Archives West Finding Aid

Rodney Wallace Page was born in 1838, one of five children born to Wallace and Nancy Bonnie Page. His siblings were Elvira Page (1833-1914), Robert Wallace Page (1834-1913), Elmina Page (1836-1910) and James Madison Page (1839-1924). Sometime prior to 1864, Rodney married Sarah Peters and the couple had seven children: Evelyn (1864-1946), Arthur (1865-1958), Elvira (1867-1937), Alta (1868-1924), Ida (1870-1914), Ernest (1873-1964) and Edward (1875-1945). As Rodney worked as a surveyor in Osceola County, Michigan, his siblings began a family migration to Madison County, Montana, the first arrival being James Madison Page in 1866, followed by Robert Wallace Page in 1879 and Elmina Page in 1880. Rodney's eldest son, Arthur, had also removed before his father embarked to Montana and worked for his uncle James on his homestead. In 1882 Rodney left Michigan to join his brother James on a surveying expedition to Yellowstone National Park. Rodney's wife Sarah, along with the rest of the children and Rodney's widowed sister Elvira, joined them all shortly thereafter. Rodney eventually established his own homestead in the Twin Bridges area and continued to work as a land surveyor. Rodney's second daughter, Elvira, eventually married Harry Redfield, an employee of her father. Their daughter was Mary Redfield, whose publications and manuscripts can be found in Collection 336, the Mary Redfield Lindsey Papers. Rodney Wallace Page died in Santa Clara, California in 1915, and his wife Sarah died there in 1916.