John Page (April 28, 1743October 11, 1808) was an American politician. He served in the U.S. Congress and as the

13th In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave pl ...

Governor of Virginia The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia serves as the head of government of Virginia for a four-year term. The incumbent, Glenn Youngkin, was sworn in on January 15, 2022. Oath of office On inauguration day, the Governor-elect takes th ...

Early life

Page was born and lived at

Rosewell Plantation Rosewell Plantation in Gloucester County, Virginia, was for more than 100 years the home of a branch of the Page family, one of the First Families of Virginia. Begun in 1725, the Flemish bond brick Rosewell mansion overlooking the York River wa ...

in Gloucester County. He was the son of Alice (Grymes) and Mann Page. His great-great-grandfather was Colonel John Page (1628–1692), an English merchant from

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

who emigrated to Virginia with his wife Alice Lucken Page and settled in Middle Plantation. He was the brother of Mann Page III. John Page graduated from the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III a ...

in 1763, where he was a close friend and college classmate of

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

, with whom he exchanged, as fellow revolutionaries, much correspondence.

Career

After his graduation from William and Mary, he then served under

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

in an expedition during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

. He was a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1776. He also served during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

as an officer in the

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

state militia, raising a regiment from Gloucester County and supplementing it with personal funds. During that war, he attained the rank of colonel. Page was also involved in politics. He became the

Lieutenant Governor of Virginia The lieutenant governor of Virginia is a constitutional officer of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The lieutenant governor is elected every four years along with the governor and attorney general. The office is currently held by Winsome Earle S ...

and served 1776–1779. He was then a member of the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

1781–1783 and 1785 – 1788. Page was elected to the First United States Congress and reelected to the

Second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

and

Third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

, and to the Fourth as a member of the

Democratic-Republican Party The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...

after that party had been created by

and

James Madison James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for hi ...

. He was a Congressman from March 4, 1789 to March 3, 1797. He was elected a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1792. After his terms in Congress, he was again joined the Virginia House of Delegates in 1797, 1798, 1800, and 1801. He became the

in 1802 and served to 1805. After being governor, he was appointed United States commissioner of loans for Virginia and held office until his death. Page was instrumental in getting wife Frances' brother, Nathaniel Burwell, appointed to the Governor's council and together Page and Burwell opposed Lord Dunmore's proclamation against Patrick Henry, Page and Burwell building the council whose membership read like a list of Patriots, shaping the American Revolution against Britain.

Personal life

In 1765, Page was married to Frances Burwell (1745–1784), daughter of Col. Robert "Robin" Burwell. Together, Frances and John were the parents of twelve children, though only seven lived to adulthood: Mann (1766-1813), Robert (1770-?), Sally (1771-?), Alice (1775-?), Frances (1777-?), Francis (1781-?), and Judith (1783-?). Of the seven who survived to adulthood, five married children of Gov. Thomas Nelson, thereby forging a major alliance between the Page and Nelson families, there was also Burwell blood on both sides, the Burwells by these marriages becoming close relatives of the Page and Nelson families for at least three generations. After the death of his first wife in 1784, Page remarried, this time to early American poet Margaret Lowther Page (1759–1835), who hosted a vibrant literary salon at the Rosewell Plantation. Page, himself also a poet, wrote several poems about national political issues, including Shays' Rebellion and the Virginia Religious Disestablishment Act (Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom). He and Margaret were parents to eight children, although only three lived to see adulthood: Margaret (1790-?), Barbara(1795-?), and Lucy (1807-?). Page's niece by marriage,

Judith Lomax Judith Lomax (September 25, 1774 – January 19, 1828) was an American poet and religious writer. She was the first woman in Virginia to publish a volume of poetry entirely her own. Early years Little is known of Lomax's early life save that she ...

, was also a poet. Page died in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

on October 11, 1808. He was interred in St. John's Churchyard in Richmond.

Legacy

The Page family is one of the First Families of Virginia. Its members include Colonel John Page, Governor John Page, his brother

Mann Page Mann Page (1749–1781), sometimes referred to as Mann Page III, was an American lawyer, politician and planter from Spotsylvania County, Virginia, who served in the House of Burgesses and first Virginia House of Delegates as well as a d ...

Thomas Nelson Page Thomas Nelson Page (April 23, 1853 – November 1, 1922) was an American lawyer, politician, and writer. He served as the U.S. ambassador to Italy from 1913 to 1919 under the administration of President Woodrow Wilson during World War I. In his ...

a leading proponent of the Lost Cause myth, and

Virginian Railway The Virginian Railway was a Class I railroad located in Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The VGN was created to transport high quality "smokeless" bituminous coal from southern West Virginia to port at Hampton Roads. History ...

builder

William Nelson Page William Nelson Page (January 6, 1854 – March 7, 1932) was an American civil engineer and industrialist. He was active in the Virginias following the U.S. Civil War. Page was widely known as a metallurgical expert by other industry leaders a ...

. Page County, Virginia, located in the Shenandoah Valley, was formed in 1831 and named for Governor John Page. Also bearing his name is a residence hall at the

. Governor Page was quoted by

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

in his inaugural address in 2001. Writing to his friend Jefferson shortly after the Declaration of Independence was published, Page said of the Declaration and the Revolution: "We know the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong. Do you not think an angel rides in the whirlwind and directs this storm". Page is an ancestor of American musician, writer, and podcaster John Roderick.

Electoral history

*1789; Page was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives defeating Spencer Roane and Meriwether Smith *1790; Page was re-elected unopposed.

References

External links

A Guide to the Governor John Page Executive Papers, 1802–1805
a
The Library of Virginia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Page, John 1743 births 1808 deaths College of William & Mary alumni Governors of Virginia Members of the Virginia House of Delegates House of Burgesses members People from Gloucester County, Virginia Politicians from Richmond, Virginia Virginia militiamen in the American Revolution John Page American people of English descent Democratic-Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia Democratic-Republican Party state governors of the United States 18th-century American politicians 19th-century American politicians Virginia colonial people