Joseph Ring, Virginia Port Act of 1691, Yorktown, Virginia

Yorktown, Virginia – A Town Founded Decades After The Construction Of Fort York

Hamilton Historical Records
Painting of English Captain Nicolas Martiau.

In 1620, Captain Nicholas Martiau, a French Hugenot who had immigrated to England, received a grant of land in the Port of York area. Martiau was ordered by King James I to build forts in the colony of Virginia, one which he built in near the present day site of Yorktown, Virginia. In addition to building the forts, Captain Nicolas Martiau was tasked to complete the great log palisade between College and Queen Creeks.

In 1691, Yorktown was founded by the Virginia Port Act of 1691 by the state legislature in Jamestown. Joseph Ring and the lawyer Thomas Ballard assisted with the passage of the Virginia Port Act and the state legislature named Yorktown after the ancient town of Yorkshire in Northern England.

Published by Hamilton Historical Records

I'm a historian and legal expert from Virginia who is related to individuals who rode on the Mayflower, founding father George Mason IV, three Union veterans from the U.S. Civil War, and President Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt’s family.

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