Joseph Page of Orono, a Timeline
Taken from a longer article. The footnotes begin with #24. For a summary of Joseph Page's life see Joseph Page of Orono, Maine.
Before 1775: Lived for sometime in Rhode Island. In 1800 the census taker asked the residents along the Penobscot River where they lived before moving to Maine. Joseph and his son Issac said Rhode Island.24
1775: Living in the area of present day Bangor, then called Kenduskeag Plantation. At the Centennial Celebration of Orono a descendant of Joseph, probably his son Stephen's son Samuel, said that Stephen had been born in Bangor in 1775 and came to Orono as a small boy.25
The Pages probably arrived in the Bangor area between 1771 and Stephen's birth. The first child born in Bangor was said to be born in 1771 or 1772, and it wasn't a Page.26 Capt. Joseph Mansell mentions some families he found when arriving in Bangor in 1771 and did not include the Pages, although he was aware that Joseph Page was living there later.27
1776: Paid 1 pound, 1 shilling, 7 pence, as his assessment for the Province Tax on June 1, 1776, while living on the Penobscot River, most likely near Bangor.28
1777: Signed a petition dated March 13, 1777 to incorporate the area "from the uppermost line of Frankfort Township to the Indian Line" as Wheelersborough. The "Indian Line" was pretty far south at this time, so Joseph was still in the Bangor area.29
1780: Burned out of his home at Penjejawock for refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the British Crown, in the spring of 1780. Joseph Mansell says:
The Penobscot River from the
Penobscot Narrows Bridge
"I was on the river during the revolutionary war. After the American fleet was destroyed, and the British took possession of the peninsula of Biguyduce [Bagaduce, now known as Castine], in the spring of 1780, the men on the river generally took the oath of allegiance, in this way. A British officer came to anchor below Orphan island, and sent down to the men to come and take the oath. Most of them went, but such as refused had their houses burnt, and all were threatened. Old Joseph Page's house at Penjajewock, and James Nichols's house at the Bend in Orrington were burned."30
(The Penjejawock stream flows into the Penobscot River in Bangor, a bit south of where Mt. Hope Cemetery is today.)
The Orono Centennial account says this about Joseph:
"During the Revolution he lived near Mt. Hope, in Bangor, whence he was driven by the British for refusing to take the oath of allegiance to the crown. His house was burnt and his stock stolen and carried away. His youngest son, Stephen, was born there in 1775, and when a small boy, was brought to this town ..."31
It sounds from this that Joseph moved to Orono sometime after being burned out.
1780 to 1783: Maybe in Rhode Island. Did he move back to Rhode Island temporarily after being burned out? Joseph Inman, first of RI then of Orono, is said to have married a daughter of Joseph Page named either Annabel or Betsey (or both?). This was about 1780 or shortly after, and they most likely met in RI. On the other hand, the Orono Centennial information about Joseph Page only mentions the daughters listed above. Was Annabel another name for Polly?
None of Joseph's sons were found in the Revolutionary War Pension files at ancestry.com in either Maine (Massachusetts) or Rhode Island.
1783: On land in area of modern day Orono. The Park Holland survey of the squatters' lands on the Penobscot, taken in 1797, included comments on the settlers and the condition of the land. Mr. Holland's assistant, Capt. John Chamberlain, had this to say about Joseph Page:
"Thense down to Joseph Page's lot, 40 rods on river, been improved fourteen years; eighteen acres cleared. He appeared to be a good husbandman; house and barn, and is all the land he has ever taken up and improved. He fled from Bagaduce at the seige, to this land."32
1786-1790: Recorded as doing business with Major Robert Treat, whose business (saw mill, grist mill, trading post?) was near the Penjejawock. The list included Joseph's sons Joseph, Isaac, and James as well, and the comments said that some of the men had dealings back as far as 1774.33
1790: Recorded on the census of Kenduskeag Plantation, which took in everything on the river from south of Bangor up to and including Orono.34 Joseph's household included himself, his son Stephen, and five females, probably including his wife, whose name is not known.
