Of the three, Charles has much written elsewhere about his family, and most of what is told regarding George and Charles is in the words of Charles' son Howard. Carrie, whose very existence was discovered only a few years ago, required extensive research to assemble her story, and those of her daughter Lola Mae Richards and granddaughter Helen Elizabeth Milliman, both having lived in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, and Knox County, Illinois. (This link will take those interested to Lola Mae's and Helen Elizabeth's stories.)
Carrie B. Paige
George and Mary Page
Charles Orlando Page
Charles and Betty Page
Child of Carrie Page and Theodore Richards is:
Lola Mae Richards, b. 4-17-1882, Climax Twp., Kalamazoo Co., MI; d. 11-23-1944, Oneida, Knox Co., IL.
Theodore was farming in Climax when he married Carrie B. Page, age 16, who also resided in Climax. They were married by Lewis M. Hunt, Pastor of Congregational Church at Galesburg; witnesses were Louisa A. Hunt of Galesburg and Annie Boyden of Ypsilanti. Carrie and Theodore were living at Climax at the time of the 1880 Federal census. In the household were: Theodore Richards, 28 years old, then a laborer, born in Michigan; and wife Carrie, 19 years old, born in Michigan. They were neighbors of Carrie's step-grandmother the widow Lucinda Keyes. Theodore died December 15, 1893, in Climax of face cancer and was buried near Carrie's future resting place at Gilson Cemetery, Climax Township. (On her headstone, Carrie's last name is Richards.)
From: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~maizeblue6/index3l.html, a Web page authored by Scott Duncan:
(15.9.2) Frederick Harrison Soule was born on 14 July 1835, in Climax Township, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, and died on 10 February 1906, in Climax Township, Kalamazoo County, Michigan. He is buried in Harrison Cemetery, Climax Township, Kalamazoo County, Michigan. He married (1st) Hester Ann Moulton, and married (2nd) Carrie in 1896. Frederick Soule lived in Kalamazoo County, Michigan most of his life. He was prone to the family wanderlust and appears in many of the family settlements. Fred and Esther lived in the Harrisonville settlement, and some of their children also made the journey. In Carrie Fenwick's scrapbook there is a notice on April 2nd, 1895, for the death of Esther Ann Soule. It states she died on a farm between Keg Harrison and Orrin Mils Sager in Lincoln Township, Plymouth County, Iowa. Many of the family accompanied her body to Michigan where she was buried in the Harrison Cemetery in Climax Township. Death records have not been searched in Kalamazoo County, and there is a notation in the Plymouth County Court house. The Harrison family was notorious for recording records of death, etc. in other states. We have found several examples, another documented case is the birth of (15.8.8.3) Maggie Roesannah Harrison Richardson who was born in Big Creek, Kansas, but her birth is recorded in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. The family was so transient that here or there, it was just an extension of a Harrison colony. Fred and family were also in the Gordon, Nebraska settlement. Fred returned to Michigan, and married a second time. He is buried at the Harrison Cemetery in Climax Township. Fred and Esther's daughter, (15.9.2.5) Susie Soule Burr was the mother of Lelia Burr who married (15.8.4.4.8) Tracy Buckmaster (the grandson of (15.8.4) Eliffia Harrison Selbee.
Best regards-!
Scott
Shippensburg, PA
RAOGK Volunteer:"
Carrie and Fred were living on a farm free of mortgage at Climax Township at the time of the 1900 Federal census. In the household were: Frederick, 64 years old, no occupation listed, born in Ohio; wife Carrie, 39 years old, born in Michigan; and Fred's son George T., 33 years old, born in Michigan.
The following squibs are taken from the Thursday April 7, 1904 issue of the Climax Cereal, a Kalamazoo County newspaper:
(1) Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Milliman and Helen, and Mrs. Fred Soule attended the funeral of a relative, Wm. Simpson, in Battle Creek, Monday.
(2) Mrs. Fred Soule and Helen Milliman spent last week among relatives in Wakeshma township.
Blurb from Thursday March 28, 1907 issue of the Climax Cereal:
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Page and daughter of Lansing visited last week with his sister, Mrs. Carrie Soule, and his aunt, Mrs. James Powers.
Married on the 18th instant at the Methodist parsonage by the Rev. Mershon, Mrs. Carrie Soule to Elmer Wheeler. Their many friends wish them much joy.
Carrie married (3) Elmer Wheeler March 18, 1908 in Scotts, Kalamazoo County, son of Ansel Wheeler and Lucy Barnes. He was born in July 1849 in Ohio. It was Elmer's second marriage and Carrie's third marriage. At the time of the 1910 Federal census, Carrie and Elmer were living on a farm free of mortgage at Climax. Carrie's only child Lola and only granddaughter Helen Milliman were living next door. (Elmer's first wife, the former Elisabeth More, had had 6 children by her first husband Henry Thompson.)
The following squib is taken from the Thursday August 11, 1910 issue of the Climax Cereal newspaper:
Elmer Wheeler has had the misfortune to lose a $50.00 cow, caused by choking on a potato.
The following squib is taken from the Thursday October 20, 1910 issue of the Climax Cereal newspaper:
Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Wheeler have returned from their visit with Mr. and Mrs. Riley Page of Ontario Center, N. Y.
Carrie and Elmer were living on a farm free of mortgage at Pavillion Township, Kalamazoo County, at the time of the 1920 Federal census. In the household were: Elmer, 70 years old, a farmer; and wife Carrie B., 59 years old.
Elmer died of Arterio Sclerosis and senility September 6, 1936 in Climax Township. He had been a farmer for 70 years. Burial was September 9, 1936, at Cook's Cemetery in Pavilion Township, Kalamazoo County, by the Rupert Funeral Home, Vicksburg, Michigan.
MRS. ELMER WHEELER, SCOTTS, DIES AT 67
SCOTTS: Aug. 21--Mrs. Carrie Wheeler, 67, wife of Elmer Wheeler, resident of this place, died Monday after a long illness. She is survived by her husband, her daughter, Mrs. Lola DeForest, Oneida, Ill, and by a granddaughter. She also leaves two brothers. Funeral services will be held in her late home at 2 p.m. Wednesday. Burial will take place in Averill cemetery.
Burial was near Theodore Richards at Gilson Cemetery a.k.a. Averill Cemetery, in Climax Township. Carrie's last name shown as Richards even though she had been married twice since married to him.
George Hudson Page was born at Webster, New York, on January 30, 1864, and returned to Michigan with his parents and older sister by 1868, the year his sister Elsie was born in Michigan. George was in his teens when his father and stepmother were divorced, and he did not return to Webster with his father. In 1885, George married Mary A. Reed. She was a daughter of George Reed, born in Indiana, and Mary (Naldrett), born in England. Mary Reed was born in Gratiot County, Michigan, on July 6, 1869.
George and Mary Page had one child, Elsie May, born on August 25, 1886, in Roxand County, Michigan. [Born May Elsie Page, in usage her first and middle names were transposed.] When the 1900 federal census was taken, the Pages were living on a farm with, and owned by, Abraham and Mallisa Powers at Climax, Kalamazoo County, Michigan. Abraham was born in October of 1844, and was a brother of the James Powers who had married George's stepmother's sister Irena Keyes. Mallisa was born in 1847, and she and Abraham had been married only three years. Also living in the household was Abraham's nephew Berny Mead, born in June of 1877. According to the census, George was working in a "billiard room."
Eventually, George and Mary bought a house on Harris Street in Charlotte, Eaton County, Michigan, where the family remained for many years. It was in Charlotte that Elsie May married Jesse S. Harrison in 1905. The Harrisons had no children.
"I've been trying to recall memories of Uncle George and Aunt Mary, and daughter Elsie. They were all kindly, loving, considerate people. Uncle George had a big handlebar mustache, and I believe he worked for the Eaton County Road Commission. Their home was on Harris Street in Charlotte, across the street from the hospital. I go past the location often when occasion takes me to Charlotte. The place has not changed--only the environment. We kids were always fascinated by the horse-watering fountain in the middle of the street intersection near their house.
"Our visits there were always in warm weather and on Sunday. Everyone would be working on weekdays. The men would sit around and smoke cigars and visit. Very few people drove cars in the winter in those days.
"Aunt Mary had cancer of the spine, I believe it was. She was in a wheelchair all day, and Uncle George had to lift her any time she left the chair. I heard the affliction lasted nearly ten years, and Uncle George met her needs faithfully.... Aunt Mary was a real saint. I never heard church mentioned among them, but love and commitment were the rule of that household.
"Daughter Elsie married a County Road driver named Jesse Harrison, and they lived at home and helped George and Mary--in perfect harmony near as I could tell. They kept their modest home beautifully loaded with flowers and ferns. I can remember a partial solarium.
"There was not much for a pair of lively boys to do while the old folks visited, so we rolled down the banks and walked around the block, unless it was the 4th of July, when fireworks were in order. That always took precedence, of course. There was no ban on fireworks in those days. You could use dynamite, if you wanted to.
"Unc (H. O. Cline) was most always along when we went to Charlotte, and that made my trip more interesting." Howard O. Paige's letter of Aug. 18, 1981
Elsie May Harrison died on January 31, 1938, followed by her mother on Monday, May 12, 1941. George passed away on Monday, May 13, 1946, at age 82 years. Jesse died on October 1, 1966.
