Person:George Reade (6)

Col. Reade was the grandson of Andrew Reade, lord of the manor of Linkenholt, Hampshire, England in 1585 who died in 1623

George Reade, a native of London, came to Virginia 1637 in Sir John Harvey's party. Harvey was returning to Virginia to assume the office of Governor of the Colony. Reade was appointed Secretary of State, pro tem of the colony in 1640 and served as Acting Governor in the absence of Governor Harvey. He was a member of the House of Burgesses and a member of the Colonial Council until his death. His will, no longer extant, is documented in a York County 18th century land transaction.

York Co, VA Deeds & Bonds Book 5 pp 3 - 6 This Indenture made the sixteenth day of May in the fortieth year of the Reign of our Sovernge Lord George the Second King of Great Britain and in the year of our Lord Christ one thousand seven hundred & forty one between James Mitchell of the Town & County of York and Janet his wife of the one part and Richard Ambler of the same Town & county aforesaid . Whereas George Reade late of the sd county of York Esq decd being siezed in fee of a certain tract or parcel of land lying & being in the said County of York containing by Estimation Eight hundred & fifty acres did by his last Will and Testament in writing bearing date the twenty ninth day of September in the Year of our Lord One thousand six hundred & Seventy devise the same by the name of all that Tract of Land wherein he lived to his wife during life and after her decease to be equally divided between his sons, George & Robert and the heirs of their bodies but and fault of such heirs in either or both of them or in case either or both of them should dye during their minority then he gave and devises his and their parts of the land aforesaid to his sons Francis and Benjamin and the heirs of their bodies with other remainders over as by the said Will duly proved in the General Court of this Colony being thereunto had may more at large appear and whereas the said George Reade one of the sons of the Testator dyed many years ago without issue and after his death the said Francis & Benjamin Reade intend into one ninety or half part of this premises to as afore devised and afterwards the said Robert Reade, Francis Reade & Benjamin Reade by Deed bearing date the twelfth day of November in the Year of our Lord one thousand and six hundred & eighty eight made partition of the premises aforesaid .........

George Reade married Elizabeth Martiau, daughter of Nicolas Martiau (Father of Yorktown). Their daughter Mildred, wife of Col. Augustine Warner, was the great grandmother of George Washington.

George Read, the son of Robert Read of London and his wife Mildred Windebank, was one of the about one hundred colonists, who emigrated to the colonies from England and Wales before the end of the 17th century, known to have legitimate descent from a Plantagenet King of England.

The illustrious ancestry of George Reade is documented nicely in Colonial Records during the period of 18 January 1638/9 - 11 December 1641. The file includes letters from the Colonial Governor, Secretary of State and George Reade to Sir Francis Windebank and/or Windebank's personal secretary Robert Reade (George Reade's brother.) The correspondence file is quite interesting, alluding to the politics behind George Reade's appointment as Secretary of State during Richard Kemp's sojourn in England. It also includes personal requests from George Reade to his brother for servants and money. Earlier correspondence puts a personal face on George Reade's life. "Sir John Harvey to Robert Reade, 17 Nov. 1637. Hopes to employ Reade's brother against the Indians. He is well and stays at the writer's house." "George Reade to Robert Reade, his brother, 26 Febr. 1637/8. Does not think much of Mr. Hawley. Thanks to the support of the Governor and Mr. Kemp, the writer has survived. Mr. Menephe has brought many servants. Mr. Hawley has promised the writer that the next lot of servants coming to Virginia would be for him but he does not believe it as Hawley is in Maryland."

"Adventurers of Purse and Person 1607 - 1624/5 and Their Families" published by the Order of First Families of Virginia, indicates in a footnote (pp. 419-420) the discrepancy between the dates inscribed on his Grace Church tablets and the filing of the wills for George Read and his wife Elizabeth as follows: "His and his wife's gravestones were discovered during street excavations in Yorktown in 1931. The inscriptions on both were recut with errors. George Reade's stone now states he died Oct. 1674, "he being in the 66th yr of his age." Since the date should be 1671 (per his will), either the age shown, or his year of birth, is in error as well....The gravestone of Elizabeth (Martiau) Read now states she was born in 1625 and died in 1696, "being in ye 71st yeare of her age." Since the year of death should be 1686 (per her will), again the age or year of birth is in error. Since Nicholas Martiau claimed...his daughter Elizabeth as headrights...it would appear Elizabeth was born prior to his arrival in Virginia in 1620...and that Elizabeth's birth occurred in 1615 rather than 1625."

The graves of George Reade and his wife Elizabeth were discovered while excavating on Buckner Street in Yorktown. In 1931, descendant Letitia Pate Evans had the tablets restored and moved to the church yard of Grace Episcopal Church. The Reade tablets sit adjacent to the plots of Gov. Thomas Nelson (Declaration of Independence signer), his father, and grandfather (who married a George Reade descendant.)

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Roberts, Gary Boyd. Ancestors of American Presidents. (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009)
   p. 2.

   George Reade, Linkenholt, Hampshire 25 Oct. 1608-prob. Glucester Co., Va. ante 21 Nov 1674, Secretary of the Colony and Acting Governor of Virginia (1638-39), prob. Yorktown c. 1641. George is descended from King Edward III of England through his mother. George and Elizabeth are the 3g grandparents of George Washington through their daughter Mildred.

2.   Colonel George Reade, in Lundy, Darryl. The Peerage: A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe.
3.   Col George Reade, in Find A Grave.