John Page | |
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| 13thGovernor of Virginia | |
| In office December 1, 1802 – December 7, 1805 | |
| Preceded by | James Monroe |
| Succeeded by | William H. Cabell |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromVirginia's12th district | |
| In office March 4, 1793 – March 3, 1797 | |
| Preceded by | District established |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Evans |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's7th district | |
| In office March 4, 1789 – March 3, 1793 | |
| Preceded by | District established |
| Succeeded by | Abraham B. Venable |
| Member of theVirginia House of Delegates fromGloucester County | |
| In office 1800 Alongside William Hall | |
| In office 1797 Alongside William Hall | |
| In office 1788 Alongside Thomas Smith, Jr. | |
| In office 1785–1786 Alongside Thomas Smith, Jr. | |
| In office 1781–1783 Alongside Thomas Smith, Jr. | |
| President of the Virginia Council of State | |
| In office 1776–1779 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1743-04-28)April 28, 1743 April 17, 1743 (O.S.) Rosewell Plantation, Colony of Virginia, British America |
| Died | October 11, 1808(1808-10-11) (aged 65) Richmond, Virginia, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic-Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Frances Burwell Margaret Lowther Page |
| Children | 12 |
| Alma mater | College of William and Mary |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom United States |
| Branch/service | Virginia militia |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Battles/wars | French and Indian War American Revolutionary War |
John Page (April 28, 1743 – October 11, 1808) was an American planter, military officer and politician. He served as an officer in theAmerican Revolutionary War, before being elected to theU.S. Congress and later as the13th Governor of Virginia.
Page was born and lived atRosewell Plantation inGloucester County. He was the son of Alice (Grymes) and Mann Page. His great-great-grandfather wasColonel John Page (1628–1692), an English merchant fromMiddlesex who emigrated to Virginia with his wife Alice Lucken Page and settled inMiddle Plantation. He was the brother ofMann Page III.
John Page graduated from theCollege of William and Mary in 1763, where he was a close friend and college classmate ofThomas Jefferson, with whom he exchanged, as fellow revolutionaries, much correspondence.
After he graduated from William and Mary, he then served underGeorge Washington in an expedition during theFrench and Indian War. He also served during theAmerican Revolutionary War as an officer in theVirginia state militia, raising a regiment from Gloucester County and supplementing it with personal funds. During that war, he attained the rank of colonel.
Page inherited wealth, including Rosewell plantation, but lacked business success as a planter, so after his death, when his debts became due, his family was forced to sell the plantation[1]
Page was aFifth Virginia Convention delegate in 1776. Page was also instrumental in getting his 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 built the council whose membership read like a list of Patriots, shaping the American Revolution against Britain.[citation needed]
The revolutionary Virginia legislature elected Page as theLieutenant Governor of Virginia and served 1776–1779. Gloucester County voters elected him and Thomas Smith as their representatives in the newVirginia House of Delegates 1781–1783 and re=elected the pair three times to the one-year, part-time position until electing James Hubard to replace Page in 1784, only to reelect Page with Smith's namesake son, who served 1785 – 1788.[2] However, when voters were asked to select delegates to the Virginia Ratifying Convention of 1788, they chose Warner Lewis alongside Thomas Smith, rather than this man. Nonetheless, thePage family remained politically powerful in Gloucester County, as voters elected Mann Page to succeed him for a term. However, they selected Mordecai Cooke and James Baytop, who became their repeatedly reelected delegates in Richmond.
Following ratification of the federal constitution, Page successfully ran for a seat in theFirst United States Congress and was reelected to theSecond andThird, and to theFourth as a member of theDemocratic-Republican Party after that party had been created byThomas Jefferson andJames Madison. He was a Congressman from March 4, 1789, to March 3, 1797. He was elected a member of theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1792.[3]
After his terms in Congress, Page again won election as one of Gloucester County's representatives to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1797, alongside William Hall. However, only Hall won re-election in 1798, as Mordecai Cooke and several other men won the second seat.[4] He was an unsuccessful candidate in the1797 Virginia gubernatorial election,[5] and ran in the 1799 U.S. Senate special election, in which he was defeated byWilson Cary Nicholas.[6] In 1800, Gloucester County voters again selected Page to sit alongside Hall and reelected neither, presumably in part because fellow legislators elected Page asGovernor of Virginia.[7] He also tried to return to Congress in 1801, but was defeated by Federalist nominee and former state delegateJohn Stratton.[8]
Page became theGovernor of Virginia in 1802 and served three consecutive one-year terms until 1805, the maximum allowed by the state constitution.[9] After the end of his tenure, Page accepted a federal appointment as United States commissioner of loans for Virginia and held office until his death.
In 1765, Page married Frances Burwell, 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-?).[10] Of the seven who survived to adulthood, five married children of Gov.Thomas Nelson, thereby forging a significant 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 poetMargaret Lowther Page, who hosted a 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. However, only three lived to see adulthood: Margaret (1790-?), Barbara(1795-?), and Lucy (1807-?).[11] Page's niece by marriage,Judith Lomax, was also a poet.[12]
Page died inRichmond, Virginia, on October 11, 1808. He was interred inSt. John's Churchyard in Richmond.
The Page family is one of theFirst Families of Virginia. Its members includeColonel John Page, Governor John Page, his brotherMann Page,Thomas Nelson Page a leading proponent of theLost Cause myth, andVirginian Railway builderWilliam Nelson Page.
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 theCollege of William and Mary.[13]
Governor Page was quoted byGeorge W. Bush in his inaugural address in 2001. Writing to his friend Jefferson shortly after theDeclaration 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".[14]
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromBiographical Directory of the United States Congress.Federal government of the United States.
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by District established | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromVirginia's 7th congressional district 1789–1793 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by District established | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromVirginia's 12th congressional district 1793–1797 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of Virginia 1802–1805 | Succeeded by |
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