University of Virginia - Corks and Curls Yearbook (Charlottesville, VA)

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6 antks anti Qtutls 1917 him, iiSet not lightly by my gift, but esteem those fatherly instructions above earthly riches? The Record shows, moreover, that Colonel John had not only a generous heart but a business eye. He redeemed his nephew Matthew from slavery in Algiers about 1683, paying out for him one hundred and thirty pounds sterling; but he took a mortgage for the money on his nephew,s farm. The Colonehs will leaves the farm to his wife and son Francis; but provides that Matthew may still redeem it on repayment of the loan. A rather charm- ing picture, painted by Sir Peter Lely in 1660, preserves for us the lineaments of Colonel John Page; a refined face, almost womanly as it looks out at you from the clustering locks which fall abundantly over the shoulders; the mouth small, the nose long and nearly straight, the eyes direct and clear. A dark robe hides the rest of the apparel, so that the gay attire of the day nowhere appears. Clearly our Colonel was no fop. James Morris Page, Dean of the University of Virginia, is seventh in descent from the emigrant, Colonel John Page, of Bruton Parish. The roll of his progenitors shows men always active in the service of Colony and Com- monwealth. On the Spindle side also we find famous old Virginian namese- Mary Mann, Judith Carter, Jane Byrd, Mary Cary, Frances Walker, N ancy Morris. The Hrst Page to reside in Albemarle County was Dr. Mann Page, who wedded Frances Walker, daughter of Dr. Thomas Walker, of Castle Hill. This noble estate of 11,000 acres came to Dr. Walker through his marriage to Mildred Thornton Meriwether, first cousin once removed of George Washington. Upon his daughtefs marriage to Dr. Page her father cut off from the Castle Hill estate a farm of 3,700 acres, and gave it to the young couple for a home. This place, called Keswick, remains to-day the ancestral home of the Pages in Albemarle. Dean Page, the second child and eldest son of Thomas Walker Page, was born March 4th, 1864. He entered Randolph-Macon College and was graduated M. A. in 1885. His contact there With the ardent young Professor Bascom Smithey confirmed his taste for mathematical studies and determined him to devote himself to geometry. Germany then drew the eyes of all ambi- tious young scholars, and Page sought there the opportunities he craved. The illustrious Sophus Lie, who in 1886 succeeded the no less famous Felix Klein in the University of Leipzig, was then the greatest and most original genius of the mathematical world, and Page sat at his feet. In 1887 he received his Ph. D. from Leipzig with mathematics ashis major subject, and was forthwith recalled to Virginia by news of his fathefs illness. The death of his father in 1887 brought upon our young geometer sober- ing responsibilities. He was now the head of the family and upon him fell the

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J 1917 QEUtkz anti Glutls 5 N o 23:5 t 2 .- n,;.-.;.:, .2 21. yr T:,'-5-:f.-T-.'.Tj-IY 15131-13; 21.32 '...';.1' ?:?,k-ijTlV . 2;:1 212: , 2231262243 -W2M3mzs.ur . .ALmexh-S: . .24.:mwhmm 'ssbai: 2i .. J $2 ; -, $??ms2gvnr ammw'v-M M942 mmva m ammo? mm! wnnaun www lame mam mum: .3121:- . . 2';- v - , . ' 23' ' . ' - 1 522'; '2 . ' . . m . ,- a 22 - - 2- -2 .222. 2-2.2 22 - . '23-; ' ' n: ' 3 t :g 2 a ax xl A2 ' ' i 7 Nr- 9. F ' .5. p, :32 .1-51d? VJ , - swam! xJ Jul 33R. :x-ti ' . - 7'23: 2 22-; p... . if : E:- 23 2 , 756': 3.352 N1 I Stiimmmux: vawxx Wmnuonh wmwxmmwmmmmwnm Whit!!! 13- J: N the vestibule of Bruton Church at Williamsburg, Virginia, may be seen to-day a shattered tombstone bearing a coat of arms and an inscrip2 tion. The inscription tells us that it stood above the grave of Colonel John Page, Esquire, of Bruton Parish. The coat of arms shows that this Page family; of Virginia, descended from Francis Page, of Bedfont, in Middlesex County, England. The motto on their shield, 5pc Labor Levis, was not ill suited to the man who in I650 left home and friends in Merrie England to tempt fortune in the New World. Colonel John Page, who emigrated to Virginia in I650, was then twenty- three years old. It would seem that he won honors in his new home; his tomb- stone recites that he was iione of their Majesties, Council in the Dominion of Virginia? He was public spirited and generous; his name heads the list of subscriptions for the erection of Bruton Church, that most delightful monument of our Colonial architecture. Presently he brought over an English wife, Alice Luckin, who gave him two sons, Francis and Matthew. From his will we learn that he died possessed of houses and lands in Virginia, leaseholds in London, a mill, shares in certain ships, money and negro slaves. He was a true Churchman and an earnest believer in the Scriptures; there has been pre- served a manuscript on parchment, Written in his own hand, and strongly bound, made up of moral precepts and religious texts. This volume he prepared as a New Yeafs gift for his son Matthew and in the letter of presentation bade

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was his first assistant. The school was continued for eight years with admirable educational results and a fair degree of monetary prosperity. At the end of this time the young principal was called to Johns Hopkins as Fellow in Mathe- matics t 1895961, and the next year he was appointed Adjunct Professor of Mathematics in the University of Virginia. In 1896, also, he published a modest volume on Ordlnary Differential Equations, the fruit of Lies impulse and this post he still holds. The period from 1896 to 1904 was a difhcult period in the history of the University of Virginia. The destructive fire of 1895. had brought upon the the new the Visitors turned to Page. He was young, familiar with sound University traditions, somewhat experienced in business affairs, a successful disciplinarian for his own school, a successful professor, calm, sagacious, robust, laborious, sound in wind and limb. They made him Chairman of the Faculty for 1903-1904, and he justified their choice. Untouched by the ardour's and