Elizabeth (Martiau) Reade (abt. 1625 - 1696)

Born about 1625 in Jamestown, Colony of Virginia [uncertain]

Wife of George Reade Esq. — married 1641 in Charles River County, Colony of Virginia [uncertain]

Descendants

Died 1696 at about age 71 in Yorktown, York County, Virginia

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Ancestor of US President George Washington

Biography

Elizabeth Martiau AKA Martin

Uncertain Mother

Elizabeth Martiau was probably the daughter of Nicholas Martiau and Jane Berkeley.^[1] She was probably born in either 1615 or 1625. There has been a question due to mistakes made to her head stone, when it was re-cut in 1931 (head stone says born in 1625, and 71 years old, but will was probated in 1686, so the numbers do not "add up").^[2]

There is also a question about 1) how many times her father married, and 2) when he married. Add this to the uncertainty about Elizabeth's birth date, and researcher Douglas Richardson contends that Elizabeth's mother was not Jane Berkeley, but an "unknown 1st wife of Capt. Nicholas Martiau."^[3]

Even so, Elizabeth's father, Nicholas Martiau, certainly came to the colony in the spring of 1620, aboard the Francis Bona Venture.^[1] Charles Hatch concludes he may have been counted among the ancient planters (planters who had immigrated before 1616 and had remained at least three years) in the muster of 1625 in Elizabeth City.^[4] So Elizabeth may very well have been born in Virginia, even if she was born in 1615, as some now believe.^[4]

Family

Elizabeth Martiau married Col George Reade in 1641 at Yorktown, York County, Virginia.^[1] He was the son of Robert Reade and lady Mildred Windebank.^[1]

Researchers disagree about the children of Col. George Reade and Elizabeth Martiau. According to du Bellet in Some Prominent Virginia Families, and also Richardson in Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, there were seven children: five sons, George, Robert, Thomas, Francis, Benjamin, and two daughters, Mildred (Reade) Warner and Elizabeth (Reade) Cheesman.^[3][5] Van horn of the Nicolas Martiau Descendant Association agrees, identifying both George and Elizabeth as children.^[6] According to McAllister, George and Elizabeth had five children, four sons: Robert, Francis, Benjamin and Thomas,^[7] and one daughter, Mildred (Reade) Warner.^[8]

The oldest child was daughter, Mildred Reade, married Col Augustine Warner Jr., of Warner Hall, and the daughter of this marriage, Mildred Warner, married Lawrence Washington, the grandfather of George Washington."^[9] Robert was the oldest son of Col. George and Elizabeth (Martiau) Reade.^[10]

Children of George and Elizabeth Martiau:^[7][11]

1. Mildred Reade b 2 Oct 1643, d 1694; mar Col Augustine Warner Jr.
2. Robert Reade b ca 1644, d Bef. 16 Mar 1722/23 in York Co, Virginia; mar Mary Lilly ca 1688
3. George Reade b c. 1648, d without issue, Gov Berkeley gave him a bay mare in 1665.
4. Francis Reade b 1650 York Co., d ca 1694; mar 1) Jane Chisman, 2) Anne Unknown
5. Elizabeth Reade b c. 1654, d 18 Nov 1717 in Charles Parish, York Co, Virginia; mar Capt. Thomas Chisman
6. Benjamin Reade b c. 1667, one of the two youngest, minor in 1687; mar Mary Gwynne/Gwyn, daughter of Edmund/Edmond Gwyn
7. Thomas Reade one of the two youngest, minor in 1687; mar Lucy Gwynn, daughter of John Gwynn and granddaughter of Col. Hugh Gwynn
8. Mary Reade unmarried when her mother wrote her will.

Note: Apparently the two wives of Benjamin and Thomas, Lucy Gwyn/Gwynne and Lucy Gwynn, were not the same woman. The wife of Thomas is described as the granddaughter of Col. Hugh Gwynn, but the wife of Benjamin is described only as "Miss Gwyn."

