Colonel George Read and Elizabeth Martiau Read
Oct. 25 1608 - Oct. 1674 1625 - 1686 (inscription in error)
George Read was the son of Robert L. Read of Facombe, England, and Lady Mildred Windebank, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk (related to the Royal family). A younger son, he came to Virginia in the 1630's and served as Secretary of the Colony for many years.
Elizabeth Martiau Read, daughter of Nicholas and Jane Bartley Martiau, was born in Elizabeth City County (now Hampton, VA). She had one brother and two sisters. One sister, Sarah, married Capt. William Fuller, who became the Puritant Governor of Maryland.
Elizabeth and George Read were married in 1641 and had five sons: John, Robert, Francis, Thomas, and Benjamin; and two daughters: Mildred and Elizabeth. Through their children's marriages, the Reads were ancestors (great, great grandparents) of both Thomas Nelson, Jr. and George Washington.
The Read tombstones and the remains of 17 burials, relocated from the Martiau family plot to Grace Church Cemetery, were discovered in 1931 during regrading of Buckner Street (about 600 feet from the Church). Undoubtedly, also buried in the plot, was Nicholas Martiau, the first settler of the area that now encompasses Yorktown.
by courtesy of D. W. Conner
Heaven A holy life is a voice; it speaks when the tongue is silent, and is either a constant attraction or a perpetual reproof.
