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Nicholas Martiau, French Huguenot
July 2, 2013
— 3 Comments
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- Jamestown crest
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- reburial plaque
In 1635 My 10th great-grandfather participated in a political act in the Virginia Colony that landed him in trouble:
A Principal in the Overthrow of a Capricious Ruler
York History Series #A-5, April 1997by (the late) Dick Ivy, Honorary NMDA Member
Hearing of secret and unlawful meetings since January by some of his councilors concerning decisions of his rulership of Virginia, Governor Sir John Harvey apprehended and committed their “chief actors” William English, Nicolas Martiau and Francis Pott. On Apr. 28, 1635, the Governor’s Councilors Samuel Matthews, John Utie, Thomas Harwood, William Perry, William Farrer, William Peirce, George Menefie and Dr. John Pott came to the governor-called council meeting at his house. John Utie of Yorke’s Chiskiak Parish hit the governor hard on his shoulder and declared he was under arrest for treason. The others held him secure and told him to go back to England to answer the complaints against him. They set Martiau and others free and called for their force of 50 musketmen waiting at a short distance. On May 7, 1635, the councilors met at James Town, opened the floor to complaints, and elected Capt. John West as governor. The complaint included the giveaway to please the King of the Isle of Kent to Maryland by a willing Harvey for persecuted Catholics from England, ignoring the ownership claim by William Claiborne who was trading with the Indians here. A war ensued between forces from Maryland and Claiborne when the latter refused to become a Catholic, it is said. Martiau was granted 1,600 acres of land that year. The King reinstated Harvey and the rebels were ordered to appear at the King’s Star Court, but were never tried for an unknown reason. Finally, Harvey was recalled over another incident of poor judgment.
Capt Nicolas Martiau (1591, France-1657) & Jane Page Berkeley
Capt. Martiau [also recorded as Marlier, Martue, Martin, Martian] was a French Huguenot (in church of Threadneedle St.) from the Island of Ré. He was in the service of Henry Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon and member of the Virginia Company, and educated as a military engineer. He was naturalized as an Englishman by royal decree. He came to Jamestown aboard the “Francis Bona Venture” in 1620, legally representing the Earl to plan fortifications. He led a foray against the Indians at Falling Creek after the 1622 massacre. He joined the liberal party committed to the Virginia outlook, pleading for continuance of the House of Burgesses in 1623/4. He, with Captain George Utie and Captain Samuel Mathews, was responsible for sending the tyrant governor Harvey back to England.
There is some question about his wives. His first wife was Elizabeth, last name and date of death unknown. She was most likely the mother of Elizabeth (born 1625). Jane was the widow of Lt. Edward Berkeley, who died in 1625; they had a child named Jane. . After her death, Nicholas married Isabella, widow of Robert Felgete & George Beech, in 1646.
Martiau’s defense of the French king in an argument with Capt. Thomas Mayhew forced him to take a loyalty oath in Jamestown in 1627. He was granted 600 acres as Chiskiack, which became Yorktown (in 1644, the Cheskiack Indians were moved to the Pianketank, where they would be forced out by Augustine Warner; the tribe seems to have vanished at that point.) He served as Burgess 1632-33, and Justice for York Co. 1633-57. “He, with George Utie and Captain Samuel Matthews, sent the tyrant governor, Harvey, close prisoner back to England.” Harvey returned, bringing George Reade–Martiau’s future son-in-law–with him, but he was forced back to England again, leaving Reade as Acting Governor. Martiau moved to the present Yorktown site in 1630 on 600 acres, plus 700 for headrights, where he grew tobacco. On this land Cornwallis surrendered his troops to Martiau’s great-great-great-grandson, General George Washington in 1781. Martiau later was granted 2000 acres on the south side of the Potomac River, which he gave to Col. George Reade in 1657. (See John Baer Stoudt, Nicolas Martiau, The Adventurous Huguenot, The Military Engineers, and the Earliest American Ancestor of George Washington.)
Nicholas French Huguenot Martiau (1591 – 1657)
is my 10th great grandfather
daughter of Nicholas French Huguenot Martiau
daughter of MARY Jane Martiau
daughter of Martha Scarisbrook
daughter of Martha Cary
son of Mary Jacquelin
son of Johannes John SCHMIDT SMITH
son of Henry Smith
son of Swain Smith
daughter of Jerimiah Smith
son of Minnie M Smith
son of Ernest Abner Morse
I am the daughter of Richard Arden Morse
I can now join yet another organization about being descended..the NMDA.