Death and Legacy

Elizabeth's will was written February 10, 1685/6 and signed and witnessed January 24 1686/87 in Yorktown, York County, Virginia.^[12]

The assumption that she died when the will was witnessed is a mistake. Her gravestone is actually correct, saying she died in 1696.

There is a transcribed copy of her will at: https://whiteroadresearch.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-will-of-elizabeth-martiau-reade.html

In it, she mentions slaves:

"Imprimis I give and bequeath unto my sonn Robert Reade, one Negro man named Peter and Brigitt his wife, and one mollotta boy named Dick, one negro woman named Tony, one ffrench Nickolice Morell, and one woman servant named Mary Jane Tisso, the Said negroes I give unto my said sonn Robert with their increase. Itm. I give and bequeath unto my sonn Ffrancis Reade, one negro man named Sandy one negro woman named Bess, one negro boy named Peter with their increase. Itm. I give and bequeath unto my sonn Benjamine Reade one negro named Will and Jane his wife with their increase. Itm. I give and bequeath unto my son Thomas Reade one negro man named Jeffry Nimino his wife with her child, a Boy named Tom, and one negro boy named Will also one negro man named Jack my said son Thomas Reade Shipping tobacco for England until he hath paid the full summ of twenty five pounds unto my Executor after named, provided itt be not paid before my decease, the said negroes, I give unto my said sonn Thomas with their increase.
 Itm. I give and bequeath unto my daughter Elizabeth Chisman one negro Woman named Kate, one negro woman named Pegg with her child a Mollatta Girle named Dina with their Increase. Itm. I give and bequeath unto my granddaughter Mildred Chisman one negro Girle named Murriah with her Increase. Itm. I give and bequeath unto my granddaughter Eliz. Chisman one negro Girle named Hannah with her increase."

The will continues naming additional family members

Itm. I give and bequeath unto my sonn Benjamin the ffeather bed I lye on with the furniture belonging to itt three pairs of sheets three silver spoons three peuter Dishes and one Iron pott. Itm. I give and bequeath unto my sonn Thomas good ffeather and furniture three pairs of Sheets, three silver spoons three peuter Dishes and one Iron pott. Itm. I give and bequeath unto my Daughters Elizabeth Chisman and Mary Reade all my wearing Apparill to be Equally Divided between them. Itm. I give and bequeath unto my sonn Benjamin one young mare of three or fouer years old. Itm. I give and bequeath unto my sonn Thomas one young mare of three or fouer years old. Itm. I give unto my son Benjamin two cows of ffouer years old and one heafer with his pportion of the stock of Cattle which belonged unto his Brother George Reade Dec’d according to ye Division already made. Itm. I give and bequeath unto my Daughter Mildred Warner the mourning Ring I usually ware. Itm. My Will and desire is that all such servants Cattle and other movables as shall belonge unto my sonns Benjamin and Thomas Read as before mentioned Remaine and be in the care and custody of my sonn Robert Reade until my said two sonns Benjamin and Thomas come to the age of one and twenty years, allowing my said two sonns such necessaries apparell as they shall have occasion for Duerring there nonage to be allowed out of the pp’itss of their ffore menconed Servants Labors, also my will and desire is that my sonn Robert Reade when my two sonns Benjamin and Thomas doe come to age and Reaceive their Estates, that then they have allowed to each of them by my said sonn Robert, Corn sufficient for one year’s provision for them selves and servants and all their servants sufficiently cloathed. Itm. My Will and desire is that if itt should please God to take to himself either of my two youngest sonns Benjamin or Thomas before they come to the full age of one and twenty years, That then the Survivor to Injoye and posses whatsoever is given and bequeathed to him that is Deceased, but if itt Should please God that both my said to youngest sonns should Dye before they cum to Age as aforesaid that then my sonns Robert and ffrancis Reade doe posses and injoye whatsoever is given and bequeathed unto my two Sonns Benjamin and Thomas to be equally Divided between them. Itm. It is my will and Desire and I doe hereby give and bequeath unto my son Robert Reade all my Stock of Cattle sheep, horses, hoggs, goods Chattles, Debts, bills mdse and accounts whatsoever is may or shall be or belong to me nott being already bequeathed to any p’son before expressed. In this my last Will and Testament, nominating appointing and declaring my well beloved Sonn Robert Read the Sole Executor of this my last Will and Testament. It is my Will and Desire that my well beloved Sonn Mr. Thomas Chisman, Mr. Edward Noss and Mr. Thomas Barbar be overseers to See that this my last Will and Testament be Carefully and Truly pperformed.

