John Martin (Jamestown)
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Capt. John Martin (died 1632) was a Councilman of the Jamestown Colony in 1607.
[edit] Early life
In May 1586 he married Mary Brandon, the daughter of a leading London goldsmith and supplier to Queen Elizabeth I of England, Robert Brandon.
[edit] Virginia Colony
John arrived in Virginia along with his teenage son John on April 26, 1607. Captain Martin was named to the Council by the Virginia Company in an order that was held in a sealed box which was only to be opened in Virginia.[1]
After finding a location to build their settlement they landed on May 14, 1607 and founded Jamestown. Shortly after this the Council elected Edward Maria Wingfield president of the colony.[2]
Wingfield reported that, "Master Martyn followed with, he reporteth that I do slack the service in the collonye, and doe nothing but tend my pott, spitt, and oven, but he hath starved my sonne, and denyed him a spoonfull of beere; I have friends in England shalbe revenged on him if ever he come in London." [3]
In November of 1607, Martin and Smith refused to allow the remaining colonists to return to England on their ship the Discovery.[4] Martin objected during the winter, when John Smith was away having been captured by Indians, to President John Ratcliffe's appointment of Gabriel Archer as councilor.
Martin came into conflict with John Smith when, in the spring of 1608, the two gold refiners that Christopher Newport had transported to the colony who had led the fruitless efforts of looking for gold were sent back to London. Martin being the son of a goldsmith was very entusiastic about the development, Smith was not.[5]
Martin returned to England on the Phoenix in 1608. He may have returned to Virginia in 1624 on the Swan. He died in 1632 at Martin's Brandon plantation in Virginia.