Martin, Marten, Martens, Martyn (French, Spanish, English) Descendant of Martinus [belonging to the god Mars, the god of war]; one who came from Martin, the name of places in Spain and France. The popularity of the name in Western Europe is due to St. Martin of Tours, the fourth century French saint.
Source: New Dictionary of American Family Names by Elsdon C. Smith, Gramercy Publishing Company, New York, 1988.
Nicolas Martiau – The Immigrant
This portion of the Family Roots and Branches is dedicated to the study of Nicolas Martiau (pronounced Mar-ti-o) and his descendants.
“The Adventurous Huguenot” and the father of Yorktown, Virginia, was born in France 1591, came to Virginia in 1620 and died in 1657 at Yorktown, Virginia. He was a Captain in the Jamestown militia during the Indian uprisings, a member of the Colonial Virginia House of Burgesses, and Justice of the County of York. In 1635 he was a leader in the thrusting out of Governor Harvey which was the first opposition to British Colonial Policy. He is the original patentee for Yorktown. He is buried at the Grace Church in Yorktown, Virginia.
Descendants of Nicolas are through his daughters, Mary (married Lt. Colonel John Scarsbrook), Sarah (married Captain William Fuller, Puritian governor of Maryland), and Elizabeth (married Lt. Col. George Reade). Nicolas is the earliest American ancestor of our first President George Washington.
Among the descendants of Nicolas Martiau we find – in addition to Washington – one Vice President of the United States, two Justices of the Supreme Court, three ministers to foreign countries, three cabinet officers, six governors of states, eight senators, eleven generals involved in the War Between the States, fifteen congressman, forty commissioned officers who served in the American Revolution,
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and a veritable host of men and women prominent in national life. Such names as General Thomas Nelson, a signer of the Declaration of Independance; Meriwether Lewis, explorer of Lewis and Clark fame; Duff Green; Thomas Nelson Page and Amelia Rives are of special interest.
In the early 20th century the registrar of the Colonial Dames of America in the state of Virginia contains the names of more than four hundred women who could trace their lineage to Nicolas Martiau.
Nicolas Martiau is my 15th great grandfather and one of two of my earliest American ancestors. Here is my line of descendent from that adventurous Hugenout – Nicolas Martiau:
Larry Van Horn, NMDA Member #174 (Scar(s)brook-Condon-Wills)
1. Nicolas Martiau & Jane ? (Berkley)
2. John Scar(s)brook & Mary Martiau
3. David Condon & Elizabeth Scar(s)brook
4. Elias Wills & Mary Condon
5. John Wills & Susanna Robertson
6. James Cole & Mary Wills
7. James Cole & Fanny Chisman Wills
8. Ware Oglesby & Elizabeth Dancy Cole
9. Aaron Redus & Lucy Ann Oglesby
10. James Ware Redus Jr & Leah Magee
11. Alexander Hamilton David Hurt & Mary Susan Redus 12. James Ira Hurt & Johanna Himena Schneider
13. Witt Lange Van Horn and Jeanette Iris Hurt
Nicolas Martiau Descendants – The First Six Generations
The link below is to an Adobe Acrobat PDF Descendants Chart that shows six generations of Nicolas Martiau Descendants. If you are a descendant of any of the below listed in this chart you are eligible for membership in the Nicolas Martiau Descendant Association (see below). The lines represented on this chart are lines that are accepted for membership in the NMDA. As more information is entered into our genealogy database, new charts will be placed on this website and the NMDA website. Be sure to check for these pages for future updates.
Nicolas Martiau Six Generation Descendants Chart (Adobe Acrobat format) The NMDA Lineage SocietyNicolas Martiau Descendant Association
Genealogist who can prove descend from Nicolas Martiau are eligible for membership in the Nicolas Martiau Descendant Association (NMDA). The NMDA was started in 1991. Two first cousins from California went to Yorktown to meet Dick Ivy (recently deceased), the Towne Crier and Historian, for a tour of the Martiau Family sites. One cousin fell and injured a knee, was propped up by the wall of the Grace Church cemetery. A lone man was in the mist, reading inscriptions. He paused at theColonel George Reade/Elizabeth Martiau stone, not aware of the Martiau Family buried there without a marker. This one act prompted the chain of events culminating in the first Tribute to Martiau held in 1993 and the 1997 grave marker dedication. A second Tribute was held in the Spring of 2000 and the third was held Spring 2004 in Yorktown. The cousins were Lee Yandell and Marty Dale. (Reade- Reade-Wattington).
The NMDA had over 182 members nationwide. I have the honor of serving as the National Registrar for this proud and prestigous lineage based organization. You can get more information on the NMDA by contacting me, Larry Van Horn, via email (link at bottom of this webpage) or visiting the official NMDA website at:
Nicolas Martiau Descendant Association
At this website you can download lineage and application formsin pdf format to aid you in the application process. On the website you will find selected members lineages, news, events, history and much more.
