Holbrook line: Another John Page, Immigrant 1614-1687

We only think we know the year of John's birth.  It appears to be based on his age at his death, which is always a little bit suspect if proof can't be found.  So the year may be off, and we don't know his place of birth, and we don't know his parents.  They were not John Page and Phebe Paine Page, whom I wrote about last week.  They were not Robert and Lucia Warde Page as they were too young.  I have seen a Robert Page and Margaret Goodwin listed, but they are not stated to have had a son John, although they continued to have children for years after Robert's death.  Trust not in that suggestion!

So we don't know where John came from.  It's believed he arrived in Massachusetts Bay Colony about 1635, but is not mentioned in Robert Charles Anderson's "Great Migrations" books. Speculation is that he came with George Marsh's family in 1635 as an indentured servant, and then married "the boss's daughter".  He became a freeman at Hingham in 1640, which meant his indenture, if any, was complete by then.  This implies church membership, and also gave John the right to vote and to hold office, sit on juries, and be an active citizen.  About this same time, he married Mary Marsh, daughter of George Marsh, as their first child was baptized at Hingham on July 11, 1641.

 In 1646, he was granted land in Haverhill, but apparently didn't move his family there right away as more children were baptized in Hingham after that date.  (Of course, they could have simply liked the pastor in Hingham, or had other reasons for having the baptisms done there.)  It appears that John was a carpenter and he may have been busy building homes and warehouses for Haverhill residents for several years, until he also was able to build a home for his own family.  John and Mary had 12 children, including a still born son and an infant son who lived only a few months.  In addition, they adopted Abigail Marsh, daughter of Mary's brother Onesiphorous, when she was fifteen years old, so it was a large family and probably needed a large house!  John's house lot in Haverhill was on the river, which meant the boys probably did a lot of fishing, and there may have been some trading going on, too.  A river lot was much to be desired. 

John died November 23, 1687, and Mary died in 1697.  He died without a will, but his estate wasn't settled until 1723.  We don't know why there was a delay or what prompted the final settlement, but his grandson, Thomas Page, was the final executor.   

John Page was a pioneer, who lived on the frontier during the early days of Massachusetts settlement.  Since he was a carpenter, he literally helped build America.  We can be proud of him.

The line of descent is:

John Page-Mary Marsh
Mercy Page-John Clough
Benoni Clough-Hannah Merrill
Benjamin Clough-Faith Hart
Lydia Clough-John Whittemore
John Whittemore-Lucy Snow
Josiah Whittemore-Betsy Foster
Mary Elizabeth Whittemore-Joseph Holbrook
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants