John Edward Page (February 25, 1799 – October 14, 1867) was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement.[3]
Born in Trenton, New York, Page was the son of Ebenezer and Rachel Page.[3] He was baptized into the Church of Christ on August 18, 1833, in Brownhelm, Ohio, by missionary Emer Harris.[4] After his conversion, Page was ordained an elder on September 12, 1833. He married Lorain Stevens on December 26 of that year. The couple had two children, but both Stevens and the children later died. He remarried in 1839 to Mary Judd, with whom he had three sons.[3] He relocated to Kirtland, Ohio, in 1835. Page served a mission in Upper Canada from 1836 to 1837.[4] By his count, he baptized 600 persons.[3] He also proselyted in the eastern United States from 1840 to 1842 and in Washington, D.C., in 1844.[4]
Page was called as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in July 1838.[3] In 1838, he moved to Missouri, settling in Far West, Caldwell County.[4] Page left personal accounts of attacks by mobs of Missouri residents, both while with the wagon train and while residing in Far West. He noted that he "buried one wife and two children as martyrs to our holy religion, since they died through extreme suffering for the want of the common comforts of life."[5] Page received his ordination to the office of apostle in Far West on December 19, 1838,[4] from Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball.[citation needed] He was also a member of the Nauvoo Masonic Lodge.[4]
Page and fellow apostle Orson Hyde were called to travel and preach in the Holy Land and dedicate the land for the return of the Jews. He and Hyde started on their mission, but Page had a change of heart and never left the United States. In June 1841, in Philadelphia, apostle George A. Smith sought him out and encouraged him to complete his preparations and sail with Hyde in two days time. Page refused to go. While in Philadelphia, Page became involved in a controversy with some of the Latter Day Saints there, which led to a directive from Assistant President of the ChurchHyrum Smith instructing Page to return to church headquarters at Nauvoo, Illinois.
After the death of Joseph Smith in 1844, Page made a brief claim to the leadership of the church. The majority of the Latter Day Saints, under the direction of Brigham Young, rejected Page's claim, but retained him in his position with the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.[citation needed] Page was then called to serve in the Council of Fifty in 1845[4] to help plan and facilitate the church's move to the Rocky Mountains.[citation needed] However, he was then removed from the Quorum of the Twelve on February 9, 1846.[4] After urging the Latter Day Saints to follow James J. Strang as leader of the church,[3] Page was excommunicated on June 26, 1846.[4]Ezra T. Benson was called by Young to replace Page in the Quorum.[citation needed] After leaving the church, Page worked on the Strangite periodical Zion's Reville as editor in 1847.[4]
^The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles had not had twelve members since September 3, 1837, when Luke S. Johnson, John F. Boynton, and Lyman E. Johnson were disfellowshipped and removed from the Quorum. Since that time, William E. McLellin had been excommunicated and removed from the Quorum and David W. Patten had been killed. The ordinations of Page and John Taylor brought membership in the Quorum of the Twelve to nine members.
^Page had been disfellowshipped and removed from the Quorum of the Twelve on February 9, 1846. However, he remained an apostle until his excommunication.