Tracking the Pennsylvania Petersons
July 1, 2013
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In each tree there are challenging branches. My own difficult ancestor to whom I have dedicated untold number of hours in research is Thomas Peterson. He is special because he is mentioned in the handwritten notes I had to begin my whole search. His granddaughter, Sarah Helena Byrne, wrote facts and her own opinions about family members, said he is Pennsylvania Dutch. She also mentions that his nephew, James Peterson, married my grandmother Scott after her first husband died. This seems simple enough, but I am stumped because I can’t find a record of Thomas’ birth in Indiana in 1825. His parents are alleged to be born in Pennsylvania, but I know facts were sometimes recorded incorrectly in the census. What were his parents doing way out west before the Civil War? Who were they, and where in Pennsylvania were they born? This all remains unanswered. It makes me crazy…
Thomas Peterson (1825 – ?)
is my 3rd great grandfather
daughter of Thomas Peterson
daughter of Harriet Peterson
daughter of Sarah Helena Byrne
son of Olga Fern Scott
I am the daughter of Richard Arden Morse
I will travel to Pennsylvania in 2 months, so I am going on a search. Thomas’ second wife, Emiline Nichols, was born in Somerset in 1837, as were many of her ancestors. Her father was a teacher from Maryland who moved his family to Ohio. She married Thomas in Ohio in 1855. They moved to Kansas to homestead by 1870, and farm in a small community called Ladore, Neosho. I went there in person a few years ago, to the cemetery. I ran into nephew James and Grandmother Angelina Pendergrass, Scott, Peterson buried there, but no trace of Thomas or Emiline. It is time to hire a professional genealogist. I have found a very good deal at the Somerset Historical Society for research into family history for $20 an hour…$15 for members. I am going to become a member and invest $100 and see what I find. I have considered hiring a pro before, but this time I can see how it might be very worthwhile. They are familiar with the references they have, and can work faster than I could in person. I am very curious to see how a real one works. Either way I can visit the ancestral homeland of the Nichols and Wrights, Emiline’s family. Thy also maintain some cool historical farm and maple camp displays I believe I saw as a child, but am not sure. It will be an excellent adventure into the history of PA, but I might really score some tree data I have been seeking for years. Wish me luck, gentle reader.
Leaving Oakmont
June 30, 2013
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- 1963 San Tomé
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- not in Pittsburgh any more
I spent my school career through the 8th grade in the small town of Oakmont, PA, a suburb of Pittsburgh. This tiny, close knit (nosey) community was about the Oakmont Country Club and Edgewater Steel, and some other stuff. For kids it was paradise with millionaire robber baron neighbors providing lavish recreational opportunities. My parents were Republicans who disliked JFK and did not play golf. On one hand they were non conformist, and on the other, very concerned with image. I had a running battle with my mother for my entire grade school career about bangs, permanent waves, and white socks. These symbols of culture and control were so important to my mother that my wishes were never considered. She stuck my hair in the sink and put stinky stuff and curlers in it against my will, and with loud protest. She always cut my bangs off, mullet style. The most important symbol to Ruby Morse was the little girl’s need to wear white anklet socks. This was truly the most hated of all conditions, the white sock purgatory. Ruby Morse believed that wearing stockings was a sign of loose morals. I believed she inflicted the white socks as a crazed statement of micro management. We had deep, basic irreconcilable fashion differences.
Management of any kind was about to fly out the window when the family moved to San Tomé, Venezuela in 1963. My father became the general manager for Mene Grande ( Gulf Oil) for eastern Venezuela. This meant that I lived in a big house with servants and my father was the boss of everyone in the town where I lived. My teachers in school worked for my father, as did all my friends’ parents. Strangers constantly gave me lovely gifts, and it was obviously too hot to wear white socks. I was the lucky imperialist 13-year-old with everything. I lived in a remote place so radio was a lot less available than it had been in Pittsburgh. The strongest reliable signal came from Radio Havana. Fidel would hold forth for hours and then they played some music. Live music was everywhere. I had a harp serenade at my window by a guy who wrote the song for me. This could not have happened in Pennsylvania. Although San Tomé had a golf course, there was no other commonality with Oakmont, PA. Nothing could have been more drastic, really. I loved it, but when given the chance to choose where I would go abroad for 10th grade, I chose PA because I still thought of it as my US home. I have not visited Oakmont since 1964.
