136
VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY
10 have been immediately afterwards appointed
to the council, as he was present at meetings
of that body from 1677 to 1683. At this later
date his health became very bad and he was
unable to attend for sometime. His illness,
lish house of that name, a branch of "the
Pages of Harrow on the Hill"' of Middlesex,
England. He was born in 1627 and came to
X'irginia about 1650. Of the earlier years of
his life in \'irginia, save that he acquired a
indeed, was so serious and long continued that considerable tract of land given in reward
ill England he was reported dead and his name for services in transporting persons into the
left out of the commission to the councillors colony, very little is known, but 1657 he
of 1685. He therefore prepared a petition represented York county in the house of
setting forth his various services to the colony
and praying to be restored to the council,
which was forthwith done. He continued
active up to 1690. but, his health again failing,
he prepared, two years later, another petition
burgesses. The commissioners to suppress
Bacon's rebellion reported that "]\lajor John
Page was a great loser in his estate by the
rebellion." On Dec. 12, 1681, Lord Culpeper
wrote to the authorities in England that he
asking to be relieved of all his public offices, j.ad appointed "Colonel John Page of the As-
This was also granted and the few remaining
years of his life he spent in retirement at "Ar-
lington," his house in the present Northamp-
ton county. He died on the 9th of Jan., 1696,
according to the inscrii:ition on his tomb at
"Arlington."
Meese, Henry, as "Colonel Henry Meese,'" received a grant of 2,000 acres of land in Staf- ford county on June 7. i6C>6. and, as "Lieut. Col. Henry Meese," he was, in the year fol- lowing, a member of the Northern Neck com- mittee. On March 14, 1678-79, the King ordered that Meese be added to the council, and his commission was dated May 10, 1680, but on Dec. 12. 1681. Lord Culpeper wrote that he had a])pointed a councillor in the place of Col. Henry Meese, who was living in Eng- lanrl. It appears from the letters of William Fitzhugh that Ins wife survived him and made England her home. There is some reason to believe that he left a daughter Grace, who mar- ried Charles Ashton. of Northumberland county, Virginia, ancestor of the well-known family of that name.
Page, John, the progenitor of the Page family of \'irginia. was a member of the Eng-
sembly to be councillor." He was present at
meetings of the council as late as 1689. In
1686 he was appointed, together with Nicholas
Spencer and Philip Ludwell to revise and
annotate the laws of the colony. On Oct. 15,
1 69 1, the privy council in England ordered
that Col. John Page, who had been thought to
be dead, and for that reason omitted from the
last nomination of members of the council,
sh.ould be "restored to his place and presi-
dency in the said Council of \'irginia.'" Col.
Page was a man of pious hfe and took a great
interest in the welfare of his parish. It was
liC who ga\e the land and twenty pounds in
money towards building the old Williamsburg
church, which is still in a good state of preser-
vation. .\ tine collection of portraits, repre-
senting members of this family, including Col.
John Page, is to be seen in the library of Wil-
liam and Mary College.
Beverley, Robert, was a descendant of an old English family of Yorkshire, which had been staunch in its support of the King dur- ir.g the civil war, Robert Beverley himself growing up with strong royalist ])roclivities. He was probably a native of the town of Bev-
