George Reade | |
|---|---|
| Acting Governor of Virginia Colony | |
| In office 1638–1639 | |
| Monarch | Charles I |
| Preceded by | John Harvey |
| Succeeded by | Francis Wyatt |
| Member of theVirginia Governor's Council | |
| In office 1658-1671 | |
| Member of the House of Burgesses representingYork County, Virginia | |
| In office 1656–1657 Serving with Joseph Croshaw, Ralph Langley, John Page, Armiger Wade, Francis WIllis | |
| Preceded by | Robert Booth |
| Succeeded by | Robert Borne |
| Member of the House of Burgesses representingJames City County, Virginia | |
| In office 1649–1651 Serving with William Barret,Walter Chiles, John Dunston, Thomas Swan, William Whittaker | |
| Preceded by | Bridges Freeman |
| Succeeded by | John Fludd |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 25, 1608 |
| Died | November 21, 1671 (aged 63) Yorktown, Virginia, British America |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Martiau (m. 1641) |
| Relations | George Washington (great-great grandson) Thomas Nelson Jr. (great-great grandson) |
| Children | 7 |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | Virginia Militia |
| Rank | Colonel |
George Reade (October 25, 1608 – November 21, 1671) was a prominent landowner, military officer and politician who served as a member of theHouse of Burgesses and asActing Governor ofVirginia Colony.[1][2] He is the great-great-grandfather of the firstPresident of the United States,George Washington.[3][4]
Reade was born on October 25, 1608, inLinkenholt,Hampshire,England, the son of Sir Robert Reade and Mildred Windebank Reade.[5] He descended fromMagna 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 SirFrancis Windebank, Secretary of State toKing Charles I.[7]
After his mother died, Reade traveled to Virginia in January 1637, the 28 year old accompanied the colony's restored (but unpopular) governorJohn 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 SirFrancis 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 theVirginia Governor's Council.[10]
The colony's initial capital,Jamestown, was notoriously unhealthy during summers, so Reade settled not far away, first inWilliamsburg (which later became the colony's capital, and was built across the border line which dividedJames City andYork Counties). He later resided at plantations in York andGloucester County (which developed across theYork River during this tobacco boom era).[11]
Reade acquired considerable land holdings throughout Virginia colony.[8] He also invested in land that became theNorthern 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 inLancaster County in 1651, 500 acres inNorthumberland County in 1653, 2,000 acres inWestmoreland County in 1657, and in 1667 the General Assembly granted him 2,000 acres of land along thePiankatank River in Gloucester County.[12]
As was required of all white men, Reade served in theVirginia Militia. By the late 1630s he was rising in the officer ranks, receiving promotions from Captain to Major and finally as Colonel.[13]
By 1649, James City County voters elected Reade as one of their representatives in theHouse 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 theVirginia 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 theGeneral Court of Virginia, sitting for York County.[18]
In 1641, Reade married Elizabeth Martiau, one of three daughters of burgessNicolas Martiau and first wife Jane Berkeley. They probably wed inYork County, Virginia. They had seven children, including:[19]
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 theGrace Episcopal Churchyard in Yorktown.[3] His granddaughter Margaret (Robert Reade's daughter) marriedWilliam Nelson who likewise served briefly as a burgess, but many years on the Governor's Council and briefly as acting governor.
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