The Pages' nephew Howard O. Paige held their memory with great endearment. Many years later he exclaimed to one of his sons, "Everybody should have an Uncle George and Aunt Mary."
Additional information about Charles Orlando Page’s life can be found at Sarah_Keyes.html and Castner_Family_p4.html, including his marriage to Florence (Peck) Squier, at In_Search_of_Riley.html.
Additional information about Maude Annabelle (Castner) Page can be found at Castner_Family_p4.html, Sarah_Keyes.html and In_Search_of_Riley.html, including her marriage to Ira Arthur Moore at Castner_Family_p5.html.
"A collection of the choicest things in the Literature of Life, Love and Religion, to which is added the music of home, country and Heaven. Beautifully illustrated by the best American and European artists."
The book states--
"No home is a real home without the divine influences of poetry and music,--music, and poetry, which carries the mind beyond and above the beaten, dusty, weary walks of ordinary life, to lift it into a pure element and to breathe into it more profound and generous emotion. It reveals to us the loveliness of nature, brings back the freshness of youthful feeling, revives the relish of simple pleasures, keeps unquenched the enthusiasm which warmed the spring-time of our being, strengthens our love of our fellow man, and through the brightness of its prophetic visions helps faith to lay hold of future life."
There was always music in Charlie's married life:
"Your mention of music starts a train of memory, but is quite vague outside of our family.
My earliest memory was of hearing Dad sing, and Maudie played piano and sang ....
"Maudie sang alto in the First Methodist choir for years, and worked hard at it. I sat in the front row below the choir and listened to the organ and choir and Dr. Spencer's Scotch brogue.
Margaret spent many years and many dollars--Mom's dollars were hard-earned (developing) a beautiful soprano voice, sang in the choir with Mom, and did some solo work. She learned the piano well, and at home she accompanied her own singing.
"Margaret learned to play the ukulele, and we put on a Hawaiian play--mostly music--at a Consumer's carnival party, where each department had to plan a booth and put on some sort of contribution. I played a small accordion in the Hawaiian show.
"Marshall studied for a while on the trumpet, then finally let it go and turned to singing. Fred Foster, Margaret's husband, had voice training and led quartet work in Jackson. Marshall sang bass in one of his quartets (could have been all policemen). By following the harmony progressions, Marshall was able to piece together some of his favorite voice songs on the piano, and later bought a small organ for his cottage and worked on that instead of a piano. All our family had the built-in instinct for music as a 'special gift.' My musical experience was quite unlimited ...." Howard O. Paige's letter of Sept. 8, 1981
"Looking back on the early days of my home environs, I see my dad, we called him Papa, as a quiet, friendly, patient and good natured man, devoted to his home and family. My brother and I sat out on the front lawn watching for him to come walking home from work so we could run and grab his hand and walk the rest of the way home with him. He seemed capable to handle any job that suggested itself whether as a carpenter, a mechanic, a plumber or whatever. He enlarged the Michigan basement to accommodate a fruit cellar with shelves for canned food and a large bin to hold a winter supply of potatoes. He built cupboards and tool cabinet in the garage with a lock to give him control of the contents. Later, when he got his first car (a Briscoe Roadster), it was his Sunday delight to tinker with it to assure it would run OK for a whole week. I don't remember hearing him raise his voice in anger at any time, if he did he kept it private.
"The "garage" was originally a barn for a horse and buggy. On top of the slanting roof was a wren house up on a stick invariably loaded with wrens. In front of the barn was the largest tree in the area, we called it a poplar but it could have been a cottonwood. Downtown, up in the Reynolds building, you could see the top of it above all others. The avalanche of leaves each fall provided all the delight (and raking) any boy could ask for. In back of the barn between the barn and cemetery fence was a large willow tree, swell for one to perfect his tree climbing ability.
"Us kids learned a trick of taking a thread spool, cutting notches around the edge, then winding string around the spool and running a nail through the middle for an axle. We could hold it against a window and pull the string and hear such a noise that would scare the daylights out of the most stalwart person. Dad always sat by the living room lamp and read his weekly Colliers and smoked his pipe after supper, his leg often cocked up over the arm of his favorite rocker. Such it was one summer evening when we were out after dark and saw Dad through the bay window. It became imperative that we try out our new "tic tac." We gave it the fatal spin and poor Dad landed on both feet running and we took off through the neighbor's yard laughing so hard that we simply could not run and when Dad caught up with us he was won over by the laughter; I can't remember any punishment but I don't remember what became of the tic tac either!
"I remember visiting Dad on the job when he was clerking in a dry goods store called "Fletcher & Alderman." He was selling yard goods which people bought to make dresses, etc. The next place he worked was at the Acme Paint and Varnish store on Mechanic Street, next to the present Elaine Shop building. Later he worked in for a while at George Nichols Wallpaper and Paint store; later, working out from there, hanging wallpaper and painting interiors and still later contracting on his own, using a small truck he equipped with ladders and other tools permanently mounted inside. I believe his early demise at age 65 was caused by lead poisoning from the then lead based paint . (Geo. Nichol's store was where the "Crouch Center" is now.)
