Emily Rebecca Page

Emily Rebecca Page was born in Bradford Village, Vermont, May 5, 1834. Her father, Casper Page, by occupation a shoemaker, was formerly of Greensboro, Vermont. Her mother, Emily A. (Alger) Page, was daughter, by a former marriage, of Mrs. Eugene Baker, and died when this, her infant daughter and only child, was only two weeks of age. The dying young mother gave her child to Mrs. Baker, her own mother, to raise as her own. Page's father died of tuberculosis before Page was two years old.[2]

Eugene Baker, the step-grandfather, was toll-gatherer at Piermont Bridge, across Connecticut River. His toll house, in which Page was brought up, was at the west end of the bridge, and in Bradford, her native place. Her commemoration of the bridge in her poem, "The Old Bridge", was natural.[2]

Early teachers included her aunt, Maria R. Baker, and Miss Mary Belcher. When still young, Page attended a private school in Piermont, New Hampshire. When older, she attended the academy in Bradford and, for a term or two, that at St. Johnsbury, Vermont. The last time she appeared in the schoolroom, was at the close of the academic year. She was so frail that she was obliged to lean upon another student while she read her essay out loud.[3] Page wrote verses while yet a child, and when about twelve years of age, some of her poetic effusions found their way into the local paper, much to her regret in later years.[2]

Page began contributing poems to the Portland "Transcript" in 1846. She wrote both prose and poetry for the "Carpet-Bag," "Ladies' Repository," and an annual called the "Rose-Bud" (Boston, 1854–55), as well as for Benjamin Penhallow Shillaber's publication. She was for several years a constant contributor to Ballou's publications and an assistant in the editorial work.[3]

Several of Page's poems appeared in the Gazetteer, and also in the volume of Vermont Poets. Abby Maria Hemenway, editor of the Vermont Historical Gazetteer, said that Page had the honor, while living, of being one of the only two in Vermont admitted by Charles Anderson Dana into his compilation of the Household Poets of the World.[4] Her work was included in Lily of the Valley (Boston, 1859).[3]

"The Old Canoe" and some of her other poems were often mistakenly attributed to various distinguished authors. The first and revised edition of Poets and Poetry of Vermont (Boston, 1860), edited by Hemenway contains several of Page's poems, including "The Old Canoe" and "Haunted". "The Old Bridge," "Mabel," "My Angels," and "Watching" were also well known.[3]

After the death of the step-grandfather, Page moved to Chelsea, Massachusetts, near Boston, with her grandmother Baker and Aunt Maria. Here, she was connected for editorial work with one of the Boston weekly papers, and as poetical editor of Frederick Gleason's various publications.[4][3]

Always frail and delicate, she died at Chelsea, February 14, 1862, age 27. Her grave is in Woodlawn Cemetery, in Everett, Massachusetts, her epitaph being her own words, "Through the darkness into light."[4][3]

• Works by or about Emily Rebecca Page at Internet Archive
• Emily Rebecca Page at Find a Grave