Martín de Argüelles
Martín de Argüelles Jr. was the first white child known to have been born in what is now the contiguous United States. His birthplace of St. Augustine, 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 and Leonor Morales. The family of Argüelles was of Greek origin, a fact they themselves consistently asserted, tracing their ancestry to shipbuilders from the Greek city of Argos; some researchers have also suggested that this is the source of their name.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 of San Agustín, and had been in charge of munitions in the Florida forts of Santa María, San Agustín, and Santa Elena.