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George Reade (colonial governor)

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George Reade
Acting Governor of Virginia Colony
In office
1638–1639
MonarchCharles I
Preceded byJohn Harvey
Succeeded byFrancis Wyatt
Member of the Virginia Governor's Council
In office
1658-1671
Member of the House of Burgesses representing York County, Virginia
In office
1656–1657
Serving with Joseph Croshaw, Ralph Langley, John Page, Armiger Wade, Francis WIllis
Preceded byRobert Booth
Succeeded byRobert Borne
Member of the House of Burgesses representing James City County, Virginia
In office
1649–1651
Serving with William Barret, Walter Chiles, John Dunston, Thomas Swan, William Whittaker
Preceded byBridges Freeman
Succeeded byJohn Fludd
Personal details
BornOctober 25, 1608
Linkenholt, Hampshire, England
DiedNovember 21, 1671 (aged 63)
Yorktown, Virginia,
British America
SpouseElizabeth Martiau (m. 1641)
RelationsGeorge Washington (great-great grandson)
Thomas Nelson Jr. (great-great grandson)
Children7
Military service
Branch/serviceVirginia Militia
RankColonel

George Reade (October 25, 1608 – November 21, 1671) was a prominent landowner, military officer and politician who served as a member of the House of Burgesses and as Acting Governor of Virginia Colony.[1][2] He is the great-great-grandfather of the first President of the United States, George Washington.[3][4]

Early life and family

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Coat of Arms of George Reade

Reade was born on October 25, 1608, in Linkenholt, Hampshire, England, the son of Sir Robert Reade and Mildred Windebank Reade.[5] He descended from Magna Charta Sureties.[citation needed] His paternal grandparents were Andrew Reade and Alice Cooke, and his maternal grandparents were Frances Dymoke and Sir Thomas Windebank.[6] His uncle was Sir Francis Windebank, Secretary of State to King Charles I.[7]

Career

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After his mother died, Reade traveled to Virginia in January 1637, the 28 year old accompanied the colony's restored (but unpopular) governor John Harvey. Reade assisted and advised Harvey, worked closely with the colony's Secretary, Richard Kemp, and for a time resided at the governor's mansion. From 1638 to 1639, during Harvey's absence, Reade served as Acting Governor of Virginia, until Sir Francis Wyatt (royally appointed as Harvey's successor) arrived in the colony.[8] Reade was later appointed as the colony's Secretary, when Kemp traveled to England (1640-1642).[9] Reade also served as clerk of the Virginia Governor's Council.[10]

The colony's initial capital, Jamestown, was notoriously unhealthy during summers, so Reade settled not far away, first in Williamsburg (which later became the colony's capital, and was built across the border line which divided James City and York Counties). He later resided at plantations in York and Gloucester County (which developed across the York River during this tobacco boom era).[11]

Reade acquired considerable land holdings throughout Virginia colony.[8] He also invested in land that became the Northern Neck of Virginia, often receiving headrights for paying the travel expenses of indentured servants, and then patenting land with the promise to develop it. Reade patented 600 acres of land in Lancaster County in 1651, 500 acres in Northumberland County in 1653, 2,000 acres in Westmoreland County in 1657, and in 1667 the General Assembly granted him 2,000 acres of land along the Piankatank River in Gloucester County.[12]

As was required of all white men, Reade served in the Virginia Militia. By the late 1630s he was rising in the officer ranks, receiving promotions from Captain to Major and finally as Colonel.[13]

Virginia political career

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By 1649, James City County voters elected Reade as one of their representatives in the House of Burgesses, which governed the colony, and in 1656 he was one of the many burgesses representing York County.[14][15] Reade served as a member of the Virginia Governor's Council from around 1658 until his death.[16][17] The Governor's Council could also act as the colony's highest court in that era. On August 25, 1656, Reade was a justice of the General Court of Virginia, sitting for York County.[18]

Marriage and children

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In 1641, Reade married Elizabeth Martiau, one of three daughters of burgess Nicolas Martiau and first wife Jane Berkeley. They probably wed in York County, Virginia. They had seven children, including:[19]

  • Mildred Reade (1643–1694), married Augustine Warner Jr.
  • Robert Reade (1644–1722/23), married Mary Lilly
  • George Reade Jr. (born c. 1648) died without issue before his mother
  • Francis Reade (1650–1694), married Jane Chisman
  • Elizabeth Reade (1654–1717), married Capt. Thomas Cheesman
  • Benjamin Reade (born c. 1667), married Mary Gwynn
  • Thomas Reade (1669-1734), married Lucy Gwynn

Death and legacy

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Reade died in 1671 at the age of 63.[20] He bequeathed 850 acres of land in York County to his firstborn sons George and Robert, subject to a life estate in his widow. She survived him by more than a decade, with her will written in the winter of 1685/6 being admitted to probate the following winter. It divided the land of her childless and by then deceased son George among his younger brothers Francis and Benjamin.[21] Reade is buried at the Grace Episcopal Churchyard in Yorktown.[3] His granddaughter Margaret (Robert Reade's daughter) married William Nelson who likewise served briefly as a burgess, but many years on the Governor's Council and briefly as acting governor.

