PAGE, Elizabeth

Notes:

Speculation about the birthplace and ancestry of John Page has been the subject of extensive research. One Page family researcher (Charles Edward Page of Oneida, New York) believes John is the son of Thomas Page and Cicely (surname unknown) who were wed October 4, 1607 in Rattlesden, Suffolk, England. John their presumed son was born in Worlingham, Norfolk, England.
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One possible immigration theory states that John, age 21, may have arrived on a ship with the family of George & Elizabeth Marsh, natives of Ipswich, England. It is believed they debarked at Charlestown, Massachusetts on June 4, 1635. At that time the Rev. Peter Hobart was leading a group of Puritan families from the Hingham, Norfolk County area of England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
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By 1640 the group settled southeast of Boston harbor at a place they later named Hingham, after their hometown in England. The church in Hingham, over which Peter Hobart presided, is known as the "Old Ship Church", now an ancient edifice, famous for it's unique construction. The interior beams resembling ship construction.
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There is a Page bridge, presumed built by John, and a Page meadows in Hingham. It seems probable that John was a skilled carpenter and may have been indentured to George Marsh, Mary's father, for a few years until he was admitted as a freeman on October 8, 1640 at the age of 26.
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John signed Petitions to General Court on November 11, 1645 and November 4, 1646. John may also have been involved in the controversy over the Hingham militia company commander (Lt Eames vs Lt Allen), as he was fined 15s 5d for insubordination, but relieved of the fine after a plea of poverty. Pastor Hobart and nearly one hundred "rebels" were called before the Massachusetts General Court and found at fault after a protracted session. The pastor refused to pay his fine whereupon his fine was increased and he was suspected of having encouraged a 1646 Petition to the Court for the "abolition of the distinctions which were maintained here, both in civil and church estate". These "distinctions" concerned the authority of the magistrates and the liberty of the people. The quarrel was harmful to the town of Hingham and some people moved away. The "feeling of unity was destroyed but in general the people defended their pastor".
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John along with others including his brother-in-law Onesiphorus Marsh later removed from Hingham to Haverhill, north of Boston, in about 1646, near the border of what later became the Province of New Hampshire.
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Haverhill was a frontier settlement full of dangers at the time John moved there. The settlement was established, in 1640, by Rev. John Ward and others from Newbury, Massachusetts. The land was purchased from the Indians November 15, 1642. The lands later extended to include a large area. The new town was incorporated in 1645, had 32 landholders, and was named in memory of Haverhill, England, John Ward's birthplace.
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John's wife Mary stayed in Hingham with her widowed mother until her mother married Richard Bowen.
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John's lot in Haverhill consisted of about 16 acres and fronted the Merrimac River, on Water St., east of Main Street.
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John took the oath of allegiance at Haverhill May 9, 1669. It is probable he was the John Page, Senior, listed among voters in 1683 concerning the site of a new meeting house at Haverhill. John had voted to build the meeting house on the same site as the existing one, as noted in Chase's History of Haverhill, Massachusetts and in "History of Haverhill, Since Settlement, in 1640", Chapter XI 1675-1688, Pages 137-138.
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John and Mary are buried at the "Old Pentucket" burial ground in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Administration of John's estate was granted to his grandson, Thomas Page, March 12, 1722, and the estate was finally divided in November, 1723. In this latter year most, if not all, the children of John Page were dead. He had been dead 36 years when his estate was finally settled.

John married MARSH, Mary Abt 1640, Haverhill, Essex, Massachusetts.. Mary (daughter of MARSH, George and KEY, Elizabeth) was born Abt 1618, England; died 15/15 Feb 1696/1697, Haverhill, Essex County, Massachusetts.. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

George, his wife Elizabeth, with their four children, in company with twenty other families, including their pastor Rev. Peter Hobart, most of whom were from Hingham, Norfolk Co., England, left their homes in the Spring of 1635 to make for themselves a home in this New World, where they could enjoy freedom to worship God according to their own conscience more fully than they were allowed to do in England. They landed at Charlestown June 8th but Rev. Peter Hobart says in his journal that they arrived in the harbor on the 4th. From Charlestown they proceeded to Hingham, about fourteen miles southeast of Boston, so named from the town from which most of them came. On the 18th of September 1635 they cast lots for house lots and the following is the record of George's deed:
"Given unto George Marsh, for a houselot, five acres of land, bounded with the land of Richard Osborn eastward, and with the highway leading to Squirrell Hill westward, butting upon the Common northward, and upon the Town Street southward." The following year, March 3, 1636, he made freeman. On 2 July, 1647, he died leaving a wife and four children, as appears from his will made the same day.
George's will is as follows (edited for clarity):
2nd July 1647 Unto wife Elizabeth four pound & ten shillings a year;
One feather bed, one pair of sheets & c(overs). After her decease to return to my son Thomas.
To son Onesefers on yearling steer one yearling heffer, one heffer calf one ewe;
Daughter Elizabeth Turner one yearling heffer;
Daughter Mary Padge (Page) to Ewe goats;
Son Thomas Marsh my house & all my land in Hingham.
Witness | ROLFE WOODARD
| WILLIAM HERSEE
The following year, Nov. 1648, Elizabeth Marsh, his widow, was married to Richard Bowen of Weymouth. Her further history I have been unable to learn.

George married KEY, Elizabeth Abt 1617, England. Elizabeth was born Abt 1596, England; died Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet]