Biography of Captain Benjamin Page

by Thomas E. Woodstrup
Author of Captain Benjamin Page, A Forgotten Rhode Island Hero of the American Revolution, Rediscovered in Sycamore, Illinois.
Descendant of Captain Benjamin Page
Special contribution by the author to the Gaspee Virtual Archives.

Benjamin Page was just 19 years old at the time of the Gaspee Affair. His mother died nine days before this birthday. The Page family were sea-goers with operation of a small farm on the side. They were related to and friends of the Providence families of Hopkins, Jenckes, Angells, Sabins, Whipples, Bowens, Smiths, Browns and Burroughs, but history has given them little prominence. He became a very close friend and admirer of Commodore Abraham Whipple and served with him several times during the American Revolution.

He had met with his young friends at the Sabin's house that historical night: "Doc" Mawney, "Turp" Smith, "Eph" Bowen and Joe Bucklin. This same group marched in a Fourth of July parade years later. All, of course, could have been exposed and identified by the British after the Gaspee Incident. Page had a been a member of the Rhode Island Militia and was appointed captain of the first of the two row galleys which were later rigged as schooners. While John Paul Jones was ranked No. 18 of the first commissioned captains of the Continental Navy & Marine Corps, Page was ranked No. 18 among the first lieutenants. Perhaps that was the only association Page could have had with John Paul. He apparently never sailed under him and was not with Whipple when he sailed with Jones. Thus, Page, as did many others, stayed behind to defend the American continent, while Jones was away three years defending the European side of the Atlantic.

Beside Captain Whipple, Page also sailed under Capt. Samuel Nicholson, Capt. John B. Hopkins, Jr., Capt. Dudley Saltonstall, Capt. Joseph Olney, Capt. John Manley and Capt. Hoystead Hacker. Page was several times a Third Lieutenant, a Second Lieutenant and finally became Captain of the Regulator in 1782 before the war ended. He had served on eight different ships, and at least twice with Whipple on the Providence. One historian placed Whipple as the most outstanding commodore of the then Navy. Page was a prisoner of war three times: at Penobscot, MA/ME, with Paul Revere; at Charleston, SC, with Whipple; and quite likely at the Battle of Rhode Island.

Page had served eleven years from the Gaspee Affair to the end of the Revolution in 1783. After the war, Page returned to Providence, but to continue farming he moved in 1824 to Massillon, Ohio. He was first married to Ann Sweeting and they had a son, Ambrose, who became a sea captain but apparently did not move with the rest of the family to Ohio. Benjamin then married Sarah R. Wamer and they had seven children: William W., Elizabeth W., John B., Oliver R., George W., Benjamin, Jr., and Henry Edward. William moved to South America and became a captain in the Argentinian Navy. John, Oliver and George all died in Ohio. Oliver married Margaret Caroline Troup and they had children. William married Micaela Paven and Henry married Elizabeth Pfaff.

Captain Benjamin Page, Sr., died at age 80 in 1833 and was first buried near Massillon, it is believed, and later moved to the Westlawn Cemetery at Canton, Ohio. His son, Ambrose, is buried at the Old North Burial Ground at Providence, along with other members of the Page ancestry. Benjamin, Jr., and Henry retired and moved to Sycamore, Illinois, in 1853. They were later joined by Elizabeth who had married Senator David Austin Starkweather of Ohio. The family were among the first members of the Episcopal church in Massillon and also in Sycamore. Benjamin, Jr., was also a captain and was the last to die. He had had a monument erected in the Sycamore cemetery to all members of his father's family. From an inscription on this monument, "of the Amer. Rev." it was learned about Capt. Benjamin, Sr.'s, participation in the Continental Navy. Benjamin, Jr., his wife Mary D. Johnson, Henry and Mrs. Starkweather are all buried there.

Because Benjamin, Jr., and Henry had no children, it was thought the Page family ended then-westward progression in Sycamore. However, it was learned in 2000 that a descendant of Mrs. Starkweather's was living in Oregon.

Sycamore is located in DeKalb County, another Revolutionary War name, and because it has little other relationship to the American Revolution, it is honored to have this association with the Gaspee Affair, with Gaspee Days, and Warwick, RI.

For further information on the Page family, see Captain Benjamin Page, A Forgotten Rhode Island Hero of the American Revolution, Rediscovered in Sycamore, Illinois, by Thomas E. Woodstrup.

