Martiau

Captain Nicholas Martiau

Martiau appeared in the first Virginia census of 1623 and became a member of the House of Burgesses, the oldest continuous legislative body in the western hemisphere. His marriage to the widow of a prominent settler further established his position, and the prominence of his descendent, George Washington, affirmed his intellect and acumen.

The Martiau marker is located in front of Gin Tail Antiques on Ballard Street in Historic Yorktown.

It reads:

Site of the Home of

NICOLAS MARTIAU

The adventurous Huguenot

who was born in France 1691

came to Virginia 1620

and died at Yorktown 1657

He was a captain in the Indian uprising

a member of the House of Burgesses

Justice of the County of York

In 1635 a leader

in the thrusting out of Governor Harvey

which was the first opposition

to the British colonial policy

the patentee for Yorktown

and through the marriage

of his daughter Elizabeth

to Colonel George Reade he became

the earliest American ancestor of both

General George Washington

and Governor Thomas Nelson

Marked by the Huguenot Society of Pennsylvania

in cooperation with the National Federation

of the Huguenot Societies and the Yorktown

Sesqui-Centennial Commission

1981

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