• General Notes

  Alias:<ALIA> Nicholas /Martian/
  [Brøderbund WFT Vol. 19, Ed. 1, Tree #1362, Date of Import: Apr 26, 1999]
  [Brøderbund WFT Vol. 7, Ed. 1, Tree #3244, Date of Import: May 29, 1997]
  !Nicolas was a Frenchman of the family de la
  Martaigne.  He was a French Huguenot
  settler.  He came to VA in 1620 and
  naturalized both himself and his name.  The
  spelling evolved to Martineu, then Martian.
  Nicolas was a French Walloon, who was the
  first to patent the site of Yorktown, and
  to represent Kent Island, York and Chiskiack
  in the House of Burgesses (1632)
  He was settler of Elizabeth City, Charles
  City and York Counties, VA.  He was a Justice
  of York County and also a Burgess there.
  Nicolas died between 1 Mar 1656/7 and
  24 Apr 1657.
  In Vol. IV of "Genealogies of Virginia
  Families", we read "Nicholas Martian's name
  is rendered variously in the records, Marlier,
  Martue, Martin, Martain, &c.  In 1621 a large
  party of French Walloons applied to the London
  Company for leave to settle in Virginia.
  Permission was granted, but as they received
  more favorable terms from the Dutch, they sailed
  to New York in 1622 and constituted the first
  Dutch colony in America. Some few, nevertheless,
  came to to Virginia, and among them was Nicolas
  Martian, who received his denization in England.
  In the list of Walloons presented in 1621 to
  the London Company, there is entered "Nicholas
  de la Marlier, his wife and two children;" and
  in the census of 1625 "Capt. Nicholas Martue" is
  named as living in Elizabeth City.  (Hotten,
  List of Emigrants to America, 99, 176, 249.)
  When Chiskiack, on York River, was opened in
  1630 for settlement he obtained the land at
  Yorktown and was the first representative in
  the Assembly for Chiskiack and Kent Island.  He
  was one of the first justices of York County,
  and in 1639 obtained a patent for land at
  Yorktown due him on account of importing himself,
  Nicholas Marlier, wife, Jane, Nicholas, his
  son, Elizabeth Marlier, his daughter, and Jane
  Berkeley her daughter and several others "the
  first year to Chiskiack."  In 1625 Lt. Edward
  Berkeley had living with him his wife, Jane
  Berkeley, and daughter Jane.  It seems that
  Martian married his widow.  In 1635 he took a
  leading part in protesting against the tyranny
  of Governor Sir John Harvey, and the loss of
  Kent Island to Lord Baltimore, and was arrested
  and confined.  But Sir John Harvey was deposed
  by the council and Martian and his friend were
  released.  In the records of York he is mentioned
  in 1645 as married to Isabella Beech.  His will
  dated March 1, 1656-'7, and proved April 4, 1757,
  names his eldest daughter Elizabeth, wife of
  George Reade, Mary who married John Scasbrook,
  of York Co., and Sarah who married Captain
  William Fuller, distinguished as Puritan
  governor of Maryland.  These daughters were
  probably by the second wife Jane, the widow
  of Edward Berkeley, and Col. Scasbrook had a
  daughter named Jane.  Martain's French wife and
  children probably did not survive the "seasoning
  period." He was the common ancestor of George
  Washington, Robert E. Lee and many other
  eminent Virginians."
  [Brøderbund WFT Vol. 16, Ed. 1, Tree #2294, Date of Import: Apr 26, 1999]
  {Rd 1.2.1f-l; ref 32,103} immigrated to VA c1620

Details of Nicholas' family with Elizabeth Jane de Berkeley

Details of Nicholas' family with Isabella Beach