Martín de Argüelles

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Martín de Argüelles, Jr. (born 1566) was the first child of European descent born in a permanent European settlement in what is now the Mainland United States according to documents and manuscripts in the archives of the Library of Congress.

[edit] Birth

Martín was born in 1566 in the Spanish settlement of San Agustín, approximately 21 years before the birth of Virginia Dare in North Carolina. Martín's parents were Martín de Argüelles (Sr.) and Leonor Morales. Martín Sr., an Asturian hidalgo, was one of the expeditioners who came to New Spain in the New World with Captain General Pedro Menéndez in 1565. Martín Sr. was the first Alcalde (Mayor) of San Agustín, and had been in charge of munitions in the Florida forts of Santa María, San Agustín (now St. Augustine), and Santa Elena.

[edit] Lifetime

Martín Jr. served the Spanish crown in Portugal and several garrisons and expeditions which embarked in the Spanish Armada which went in search of Corsair Sir Francis Drake. Martín Jr. was later transferred in 1594 from Havana, Cuba, to Mérida, Mexico, where he was appointed "Executive Officer" of the Mérida fortress and coast. Martín Jr. was married in Mérida.

[edit] Descendents

Martín's descendents included José Argüelles, who was one of the colonizers of the Province of New Santander in 1749, now known as the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

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