain Martian was ancestor alike of Washington and of Governor Thomas Nelson, who was an active and useful assistant in the siege of York. Mildred, daughter of George and Elizabeth Read, married Augustine Warner, Jr., of Gloucester county, and their daughter, Mildred Warner, married Lawrence Washington, and was grandmother of George Washington, while Governor Nelson's paternal grandmother was a Miss Read, granddaughter of Colonel George Read."
posted by Andrea (Stawski) Pack
last comment (from me)... The biography says that his parents are unknown. In light of that, shouldn't the attached profiles for parents at least me marked as "uncertain"?

Thanks!

posted by Liz (Noland) Shifflett
I detached the profile for Jane Page Berkeley (was attached as his wife).

Based on biography in this profile and on Edward's profile, Nicolas married the widow of Edward, not his daughter (also named Jane).

posted by Liz (Noland) Shifflett
The merged profile, Martiau-35, stated that Nicolas was "a physician and a surgeon," but I couldn't find support for that in the source given (FindAGrave), so I did not include it in the profile.
posted by Liz (Noland) Shifflett
I notified the Magna Carta Gateway Project to take a look at all the merges because I am a guardian over George Reade profile
posted by Andrea (Stawski) Pack
I notified the Magna Carta Gateway Project to take a look at all the merges because I am a guardian over George Reade profile
posted by Andrea (Stawski) Pack

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