Gov. John Page

About

JOHN PAGE, the twenty-fifth governor of New Hampshire, was born in Haverhill, New Hampshire on May 21, 1787. His education was limited and attained in the common schools of his native state. During the War of 1812, he served as a lieutenant and participated in the protection of New Hampshire’s frontier at Stewartstown. Page first entered politics in 1813, serving as selectman of Haverhill, a position he held fourteen consecutive terms. He served as an assistant U.S. tax assessor in 1815; was a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives from 1818 to 1820 and 1835; and served as the Grafton County register of deeds in 1827 and 1829 to 1835. He also served as a member of the U.S. Senate from 1836 to 1837; and was a member of the Governor’s Executive Council in 1836 and 1838. Page next secured the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, and was elected governor in the 1839 general election. He was reelected annually until 1841. During his tenure, the imprisonment debt law was eliminated; the state’s first geological survey was authorized; funding was sanctioned for establishing a school for the blind; and the 1841 Webster-Ashburton treaty was negotiated. After completing his term, Page was instrumental in founding the state Republican Party. Governor John Page passed away on September 8, 1865, and was buried in the Ladd Street Cemetery in Haverhill, New Hampshire.

Source

Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress

New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 3, Westport, Conn.; Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.