[NOTES: (1) Charles Page fell while painting and suffered a grievous injury. While still bedridden with this malady he died of arteriosclerosis September 18, 1941, at age 63. He also may have had lead poisoning, a common ailment of painters those days. Lead poisoning is what took the life of his former brother-in-law Almon Castner. (2) The "Crouch Center" referenced above is the David C. Crouch Jackson County Senior Center at 134 W. Cortland, established at this location January 2, 1980.]
"On November 11, 1918, at 11:am, the Armistice was signed ending World War One. Bells rang, whistles blew, and anything that would make noise was exercised. A parade started and was continuous till after dark down Main St. (now Michigan Ave.). My folks had an Overland "75" auto touring car and with the top down us kids sat up on back blowing whistles and noise makers while behind the car, fastened to the rear tire were wash tubs, large tin cans and anything that would make noise. With no radio or TV, extra papers were the main source of information and news, and kids were hollering EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT. THE WAR'S OVER; READ ALL ABOUT IT! Not long after, maybe the next summer, we got our first look at an airplane when a stunt flier landed at Sharps Park. When he tried to take off he brushed the trees at the end of the field and fell, mostly without damage. I can still smell the peculiar odor of the weather coating on the fuselage of the plane, some kind of special varnish. Making toy airplanes with propellers run by rubber bands became one or our hobbies."
The preceding five paragraphs were excerpted from Howard O. Paige's Auto-Biography discontinued January 28, 1994, from material used in the biography of Howard's life titled, "Glimpses into the Life of the Rev. Howard O. Paige," informally published at Pasadena, California, 1994, with updates 1999 and 2001.
Charlie remarried around 1930, and his second wife and her daughter both played the piano. He met Florence (Peck) Squier at a meeting of the Sons of the Spanish-American War, where she used to play for gatherings. After their marriage, Florence's daughter by her marriage to Glen Squier came to live with the new Page family. Florence was nicknamed "Big Betty", and young Betty became known as "Little Betty."
"Big Betty had a small combo, and Dad took tickets. Jennie and I would find another couple and go foursome, when we had a Saturday night off. They held dances at Gillitt's lake summers, and though we really never learned to dance, we would get a pint of illegal booze at $1.25 and dance 50¢ per, and after about one drink it didn't matter if we could dance or not ...." Howard O. Paige's letter of Sep. 8, 1981
".... we had Dad Page over for dinner. He said if we'd like to rent a house, and he could live with us, he'd pay the rent and telephone (up until then we didn't have one—he'd put it in his name)....
"With an offer like that, who could say no? . . .
"We rented a house at 710 Lincoln Street, bought secondhand furniture (there was a depression, you know), and moved in. It was a nice, big house with three bedrooms and bath on the second floor....
"Dad Page lived with us until he married 'Betty' Squier. When he left he gave me an ironing board and table cloth. He said his own daughter couldn't have treated him nicer. He and Betty rented a house next door to where R. D. and Neva Crippen lived, on Norwood Road.
"This was during the Depression, and Howdy was the only one in our family with a steady job. Dad Page lost his job, and he asked if he and Betty could come and live with us. We cleared out the front bedroom, and they moved in.
"We had lots of fun while they were there, and we all got along really well. Betty would do the ironing on Tuesday morning (in those days we always washed on Monday) except Howdy's shirts. When she'd come to Charlene's little dresses, sprinkled and rolled-up, she'd call them 'surprise packages.'" Jennie Paige's letter of July, 1981
Big Betty gradually built a wall separating herself, with Charlie, from the rest of the world. Even her daughter was left on the outside. The unkind feelings she harbored for Little Betty were neither merited nor explained, and found their expression in many ways. Memories of those days still baffle the daughter.
It was after Charlie and the two Bettys moved to 129 Mitchell Street in Jackson that Big Betty seemed to close the door on the world. Even Howard and Jennie, with whom they had been living, found their welcome reduced. Then Charlie suffered an injury while on a painting assignment, which put him in bed. Never having recovered, Charlie died of arteriosclerosis on September 18, 1941, at age 63. He, like his daughter Margaret, was cremated.
Big Betty later married a man by the name of Van Zandt and moved to Arizona. Little Betty never heard from her mother again. Little Betty, at age 20, married 21-year-old Harry Canning on November 26, 1938 in Jackson. They were later divorced, after which she married Dr. Dean Samuel, a veterinarian. The Samuels, with their three sons, now live at Mt. Clemens, Michigan.
Last modified: Tuesday July 28, 2010
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