register of deeds for Grafton county. He was again sent to the legislature in 1835, elected state councillor in March, 1836, and in the following June was chosen as a Democrat to fill the vacancy in the U. S. senate caused by the resignation of Isaac Hill. He took his seat on 13 June, and served till the following March. In 1838 he was again a state councillor, and in 1839 he was elected governor of New Hampshire, serving till 1842.
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PAGE, William, artist, b. in Albany, N. Y., 23 Jan., 1811; d. in Tottenville, Staten island, N. Y., 1 Oct., 1885. He came to New York city with his parents at the age of nine, and in 1822 received a premium from the American institute for a drawing in India ink. At the age of fourteen he began to study law in the office of Frederick De Peyster, which he soon left to enter the studio of James Herring, and in less than a year he became a pupil of Samuel F. B. Morse, through whom he was also enrolled as a student in the Academy of design. His drawings in the antique class there won him the silver medal, but, uniting with the Presbyterian church, he determined to enter its ministry. For two years he studied theology at Andover and Amherst, at the end of which time he returned to art. After painting portraits in Albany for a year he went to New York, where he executed likenesses of William L. Marcy and John Quincy Adams. In 1836 he was elected a National academician, and he was president of the academy from 1871 till 1873. About 1844 he removed to Boston, but he returned in 1847 to New York, whence, after a stay of two years, he went to Europe, where he resided for eleven years in Florence and Rome, coming back to New York in 1860. While he was in Europe he painted the portraits of Robert Browning and his wife, and other well-known Englishmen and Americans, and produced also his “Venus,” “Moses and Aaron on Mount Horeb,” “Infant Bacchus,” and “Flight into Egypt.” He also took occasion to study the works of the great masters, notably Titian, whom he admired and emulated, and whose method of painting he strove to discover. The copies that he executed of Titian's paintings were so remarkable that one of them was seized by the Florentine authorities under the belief that it was the original. Page made many experiments in his study of art methods and color theories, and published a “New Geometrical Method of Measuring the Human Figure” (New York, 1860). His portraits, for which he was most noted, include those of Hiram Powers, painted in Florence about 1848, Henry Ward Beecher, Wendell Phillips, Charles P. Daly (1848), in New York Historical Society, James Russell Lowell, Josiah Quincy, Gov. Reuben E. Fenton (1870), Charlotte Cushman, Gen. Grant (1880), Thomas Le Clear (1883), and Charles Sumner, which was left unfinished at the death of the statesman. His full-length painting of Admiral Farragut at the battle of Mobile Bay, of which a representation is given in the article Farragut in this work, was purchased by a committee in 1871, and presented to the emperor of Russia. In 1870 Page exhibited a portrait head of Christ which attracted great attention and excited much controversy. His other paintings include, besides those already mentioned, “The Holy Family” (1837); “The Last Interview” (1838); “Head of Christ” (1870); “Ruth and Naomi”; and “Cupid” (1880). In 1874 Page made a second visit to Europe, in order to study the supposed death-mask of Shakespeare that is preserved in Germany, and on his return he executed a large bust and several portraits of the poet (1874-'8). He also possessed mechanical genius, and invented and patented various improvements in boats and guns.
PAGE, William Byrd, surgeon, b. in Pagebrook, Clarke co., Va., 19 May, 1817 ; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 18 Feb., 1877. His ancestor. Col. John
Page, was the founder of the Page family in Virginia. He was graduated in arts at Kenyon college in 1835. and in medicine at the University of
Pennsylvania in 1839, and became known for his skill as a surgeon. Pie was for many years professor of surgery in Pennsylvania medical college,
and surgeon to the Pennsylvania institution for the blind. He assisted Dr. J. F. Meigs in the translation of medical works from the French. He was a fellow of the College of physicians, and a member of various scientific societies. — His son, Samuel Davis, lawyer, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 22 Sept., 1840, was graduated at Yale in 1859, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1862, and took a graduate course in Harvard law-school. He entered public life by election to the city councils, and subsequently to the office of city comptroller. He took part in the presidential canvass of 1884 in New York state as a Democrat. In July, 1886, he was appointed assistant treasurer of the United States. His most important public work is the active part he took as chairman of the various committees that, during several legislative terms, endeavored to secure the passage of the bill for the improvement of the municipal government of Philadelphia, which passed on 1 June, 1885, and
is now the charter of that city. He is the father of William Byrd Page, who has recently attained some note as an athlete.
PAGES, Pierre Marie François, Viscount de, French explorer, b. in Toulouse in 1748 ; d. in Santo Domingo in 1793. He entered the navy as midshipman in 1764, was promoted to 2d lieutenant, and in 1767 projected an expedition to search for the northwest passage by the eastern coast of Asia. He sailed from Cape Français, in Santo Domingo, on 30 June, 1767, and, although he was unsuccessful in his object, he explored Louisiana, Texas, Mexico, and the East Indies, returning to Marseilles, 5 Sept., 1771. After some difficulties he was reinstated in the navy on 9 March, 1772. During the following year he took part in the expedition of Kerguelen to the South sea. In 1776 he engaged passage on a whaler and visited Spitzbergen and the coast of Greenland, being the first navigator to reach 80° 30' north latitude. After being imprisoned twice by ice-fields he reached Amsterdam on 15 Aug., 1777. The fatigues and hardships that he experienced during the journey having impaired his health, he retired from the navy in 1782 and, going to Santo Domingo, settled upon an estate that belonged to his wife, a Creole. His last years were devoted to scientific researches, and he had in preparation several important works on America when he fell in 1793 among the first victims of the negro insurgents. Pages was a member of many learned societies, and in 1782 was created a knight of St. Louis. He published " Observations sur l'histoire