The gravestones of both George and his wife, Elizabeth, were discovered buried while excavating on Buckner Street in Yorktown. In 1931, descendant Letitia Pate Evans had them remade, but unfortunately it was claimed that, the new stones contain errors.^[2] And that Elizabeth's stone says she died in 1696 when it should read 1686.^[2] They are installed at the church yard of Grace Episcopal Church in Yorktown, Virginia.^[2] This statement that the gravestone is incorrect is based on an erroneous assumption that the date the will was signed and witnessed was the date that the will was proven. The gravestone is actually correct. See transcript of her will at: https://whiteroadresearch.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-will-of-elizabeth-martiau-reade.html

Elizabeth was born about 1625. She was the daughter of Nicholas Martiau and Jane Page Unknown. She passed away in 1696.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Stoudt, John B., Nicolas Martiau, the Adventurous Huguenot, the Military Engineer, and the Earliest American Ancestor of George Washington. (Pages 10, 49-51) Norristown, PA: Norristown Press, 1932, accessed December 1, 2014
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Williams, David "George Reade", citing Dorman, John F., editor, Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia, 1607-1624/5 [Vol, Edition?] Order of First Families of Virginia (pp. 419-420 footnote) Web accessed June 30, 2014
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Richardson, Douglas, and Kimball G. Everingham. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. 4. (Salt Lake City: Douglas Richardson., 2013) Vol 4, Page 468.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Hatch, Charles E. "The First Seventeen Years: Virginia 1607-1624" originally Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia, 1957, The Project Gutenberg December 28, 2009 [EBook #30780], accessed November 30, 2014
5. ↑ du Bellet, Louise Pacquet. Some Prominent Virginia Families. (1907) Archive.org Vol. IV, pp. 9-11.
6. ↑ Van horn, Larry Nicolas Martiau Descendant Indented Chart Nicolas Martiau Descendant Association, December 15, 2005, accessed October 27, 2014
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} McAllister, John M., editor, and Lura Boulton Tandy, Genealogies of the Lewis and Kindred Families (Pages 20-23) Columbia, MO: E.W. Stephens, 1906, Web accessed August 23, 2014
8. ↑ Jamestowne Society, "Washington & Northern Virginia Company Biographies of Ancestors of Members: George Reade", Web accessed August 23, 2014. Dead link as of 22 Dec 2020.
9. ↑ Biography of George Reade
10. ↑ Crozier, William A., editor. Virginia Heraldica Being a Registry of Virginia Gentry Entitled to Coat Armor, with Genealogical Notes of the Families (New York: The Genealogical Association, 1908) Archive.org (Page 31).
11. ↑ https://whiteroadresearch.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-will-of-elizabeth-martiau-reade.html Transcription of her Will]
12. ↑ Vining, Kaaren C., Elizabeth Martiau Reade Find-A-Grave Virtual Cemetery memorial #11591903 in Grace Episcopal Churchyard, Yorktown, York County, Virginia, USA.

See also:

• Research Notes: John Berkeley, Esq. & Mary Snell Emigrated to Virginia 1618
• [Volume II Chapter XI A Narrative of My Life for My Family. The Berkeley Family.]
• https://www.geni.com/people/Elizabeth-Reade/6000000000769872815