I will return to Oakmont to see some of my school friends in a couple of months. We have all traveled different paths, but mine diverged drastically and forever. I am bringing back memories and enjoying the stories that my classmates remember. Some scenes are vivid as I think of them, and some are gone. I hardly remember any of the parents. Our personalities are in tact, from what I can detect on our Facebook page. We will go and physically be in the building where we went to elementary grades together. I think it will be amazing..our own versions of what we remember. I look forward to it with great anticipation.
Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
June 29, 2013
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Zappos Headquarters
The 7th core value at Zappos is about team building. The social fabric of the Zappos team is strong and purposely flexible. Diversity is encouraged; self expression is made mandatory; teams tackle problems in groups. The jolly team spirit is evident in the work environment at Zappos headquarters. I think it is closer to being the happiest place on earth than Disneyland is..but that is not saying much. Family in the workplace means shared responsibility as well as camaraderie.
My specialty is teaching swimming. In order to teach the skill an environment of trust must exist. This week I had the pleasure of teaching two young ladies who are friends. They have a big age difference but get along well as friends. The right atmosphere brings out the best in everyone. The girls worked hard each day in lessons, and at the end of the week, they had their little doll family on the steps with them for a swimming lesson. They had become the teachers, inspiring the dolls with their confidence. This is how the positive team and family spirit works. It is contagious, and uplifting for everyone. Cooperation and inspiration are natural partners in business.
Field of the Cloth of Gold
June 28, 2013
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My 11th great-grandfather, John Taylor was one of the ten chaplains present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. As I look at history through the perspective of my ancestors I learn details that blow my mind. Henry VIII is known even to American history students for his wives, divorces, and church business. Henry was a music fan, and imported some of my ancestors from Italy to be musicians in his court. I had never heard of this Field of Cloth of Gold, sort of a party Henry had with lavish tents and chaplains. The king of France really tripped him in the fight Henry arranged. I love this story, and am highly amused that my ancestor can be placed at the crazy Anglo-Franco party. I say let’s invite Vlad over for a topless wrestling match in DC. What do you think? Has any of you ever heard of this Field party? Those royals were just so kinky.
Boris, Natasha, and the Cold War
June 26, 2013
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When I was in elementary school we had air raid drills to teach us how to protect ourselves if Russians tried to blow us up during school hours. We went out in the hall and stood against the wall with our arms against the wall wondering why Russians wanted to bomb us. The cartoon spies Boris and Natasha explained this reality to us. Fearless Leader, a thinly veiled Nikita Krushchev, was out to destroy us by sending hacks like Boris and Natasha to spy on us. The cold war was about nuclear weapons, but we had no idea what they were. We only knew they made mushroom clouds in cartoons. Maybe some of us knew about Hiroshima, but generally the big conspiracy against us remained unexplained. We shifted our national hatred from Germany to Russia after WWII, and our effort was focused on keeping communists from ruling the world. We were not alive for the Nazis but saw them in movies plenty. We had heavy brainwashing about Europe, which we also did not understand. History for us was all about the western hemisphere and manifest destiny.
The details of communism and how it operated to destroy us were vague at best. We later became aware that James Bond also recognized Russia as evil, but sometimes slept with Russian spies to gain intelligence. The plot thickened. We needed to stop communism in Viet Nam by killing people in the jungle while tripping on LSD. Things went downhill from there, even though communism and capitalism looked exactly the same on the inside. When the Soviet Union imploded it was from the same kind of corruption and propaganda that the United States is known for now. This war will be the globally warmer war, in which the stakes are higher, the cartoons more sinister. Now Fearless Leader is Vladamir Putin, and the accent still fits perfectly.
Betrayal and Trust
June 24, 2013
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The decision to trust is a risk. Calculating risk should be a skill we develop and improve over our lives. The influence of relationships on our faith in others is central. Early betrayal can be a blessing because it can prevent deeper problems by showing true colors. Trust and the possibility of betrayal arise together. If we trust the government, or our spouse, or boss, we may find that faith has been misplaced. Few of us have the ability to accurately judge or predict the behavior of our closest companions. Being blind to imperfections is neither healthy nor honest. If we are honest we can admit our own imperfections, and our own potential to betray others. With perspective we can see how our national anger has damaged the entire society.
The rose-colored glasses version of America was a risk. The more we spun ourselves into the greatest country in the world, the more we found ourselves betrayed as a nation. The more we fought for our way of life around the world (whatever that meant), the more undesirable our way of life became. The more we declared war on everything from drugs to terror, the more ground we lost in the global trust department. Now American security is breeched on a regular basis in fairly spectacular fashion. It is lucrative, I imagine, for some, but it is becoming a badge of courage. If the seed of betrayal is trust, then it must also follow that after betrayal trust becomes mature and discerning. It is a cycle, gentle reader.
