It was an adventure
finding familial information about Jere Page. His name appears on many deeds in
the Kennebec Registry of Deeds. It also appears briefly in both the History of
Kennebec County and Stackpole’s History of Winthrop. Filling in the gaps took
some digging and interpretation.
 |
| Jere Page homestead circa 1817 as it looked in 1976. |
Jere Page began his
life in Readfield where he was born in 1787 – the fourth of seven siblings. He
married Margaret “Peggy” Johnson in 1808 – probably related to the Johnson
family who also lived nearby in East Readfield but I have not yet found
evidence of her parents. The first Jere Page homestead was built on part of his father's land on what is now Readfield Elementary School property.He sold that to Jonathan Whittier in 1817 and built the house pictured here (Ellis 2013). His first house is mentioned in a deed dated 1817 burned in the 1850s, when owned by Jonathan Whittier.[i]
In 1822 Jere and his
father bought a piece of abutting land from John Lane who granted them rights
to build a second dam and to control the water level in the Mill Pond.[ii]
The Page men built and operated a saw mill there for several years. By this
time the demand for building materials drove the need for sawmills so high.
Jere Page’s civic
duties included State of Maine Representative 1826-1827.[v]
Perhaps the connections he made in that capacity are what led to him towards making
a life changing decision. In 1833 he sold “the farm (pictured above) on which I and my family
now reside” to Francis Hunt, Jr.[vi] Page
was still living in Readfield in 1840[vii]
but near Readfield Corner, on Church Road (Drake 2013). By then he and his father had bought the grist and saw mill on Mill Stream Road, Factory Square that was deeded to Jere by his father.[viii]
Jere Page was a merchant at Readfield Corner in 1832, presumably until [ix] he left Readfield between 1840 and 1850. In 1850 he was living in Houlton, Maine with his
son George and family.[x]
I
never did find all the names of Jere and Margaret Page’s children (2 sons and 3
daughters)[xi]
which made their story much more challenging to weave. If they had a son named
Jere - which they more than likely did - I suspect he migrated to Penobscot
County since a Jere Page was living there between 1850 and 1860.[xii]
I know their eldest child George B. migrated to Aroostook County, and that he
was accompanied there by his parents because they lived there with George’s
family.[xiii]
Those members of the Page family are buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Houlton,
Maine[xiv].
[i] Kennebec
County Registry of Deeds Book 28 Page
186 7/18/1817 Land transaction between Robert Page and Jonathan Whittier
[ii] Ibid Book 62
Page 287 10/23/1822
[iii] Sawmills in New England 1600-1900: A Brief Overview http://www.ledyardsawmill.org/sawmill-history accessed
11/7/2013
[iv] Evelyn A.
Potter, Readfield Historian says this mill was operating in the 1920’s when
both her parents worked there and met then married.
[v] Kingsbury
and Deyo, History of Kennebec County (New York, H.W. Blake & Co., 1892),
page 89
[vi] Kennebec
County Registry of Deeds Book 81 Page 41
1/23/1833
[vii] 1840 US Census
Readfield, ME. Determined the location
of his residence because names were listed on them 1840 census geographically.
[viii] Kennebec
County Registry of Deeds Book 24 Page 504 4/2/1817
[ix] Kingsbury
and Deyo, History of Kennebec County (New York, H.W. Blake & Co., 1892),
page 896
[x] 1800-1860 US
Census Readfield and Houlton, ME
[xi] 1820-1840 U.S.
Census Readfield, ME
[xii] 1850 and 1860
US Census Dexter, Burlington and Charleston, Penobscot, ME
[xiii] 1850-1860 US
Census Houlton, Maine
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