John A. Page (June 17, 1814 – August 23, 1891) was a Vermont banker and political figure who served as Vermont State Treasurer.
Early life John Alfred Page was born in Haverhill, New Hampshire on June 17, 1814.National Life Insurance Company, National Life Insurance Company: A History of Its Foundation and Development 1850-1925, 1925, page 36 He was the son of John Page and Hannah Merrill. John Page served in the United States Senate and as Governor of New Hampshire.John Quincy Bittinger, History of Haverhill, N. H., 1888, page 339
The younger Page was educated in Haverhill and graduated from Haverhill Academy.Vermont Secretary of State, Legislative Directory, 1876, pages 98-99 He trained to be a merchant, working as a clerk at dry goods stores in Portland, Maine and Haverhill. The Haverhill store in which he worked closed during the Panic of 1837, and Page began a career in banking as cashier of the Grafton Bank.Abby Maria Hemenway, The History of the Town of Montpelier, Including that of the Town of East Montpelier, page 548
In 1848 Page moved to Danville, Vermont to accept the position of Cashier at the Caledonia Bank.Vermont Legislative Directory, 1876 A Democrat in politics, he served in the Vermont House of Representatives from 1848 to 1849.Hemenway, History of MontpelierWilliam Adams, Gazetteer of Washington County, Vt., 1783-1889, 1889, page 389
Page became associated with Erastus Fairbanks in 1849 as Financial Agent for the Passumpsic and Connecticut Rivers Railroad, and relocated to Newbury.Adams, Gazetteer of Washington County
Later career Later in 1849, Page was appointed cashier of the Vermont Bank and moved to Montpelier, where he lived for the rest of his life.Vermont Legislative Directory, 1878 In 1852, he ran for Vermont State Treasurer, and was defeated by George Howes.
From 1853 to 1854, Page served as Vermont State Treasurer, succeeding George Howes.Vermont Secretary of State, Legislative Directory, 1981, page 105 He finished second in the balloting, and was chosen by the Vermont General Assembly after a multi-candidate election in which no candidate received the majority required by the Vermont Constitution.Vermont State Archives, , 2006, page 1 In 1854 he was defeated for another term by Henry M. Bates.Vermont General Assembly, Journal of the House and Senate of Vermont, 1854, page 484 He also lost an 1855 rematch to Bates.Vermont State Archives, , 2012, page 8
The First National Bank of Vermont was organized in 1865, and Page was elected a member of the board of directors and appointed as the bank’s President.Adams, Gazetteer of Washington County
By then a Republican, in 1866 Page was again elected State Treasurer, succeeding John B. Page. He served until 1882, and was succeeded by William H. Dubois.Vermont State Archives, , 2012, page 9-12
Death Page retired from most of his business interests in 1882, but continued to serve as President of the First National Bank until January, 1891.American Publishing and Engraving Company, Industries and Wealth of the Principal Points in Vermont, 1891, page 142 He died in Montpelier on August 23, 1891.Vermont Vital Records, 1720–1908, death record for John A. Page, retrieved February 13, 2014 Page was buried at Green Mount Cemetery in Montpelier.
Family John A. Page was married to Martha Ward of Haverhill. They had one son, John W. Page (1847-1930), who worked with his father in Montpelier and later moved to Nebraska to raise cattleAndrew Henshaw Ward, Ward family; Descendants of William Ward, Who Settled in Sudbury, Mass., 1851, page 200 and Louisiana to operate a rice plantation.
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