The Consorter of Criminals
John Odlin Page was born in Hallowell, Maine, in 1806. His father was John Odlin Page, Sr., who ran a store and was the son of Hallowell’s physician. Page’s grandfather was notable for being one of the first doctors in Kennebec county to deliver babies, which often put him in conflict with local midwives. The elder Page was also famous for giving out the first smallpox vaccine in the United States. Under the influence of these respected relations, Page grew up in Hallowell, where he knew George Barrell Cheever, and likely also Jeremiah Dummer, James Milk Ingraham, and Alfred Martin, fellow Hallowell residents and members of the Class of 1825.
At the age of 16, Page moved to Brunswick and began his Bowdoin career. He roomed at D. Stanwood’s along with John S. C. Abbott, Joseph Jenkins Eveleth, George Washington Lane, and William Aurelius Stone. From the beginning of his Bowdoin career, Page was regarded as a troublesome student. The first faculty meeting after his arrival, Page was fined for being absent from prayers, a charge which would repeat monthly. Other notable infractions include Page sneaking out of his room with friend David Haley Foster, and whispering during prayers. However, the final straw for Bowdoin’s officers came towards the end of his first year. On May 29, Page was called before the Executive Board and reprimanded for “disregarding the laws of the Institution.” Then, that same night, Page snuck out and rode to Bath. There, he drank at multiple taverns with “those, whose outrageous conduct made them liable to punishment by the statutes of the State.”
In a June 4, 1822 letter to his mother, Page’s hometown associate George Cheever–after apologizing profusely for not writing more and implying (intentional or not?) it could be worse for her, substantiates the Page affair and confides: “You will be very sorry to hear that J. O. Page was among the number [of students admonished for gambling and drinking]. Do not let it by any means be known to his Mother. I do not know whether he will be suspended or not. At any rate is is a shocking thing. Pity his Mother sincerely.” A later PS in the same letter states that Page had been suspended: “P. for 4 [months], to Waldoborough. Do not let his mother know it.”
The Government considered Page’s flagrant disrespect of their orders and drunken cavorting with criminals dishonorable–according to Cheever the President lamented at the Chapel service “the reputation of Bowdoin was declining”– and they suspended the boy until October. Page was remanded to North Yarmouth to continue his studies under the Reverend Otis C. Whiton. It is unclear if Page followed these orders and moved to North Yarmouth. He did not return to Bowdoin in October, nor any time after that as he fell seriously ill.
In March 1824, George Cheever’s mother and fellow Hallowell resident apparently reported that Page was improving. In his return letter to his mother, Cheever wrote: “I am rejoined to hear that John Odlin is supposed to be getting better” but wondered, “Do you think he is so in reality?” Cheever inquired again after Page in a letter home on March 12, 1825. Cheever’s former classmate passed away on February 13, 1827, two days after his 21st birthday. Even after his passing, the Page family would continue to have connections to Bowdoin. Page’s grandfather received an honorary degree from the institution in 1843.