1797: Surveyed by Park Holland, as mentioned above.
1800: Recorded on the census of Coburn (or Coburnton). Joseph's household included himself, his wife, and one female ten to sixteen years old.35
1803: On August 1, received a certificate and deed to his land, which he assigned to Robert Treat.36 Many men followed this same procedure. I don't know if they mortgaged the land or authorized Major Treat to handle the proceedings or what. I do know that Joseph's son Stephen took over the farm from Joseph later on.37 Each settler, including Joseph, who had been on the land before January 1, 1784, received 100 acres for $8.75, as a compromise brokered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts between the settlers and the Waldo proprietors, who claimed rights to the land.
1804: Signed petition dated June 12, 1804, to incorporate Stillwater Plantation as Orono.39
1810: On census of "Bangor" which included many areas not actually in Bangor then or now.40 Joseph's household included only himself and his wife.
1817: Joseph's death at age 90, recorded as Feb 17, 1817. in the Town Records of Orono.41
Footnotes
24. 1800, Census, Maine, Hancock Co., Coburn
Series M32, Roll 7, Page 81.
25. Centennial Celebration and Dedication of the Town Hall, Orono,
Maine, March 3, 1874, (Portland, Maine: Bailey and Noyes, 1874), pp
58, 59. (HeritageQuestOnline or Google books.)
26. Edward Mitchell Blanding, The City of Bangor, (Bangor: E.M.
Blanding, 1899), page 32. from images at HeritageQuestOnline.com; and
Bangor Public Library website, bpl.lib.me.us.
27. A statement of Capt. Joseph Mansell, 5 March, 1838, in "Annals of
the City of Bangor, Maine," in Bangor Historical Magazine, Vol IX,
Nos. 1-3, Jan to Mar 1894, page 9 (Reprinted by Picton Press in
1993, page 2039).
28. Bangor Historical Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 6, p. 126, 7 (Reprint
page 850 and 851.
29. Bangor Historical Magazine, Vol. II, July 1886 to June 1887, p.
26 (Reprint page 256.)
30. Bangor Historical Magazine, Vol. IV, Nos. 1 and 2, July-August,
1888, pp. 10, 11 (Reprint pages 734, 5.)
31. Pages 58, 59.
32. Capt. John Chamberlain's field notes, October, 1797, as found in
Bangor Historical Magazine, Vol. I, No. 12, pp. 208-210 (Reprint
pages 214-216.)
33. Names from Major Robert Treat's Day Book, Bangor, 1786-90, in
Bangor Historical Magazine, Vol. V, No. 1 and 2, July and Aug 1889,
p. 93ff (Reprint page 1065ff.)
34. 1790 Census, Maine, Hancock Co., Conduskeeg Planta
Series M637, Roll 2, Page 73.
35. 1800, Census, Maine, Hancock Co., Coburn
Series M32, Roll 7, Page 81.
36. "The First Settlers in Bangor, and their Lots," in Bangor
Historical Magazine, Vol. I, No. 8, pp. 119ff (Reprint pages
125ff.)
37. Orono Centennial, pp. 58, 59.
38. "The First Settlers in Bangor, and their Lots," in Bangor
Historical Magazine, Vol. I, No. 8, pp. 119ff (Reprint pages
125ff.)
39. "Petition to General Court from Stillwater, now Orono, 1804" in
Bangor Historical Magazine, Vol. IV, No. 6, p. 157 (Reprint page
881.)
40. 1810 Census, Maine, Hancock Co., Bangor
Series M252, Roll 11, page 555.
41. Town Records of Orono, Section 1, 1806-1838, p.234, microfilm
copy at New England Historic and Genealogical Society.
Credits
The photograph of the Penobscot River, taken from the Penobscot Narrows Bridge Observatory came from The Penobscot River viewed from the Penobscot Narrows Bridge Observatory at Wikipedia, and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. The uploader was Centpacrr.