federal constitution, Page successfully ran for a seat in the First United States Congress and was reelected to the Second and Third, and to the Fourth as a member of the Democratic-Republican Party after that party had been created by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. He was a Congressman from March 4, 1789, to March 3, 1797. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1792. 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. In 1800, Gloucester County voters again selected Page to sit alongside Hall and reelected neither, presumably in part because fellow legislators elected Page as Governor of Virginia. Page became the Governor of Virginia in 1802 and served until 1805. After his term ended (since the state constitution forbade re-election), Page accepted a federal appointment as United States commissioner of loans for Virginia and held office until his death. Personal life In 1765, Page married 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 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 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. However, only three lived to see adulthood: Margaret (1790-?), Barbara(1795-?), and Lucy (1807-?). Page's niece by marriage, Judith Lomax, was also a poet. Page died in Richmond, Virginia, 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