We note that there were several Benjamin Pages around this time that we have not bothered to research, specifically in the Boston area of Massachusetts, and in New Hampshire and Maine. So as to avoid confusion, note that there was a separate Benjamin Page b26 May 1753 in Groton, MA

From HeritageQuest through the NEHGS portal we find our Benjamin Page's application for pension #S.3629 based on his service in the Continental Navy in the Revolutionary War, and his recollections are meticulous. He had been given a commission by the Rhode Island Navy 4Aug 1775, and resigned that commission 10Oct1776 and was given a Commission as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy, with orders to report aboard the frigate (actually an armed sloop--ed) Providence, commanded by Abraham Whipple, and served until 24Dec1777. He was then assigned to the frigate Warren, John B. Hopkins, commander, as Second Lieutenant until 14Jun1779. he then received orders under Commodore Dudley Saltonstall, was defeated at Penobscot (Maine) and was ordered to burn the trapped ships in Aug1779. 20Sep1779 he was assigned to the frigate Providence as First Lieutenant, which was captained by his previous commander, Abraham Whipple. After a cruise off of South Carolina in the winter of 1780 the small American fleet was sunk by the British in the region of Charleston in May 1780. We know that Commodore Whipple and other officers were kept as prisoners-of-war until war's end (see page on Abraham Whipple), but Benjamin Page claims to have "obtained my parole" (prisoner exchange). 13Sept1781 he received orders to frigate Deane, Captained by Samuel Nicholson until 10May1782. Benjamin Page was then given command of the armed sloop, Regulator, 20 guns on 25Sept1782, but was then ordered aboard the frigate Hague, Captain Hanley, as First Lieutenant and served until the ceasation of hostilities on 16Sept1783. He was 68 years old when he initially applied for his pension on 22Mar1818 in Rhode Island. He did receive some sort of a pension beginning in 1819, but reapplied from Cleveland, Ohio under the newer pension acts of Congress and received his increased pension in 1831

As part of the supporting documents, there appears to be a complete inventory of his holdings as of March 1818 valued at $684. He also lists his dependents and their ages at that time as being: his wife 44, his mother 81, John B. Page 17, Oliver W. Page 14, George N. Page 12, Benjamin Page, Jr 10, Henry H. Page 7, and a servant (name indecipherable) of 8 years. He also listed Ambrose Page 24 at sea, and William W. Page 20. . In 1852, in Ohio, Benjamin Page, Jr made claim for the pension payments that had been in arrears. He also gave a note indicating that the widow of Capt. Benjamin Page died 6March1849, and that his parents hade been married in Providence, RI 19Sept1799. Further papers list the surviving children as: Ambrose S. Page, John B. Page, Elizabeth W. Page (now married to David Starkweather), Oliver R. Page, Benjamin Page, Henry E. Page, and William W. Page. John B. Page died in 1839 with no heirs, Oliver R. Page also died in 1839 (leaving Mary, William, and Alfred), Ambrose Page died in 1851 with no children. William W. Page went to Argentina in 1824 and served as a Captain in the Argentinian Navy in the War against Brazil until 1832, he married a Micaela Pevon in 1827 and had one son that emmigrated to Chile. Unfortunately, nothing in the paperwork relates to Benjamin Page's involvement with the burning of the Gaspee in 1772.

We find an obituary in the (Providence) Columbian Phenix 24Sept1808 for Benjamin Page, Jr, a Yale-educated lawyer who died of fever in Georgia on 15Aug1808. This does not correspond with the Benjamin Page as being the guy above who was making claims for pension in 1852. or perhaps he miraculously "recovered". We also find a marriage notice of 5July1835 at Detroit of David A. Starweather, Esq., lawyer, to Mrs. Elizabeth W. Evans. Apparently, this was her second marriage.

According to Illinois through two hundred and forty-five years, 1673-1918 pub by Chicago Hist Soc. one object donated to the exhibition by Capt. Benjamin Page was a marine spyglass used by John Paul Jones.

The folllwing snippets are from the Historical American Newspapers Collection obtained through the NEHGS portal, mostly the Providence Gazette. In July 1784 Capt. Benjamin Page arrived from Amsterdam, and in 1785 commanded the brig Providence to Jamaica. In 1787 he arrived in Providence from Martinico in the brig Hope, nd in 1791 he arrived from India in the Hope. From March 1792 to October 1793 he ailed the Hope to and from Canton, China, and in 1795 he commanded the Halcyon to Canton. In July 1798 he took command of "the new and elegant coppered ship" Ann and Hope for Canton, with a crew of sixty, and armed with twelve 9 pounders, and returning in June 1799.

We see no futher mention of his maritime exploits and he probably retired from the sea after this last voyage to China when he got married to his second wife. As noted above, they went on to have many children, and despite the wordly holdings expected of a retired sea captain, he claimed indebtedness to bolster his pension claim in 1818.