• General Notes

  The Martins of Virginia are descendents of Baron Martyn de Tours of the Darlington House in Devonshire, England - who was a direct descendent of Bishop Martin de Tours of France.
  
  Baron Martyn de Tours was born in 1030 -1033 - he came over from Normandy with William the Conqueror....he was a General in William's army and was at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. He was Lord of the Courts , also made Lord of Combe-Martin of Martinshire in the northern part of Devon. In Wales he was called Camais or Kemys. One writer said: He was Cemais or Keymes in Pembroke Co. England about 1077.
  
  Martin de Tours founded a monastery for Benedictine Monks near Cardigan. This institution was endowed with lands by his son and successor Baron Robert Fitz-Martin (born 1080) and his successors were summoned to the King's council as Barons of Cammaes and continued to be Lords of the English Parliment.
  
  The barony of Kemes, of which Baron Martin DE TOURS was the first loard, was in a great measure independent of the crown of England, and embraced twenty-two parishes. The Lords of Kemes exercised many important privileges, and in the reign of King John, 1208, the town of Newport was incorporated by a charter granted by William Martin, Lord of Kemes. So many privileges do they possess, that the barony of Kemes is virtually an independent sovereignty. Newport Castle, founded by Martin DE TOURS, is believed to have been completed by his great-grandson, Sir William Martin, son of Sir William Martin, who m. the dau. of Lord Rys AP Gryffidth; Martin DE TOURS was succeeded by his son, Baron Robert FITZ-MARTIN, who, besides the barony of Kemes, possessed the barony of Dartington, in Devonshire, where he lived; m. Maud Peverell.
  
  Colonial Families of the United States of America, New York: 1907, Mackenzie, George Norbury Ed.
  
  The descent of the ancient house of Bronwydd is paternally Cymric and maternally Norman, tracing in the latter line without interruption from Martin de Tours, the Norman Conqueror of Cemmaes, in virtue of which descent and tenure of the barony, the representative of the Bronwydd House is inheritor of the title of Lord or Baron of Cemmaes.

Details of William's family with Geva DeBurci