He began teaching in the schools of Crawford County when twenty years old. Two years were spent teaching in the rural schools and the third year he became principal of the High School of Hutsonville, Crawford County, Illinois. After a year’s rest he taught one year in Eureka College, Eureka, Illinois.
Oliver was married May 8, 1891, to Miss Linnie Deborah Seeders, a teacher in Crawford County, born in 1872. They had their first child, Paul, in 1893. Paul Page was followed by Oliver Herber Page in 1895 and Charles Bourke Page in 1897.
From Eureka he was called to take charge of the Christian church at Metropolis, Illinois, which position he retained for three years. During the last year of his pastorate he served in a double capacity as principal of the Metropolis High School.
The year following, he was promoted to the position of superintendent of the city schools of Metropolis and directed a corps of seventeen teachers. He was re-elected the next year, but he resigned to become the editor and publisher of the Massac Journal Republican, which he sold after about three years management and bought the Leader at Marion. After two and a half years’ management of this paper, he sold out to Mitchell and Roberts.
In 1900 the History of Massac County appeared, of which he was the editor, publisher and principal author. The work was mainly intended to give the history of Fort Massac, and is a very creditable production. Oliver, his wife Linnie and their three boys were living in Metropolis, Illinois in this census year.
As a matter of history, the old fort has since been changed into a National Park and is now under the supervision of the Daughters of the Revolution.
While editing the Metropolis Journal, he was elected to the 41st General Assembly of Illinois, from the 51st Senatorial District, and was the author of several very important pieces of legislation.
He introduced the resolution of and report upon the condition of the old Lincoln Monument, then going to ruin. He was made chairman of the committee which passed upon it, and drafted, introduced and secured the passage of the bill appropriating $100,000 with which it was rebuilt.
In 1900 he was elected clerk of the Supreme Court of the Southern Illinois District of Illinois to fill a vacancy, and served for two years. He was the first Republican ever elected to that office.
In the political campaigns of 1900 and 1902, he was in the field continuously, under the direction of the Republican State Central committee, and in each campaign was called in for a week’s service in Cook County, Illinois, where from the same platform with the late lamented Mark Hanna, he addressed an audience of 15,000 voters.
Around 1903, Oliver moved his family to Marion, Illinois and took up residence in a home located at 201 E. Allen Avenue.
In January of 1904 W.F. Wright sold his interest in a partnership with J.J. Simpson’s Marion Steam Marble Works at 410 N. Granite St. in Marion to Oliver J. Page. The company made granite and marble monuments.
In June, 1904, The Leader Printing Office was incorporated with a capital stock of eight thousand dollars, incorporators being Arthur Roberts, T. M. Mitchell, John H. Duncan, O. H. Burnett, Oliver J. Page, Lloyd C. Campbell, J. F. Throgmorton, John M. Dodd, J. B. Bundy, F. T. Joyner, Leonard Culp, W. T. Felts, John H. Duncan was elected President of the Company; O. H. Burnett, Vice President, and L. C. Campbell, Secretary and Treasurer. Arthur Roberts was chosen as editor and publisher.
On the 17th day of October, 1904, Mr. Page leased the Leader Office of the Leader Printing and Publishing Company for two years and became editor and publisher with Arthur Roberts retiring. The Leader office was located at 1006 Public Square.
On the 5th of November he purchased the plant and good-will of the Record office of Mr. J. P. Copeland, and discontinued publishing the Record. Two days later he issued the first issue of the “Daily Non-Partisan,” which at two weeks old commanded a city circulation of 400.
He competed for the Republican nomination to Congress in 1906, but lost, and was nominated for presidential elector in 1908, when he met with the other electors at Springfield and cast a silk ballot for William H. Taft for president and another for James S. Sherman for vice-president
The 1910 census lists the Page family living at 519 S. Market which I presume was built in 1908 since it was not listed in the 1907 Street Directory. This home sat next door to J. B. Bainbridge living at 515 S. Market St. and was only one block from their previous home at 201 E. Allen St. Oliver is now 42 and listed as a lawyer with a general practice. His wife Linnie was 38 and their children were all teenagers ranging from Paul at 17 to Charles Bourke at 13.
By the 1920 census, the Page family had moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he was a practicing attorney and served in the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for Greene County, Missouri. In that census year, Oliver had reached 52 years old and they had no children still at home.
The Page’s continued living in Springfield. In 1930, the census reveals that his son Charles,33, had married a lady named Lavon,26, and both of them were living with his parents. By the 1940 census, when Oliver had reached the age of 72 and his wife 68, they are found to be sharing their home with a granddaughter by the name of Brenda Page, 3 months old, presumably belonging to their son Charles Bourke.
Oliver J. Page died February 12, 1948 at 80 years old in Springfield, Missouri. His wife, Linnie (Seeders) Page, lived until 1961. Paul Page passed away in 1952, Charles Bourke Page in 1956 and Oliver Heber Page in 1967.
While in Marion, Illinois Oliver J. Page belonged to Masonic Lodge No. 89. A.F. and A. M. of which he was a Master Mason. He was also affiliated with the Monitor Lodge No. 236 Knights of Pythias, served as charter member and chaplain of Lodge No. 800 of the Elks and Woodmen of the World.
(Photo and some data from 1905 Souvenir History, WCHS; Family photo from Marjorie Telerski; Federal Census Records; Ancestry.com; Marion City Directories; compiled by Sam Lattuca on 02/19/2013)