Swimming is a Con Game
June 23, 2013
steps
flippers
stylin gear
play on steps
small group
lots of floatation
shade
deep end inspiration
watch and learn
options
facing mom
Confidence and floatation are close relatives. To swim is to move across the water, and it requires coordination and skill. To make learning both fun and effective for young swimmers they need to feel very good most of the time, and challenged to practice some of the time. I have learned from teaching hundreds of kids (and adults) to swim that the confidence it takes to control the breath is the heart of the swimming game. You honestly can’t teach breath control to tiny kids, and you would be foolish to use words like breath control or face in the water to older kids. You need to first recognize that you have completely different agendas.
Kids want to go off the diving board, do underwater flips and go touch the bottom. Very few kids care if they swim properly or master stroke technique. The ones who are fine technical swimmers usually don’t care about that at all. They just like to have fun at the pool. If a swim teacher wants to have fun at the pool that natural desire must be harnessed, never rushed. Making a drill too harsh or demands too tough can be a turn off for a shy student. It is important to alternate between what is already easy and what is yet to be learned. My new students are ideal because they already know each other. This saves much wear and tear since the girls are friends and know what to expect from each other. The older, taller ,more confident one is ready and able to inspire the younger more timid one without any showing off or ill temper. Lucky me. I am also fortunate that our young new swimmer is always in the pool with a parent, so she will not feel stranded in a new situation.
We also have the major stylin’ gear. The mermaid kick board, the floating raft, the matching pink goggles and the flippers are all worth trying. Some work better than others, and some are just there to make them feel they are real swimmers with real swimmer items. I believe in using all the tools and gear that might be helpful, but not allow the stuff to become the major focus, as it can easily with kids. It is natural and easy to switch from kick board exercises to floating to practicing bubbles while walking across the pool. One activity or tool does not become stale when you move through the lesson offering enough variety. Know that they only want to learn enough to swim away, so provide a safe setting in which they can do that. Keep it light because, after all, floating is all about trust and ease.
The New 15 Second Rule
June 22, 2013
— 4 Comments
We have been liberated from long boring presentations we don’t watch anyhow. The new 15 second rule is not about food that has been on the floor. It is about editing. If you can’t express your idea in 15 seconds, you need editing. Instagram has met the public where their attention span is. It is a fun , effortless way to find if you really have content or if you are just taking up digital space. Artemisia, coon hound, was keen to try it out to portray her content.
Olga Scott Morse, Education Pioneer
June 20, 2013
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- Olga 1916
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- Olga in school with sister
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- Sarah Helena Byrne
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- Tonkawa Shorthand class
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- Olga in her 20s
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- with Ernie 1933
My grandmother, Olga Scott Morse, was a teacher of business skills. She graduated with her masters in education after she had four kids. She left them at home on the oil lease with their dad during the week to attend classes at Oklahoma State University. I believe that in the 1930s this was a bold feminist move. After graduation from OSU she taught typing and shorthand at a junior college near their home in Tonkawa,OK. Learning to type was a bold femenist move, believe it or not. Her students learned shorthand and typing and other current secretarial skills. The school to day is called Northern Oklahoma College. I stopped at the campus when I went to Oklahoma on an ancestry hunt a few years ago. I found her name in an old yearbook in the library, which was fun. I also looked through a lot of photos from the history of the school, where my dad and his brothers were students, but I did not find them. I walked around on campus, taking a break in my drive. Later, I found a picture of her with her students in the 1930’s in front of the central building at my uncle’s house in Wichita. I easily recognized the building since I had just been there.
Her mother, Sarah Helena Byrne, was a teacher and her great-grandfather , Amos Nichols,was also. My father was a university professor. The teacher archetype is all over my father’s family. I wonder if this is a DNA situation or all the reading and discipline that teachers represent. She was a farmer when I met her, having long since retired, but I remember her typewriter on the farm that had black keys..no letters. She could wail on that thing, but she had little reason to to so. I asked her to because I liked to watch her do it. She was a woman of many skills and talents, including flower and vegetable gardening. Most of the fruits and vegetables we ate in the winter in Pittsburgh were grown on my grandparents’ farm in Arkansas and frozen. I picture her in a sun bonnet, like all her friends wore, on the farm. Visiting the college where she taught before I was born was a really cool experience that showed me a part of her I never knew. For her day and place she was super highly educated and accomplished.
Olga Fern Scott (1897 – 1968)
is my paternal grandmother
son of Olga Fern Scott
I am the daughter of Richard Arden Morse
