Martín de Argüelles
Martín de Argüelles | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1566 |
| Died | 1630 (aged 63–64) St. Augustine, Florida |
| Nationality | Spaniard |
| Occupation | Sailor |
| Parent(s) | Martín de Argüelles Sr., Leonor Morales |
Martín de Argüelles Jr. (1566–1630) was the first white child known to have been born in what is now the contiguous United States. His birthplace of St. Augustine, Florida (Spanish: San Agustín, La Florida) is the oldest continuously occupied, European-founded city in the United States.
Birth
Argüelles was born in 1566 in the Spanish settlement of San Agustín, Spanish Florida. Martín's parents were Martín de Argüelles (Sr.) and Leonor Morales. The family of Argüelles was of Greek origin,[1] a fact they themselves consistently asserted,[2] tracing their ancestry to shipbuilders from the Greek city of Argos;[1][2][3] some researchers have also suggested that this is the source of their name ("from Argos" = "Argoyos" -> Argüelles).[2][3][4][5]
Argüelles' father, Martín Argüelles Sr., an Asturian hidalgo, was one of the expeditioners who came to New Spain in the New World with Captain General Pedro Menéndez de Avilés in 1565. Argüelles 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.
Lifetime
Martín Argüelles Jr. served the Spanish crown in Portugal and several garrisons and expeditions which embarked in the Spanish Armada which went in search of corsair Francis Drake. He was later transferred in 1594 from Havana, Cuba, to Mérida, Mexico, where he was appointed Executive Officer of the Mérida fortress and coast. Argüelles was married in Mérida.
See also
- Hélène Desportes – often cited as the first white child born in Canada, New France.
- Virginia Dare – first child of English parentage born in what is now US territory.
References
- ^ a b "Arguelles Family History Website". arguellesfamily.com. Retrieved 2025-03-26.
- ^ a b c Tirso de Avilés (1590). Armas y Linajes de Asturias y Antigüedades del Principado, ed. de M. G. Martínez. p. 91-92
- ^ a b José Manuel Trelles de Villademoros (1739). Asturias Ilustrada. Vol. 1. p. 161.
- ^ La Voz. La Voz. 1992. p. 2.
- ^ "Origen y significado del apellido Argüelles". heraldicadeapellidos.com. Retrieved 2025-03-26.
- Abbad y Lasierra, Iñigo, Relación del descubrimiento, conquista y población de las provincias y costas de la Florida - '
Relación de La Florida (1785); edición de Juan José Nieto Callén y José María Sánchez Molledo.
- Fairbanks, George R. (George Rainsford), History and antiquities of St. Augustine, Florida (1881), Jacksonville, Fla., H. Drew.
- Reynolds, Charles B. (Charles Bingham), Old Saint Augustine, a story of three centuries, (1893) St. Augustine, Fla. E. H. Reynolds.
- Menéndez de Avilés, Pedro. Cartas sobre la Florida, 1555-1574 / Pedro Menéndez de Avilés" "Letters regarding Florida, 1555-1574 by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés; Juan Carlos Mercado, edición, introducción y notas. Library of Congress.
- Lyon, Eugene, The enterprise of Florida : Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and the Spanish conquest of 1565-1568 (1976), Gainesville : University Presses of Florida.