Notable descendants

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Salmon, Emily J. and Edward D. C. Campbell Jr., eds. The Hornbook of Virginia History: A Ready-Reference Guide to the Old Dominion's People, Places, and Past. Fourth Edition. Richmond, Virginia: The Library of Virginia, 1994.
  2. ^ Ancestral Records and Portraits: A Compilation from the Archives of Chapter I, the Colonial Dames of America. Grafton Press. 1910. p. 441.
  3. ^ a b "Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography". usgenwebsites.org. Retrieved 2022-12-18.
  4. ^ a b Cutter, William Richard (1924). American Biography: A New Cyclopedia. Pub. under the direction of the American historical society. p. 298.
  5. ^ "George Reade Pedigree". worldconnect.rootsweb.com. Retrieved 2022-12-18.
  6. ^ Ancestral Records and Portraits: A Compilation from the Archives of Chapter I, the Colonial Dames of America. Grafton Press. 1910. p. 130.
  7. ^ Tyler, Lyon G. (1897). "Notes on the York County, Virginia, Goodwins". The William and Mary Quarterly. 6 (2): 140–159. doi:10.2307/1914672. ISSN 0043-5597. JSTOR 1914672.
  8. ^ a b "Jamestown Colony, 1607 - 1700". Bedinger Family History and Genealogy. Retrieved 2022-12-18.
  9. ^ Richardson, Royal Ancestry, IV:468 READE 21
  10. ^ John Frederick Dorman, Adventures of Purse and Person vol.2 pp. 505-506
  11. ^ Bruce, Philip Alexander; Stanard, William Glover (1896). The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. Virginia Historical Society. p. 206.
  12. ^ McDonough, Sandy. Our Foundings Fathers Homes and Churches in Virginia. Sandy McDonough. ISBN 978-0-615-28854-3.
  13. ^ Wilson, York Lowry (1962). A Carolina-Virginia Genealogy. Gale & Polden.
  14. ^ Cynthia Miller Leonard, The Virginia General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library pp. 27, 33. Documentation of his service is uneven, because in each such year the number of burgesses representing that particular county more than doubled, plus Reade had ministerial duties toward the assembly.
  15. ^ McIlwaine, H. R., ed. Journals of the House of Burgesses 1619-1658/9. (Richmond, VA: Library Board, Virginia State Library, 1915), online at Archive.org, Vol. 1 (1619-1658/1659), pages 29, 99, 113.
  16. ^ Dorman p. 506
  17. ^ Collins, Holdridge Ozro (1900). Genealogy of the Washington Family. Sons of the Rev. Calif.
  18. ^ "Fortiter Ubique: The Martiau Family". Fortiter Ubique. 2014-09-25. Retrieved 2022-12-18.
  19. ^ Watson, Annah Robinson (1898). Some Notable Families of America. p. 76.
  20. ^ Fox, Tommy. "Colonel Governor George Reade Esq". Genealogy Online. Retrieved 2022-12-18.
  21. ^ Dorman p. 506
  22. ^ Rowland, Jane Thomas (1997). Col. George Reade: immigrant, burgess, sec[retary] of state, memb[er] of the Council, gov[ernor], ancestor of Geo[rge] Washington: papers from the family files with Rowland/Thomas connections and some ancestors and descendants of Jane Thomas Rowland and Arthur Ray Rowland. Augusta, Ga. (One 7th St., Suite 1503, Augusta 30901): RR Books. OL 310862M.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  23. ^ The Patriotic Marylander. The Maryland Society Daughters of the American Revolution. 1914. p. 17.
  24. ^ Reinhart, Janet. "The Meriwether Society, Inc. - Biographical Sketch". tmsi.j777.org. Retrieved 2022-12-19.
  25. ^ Wurts, John S. (1942). Magna Charta. Brookfield Publishing Company.
  26. ^ Albert H. Spencer, Genealogy of the Spencer family (1956), p. v (snippet)
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