Our English Roots

Why did several members of the distinguished and prosperous Page family leave Middlesex County, England to begin life again in Colonial Virginia?  The author offers a compelling answer to that question.  Using historical documents and DNA data, the author traces the Page family that appeared in King and Queen County and Goochland County, Virginia, in the first half of the 18th century to their English roots.   A chapter is devoted to the colorful, tragic, and never-before-published story of Sir Richard Page, Knight who was baptized at Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex, England in 1603 and died in Bruges, Belgium in 1657 while in exile following the defeat of King Charles I in the English Civil War.  A chapter is also given to Sir Richard Page’s son, John Page, who immigrated to Virginia in the 1650s to become the progenitor of this large family that spread from Virginia to the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and beyond.  Many of the 18th, 19th and 20th century descendants of Sir Richard Page’s Great Great Grandson, William Page, Sr. who died in Caswell County, North Carolina in 1805, are included.