Person

Charles Page

Quick Facts
Significance:
Kansas Homesteader
Place of Birth:
Kentucky
Date of Birth:
Between 1840 and 1848
Place of Death:
Kansas City, Missouri
Date of Death:
August 10, 1930
Place of Burial:
Atchison, Kansas
Cemetery Name:
Oak Hill Cemetery

Charles Page was a Nicodemus homesteader who proved up his land in January 1885.

Charles Page was born in the 1840s in Bourbon County, Kentucky, most likely into slavery. His exact birthdate is unknown as various records state dates between 1840 and 1848.

Private Charles Page served in the US Army under three different regiments. During the Civil War, he served in the 5th US Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment, Company E. After the war he became part of the 41st US (Colored) Infantry, Company B, one of the six segregated regiments created in 1866 for Black soldiers. Finally, his regiment was consolidated again in 1869 and he served in the 24th US (Colored) Infantry, Company A.

Charles returned to Lexington, Kentucky in 1870 where he worked as a farm laborer. In the spring of 1878, Charles, his wife Georgia (Green) Page, and their infant daughter Rebecca “Becky” joined the exodusters heading to Nicodemus, Kansas.

Once there he filed for homestead entry #16846 at the Kirwin, Kansas Land office. He promptly settled on his land in March of 1878 for the northeast quarter of Section one in Township eight south of Range twenty-one west of the Sixth Principal Meridian in Graham County, Kansas. The 159.92-acre homestead claim was located directly east of Nicodemus, Kansas.

Charles Page, his wife, and their young daughter made great efforts to prove up the land. They farmed crops on 24 acres and constructed a dugout house, a sod house, a well, and a stable. For a short time, School District #1 held classes in Page's sod house before the construction of a frame schoolhouse in 1887.

From December 19, 1884 to January 23, 1885, The Reveille, a nearby newspaper, published a notice that Page and his two chosen witnesses would testify for Page's claim on January 30, 1885. On that day, his neighbors Jacob Martin and Willis Lea testified for his final proof for his homestead entry claim at the land office. That same day, Page completed the Final Affidavit Required of Homestead Claimants. His patent, #8073, was later issued on June 14, 1887.

In 1885, Charles Page filed for divorce against his wife. The announcement of their divorce case was announced in the May 11, 1885 edition of the Millbrook Times. After the divorce he moved to Atchison, Kansas.

In Atchison, he worked as a coach driver for George Howell then as a houseman for D.C. Newcomb when they bought Howell’s house. He did quite well in Atchison and was regarded highly in the upper levels of society. Newspaper articles stated Page was a “particularly worthy colored man” and belonging to “Atchison’s best class of colored people.”

Two times his house in Atchison caught fire; once in 1899 when it was put out quickly and again in 1907 when the fire destroyed the second floor. The house was called “a relic of the Atchison boom” and “quite a pretentious house.” He moved to his other property next door. A few years later he built a cottage in the place of the house and rented it out.

His second wife, Pearl, worked as a cook for the Judge W. D. Webb family. They had two sons, Ulysses (1889) and Lucien (1892). Pearl died of a lung problem in 1917 after ten days of illness. Both of their sons followed Charles' example and served during World War I.

Charles moved in with his daughter from his first marriage, Rebecca (Page) Moten, in Kansas City near the end of his life. He died in 1930 and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery with his wife Pearl.
 

Sources

Homestead National Historical Park, Nicodemus National Historic Site

Tags: homestead national historical park, nicodemus national historic site, black homesteaders project, homestead act of 1862, homestead act, homesteader, kansas, nicodemus, exodusters, veteran, civil war, african american history

Last updated: June 4, 2026