Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920

Biography of Emily (Mrs. Frank) Page, 1882-1957

By Margaret R. Curry, attorney (retired); past Vice Regent, Captain John Oldham Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution; member of Nevada County Historical Society, Nevada City, California

Activist - Woman Suffrage in Reno, Nevada

Mrs. Frank Page was born Emily Sharon Mapes on April 29, 1882 in Live Oak County, Texas. She was the daughter of Samuel S. Mapes and Olive Faidly. Her father came from a Texas pioneer family, and owned a saloon in Ballinger, Texas.

Emily married John M. McCamant in Ballinger, Texas on March 20, 1901. They settled in Ogden, Utah, where Mr. McCamant ran a barber shop and where Emily worked as a hairdresser. She was involved with various women's organizations in Ogden, including the Ladies Aid Society and the Florence Crittenten Home. John and Emily divorced in 1906.

Some time thereafter, Emily settled in Reno, Nevada. On June 16, 1908, she married Frank Thomas Page in Carson City, Nevada. Mr. Page worked in the circulation department at the Reno Evening-Gazette newspaper; and he also worked part-time for the Nevada Fish Commission.

Emily was active in the Nevada woman's suffrage movement from about 1910 to 1914. She was involved in the early stages of organizing the Nevada Equal Franchise Society. Her activities on behalf of the Nevada Equal Franchise Society, and her other contributions to the cause of woman's suffrage, are mentioned several times in Reno newspapers.

Notably, she was one of the committee members responsible for designing, making and ensuring that the Nevada woman's suffrage banner would be carried for the first time in the 1911 annual suffrage parade in New York City.

Mrs. Page is also quoted in a lengthy article rebutting criticism of the woman's suffrage movement by Mary Garden, a world-famous operatic soprano of the day, where Mrs. Page states:

"If what Mary Garden has to say is true, we would not want woman's suffrage, but what she says is not true. We want the women to have a right to a voice so that they will be interested in politics and will study the question, then they can talk learnedly on the subject with their husbands and influence them. At the present time the average man does not believe that a woman knows anything about politics and therefore will not discuss the question with her. I do not believe that Mary Garden knows what she is talking about."

Emily and Mr. Page divorced and following the divorce Emily moved to Sacramento, California sometime between 1914 and 1917. In 1917, she married Joseph Cushing Hartley. Mr. Hartley died in 1924, and following his death, Emily owned and operated a boarding house in Sacramento for many years.

In 1940, she married John Henry Campbell in Carson City, Nevada. They lived in California for several years; but later moved to Texas, where Emily died on May 15, 1957. She is buried at Mertzon Cemetery, Mertzon, Irion County, Texas.

Sources:

Ancestry.com: Year: 1900; Census Place: Ballinger, Runnels, Texas; Page: 12; Enumeration District: 0126; FHL microfilm: 1241667; 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. (Birth and parents)

Ancestry.com. Year: 1910; Census Place: Reno Ward 4, Washoe, Nevada; Roll: T624_859; Page: 14A; Enumeration District: 0071; FHL microfilm: 1374872; Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. (living with Frank T).

Ancestry.com. California, County Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1849-1980 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2017; California Department of Public Health, courtesy of www.vitalsearch-worldwide.com. Digital Images.

Ancestry.com. California, Death Index, 1905-1939 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013; Original data: California Department of Health and Welfare. California Vital Records-Vitalsearch (www.vitalsearch-worldwide.com). The Vitalsearch Company Worldwide, Inc., Pleasanton, California. (death of Hartley)

Ancestry.com. Carson City, Nevada, Marriage Index, 1855-1985 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015; Original data: Carson City Marriage Records. Carson City Recorder's Office, Carson City, Nevada. (marriage to Campbell and Page).

Ancestry.com. Presbyterian Historical Society; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; U.S., Presbyterian Church Records, 1701-1907; Accession Number: 15-0122 35F 4 Box 1; Ancestry.com. U.S., Presbyterian Church Records, 1701-1970 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. (marriage to Page).

Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Ancestry.com. U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012;

Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010; United States, Selective Service System. Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, Record Group Number 147. National Archives and Records Administration.

"Comings and Goings." Reno Gazette-Journal, June 17, 1914; p. 4.

FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:); "Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," database with Images, July 22, 2014, Death Certificates>1957> Vol 051-058, certificates 025410-028828, May, Gonzales-Webb Counties > image 1318 of 3505; State Registrar Office, Austin.

"Marriage Licenses Issues." The Sacramento Bee. Sept. 7, 1917; p. 5.

"Nevada Suffragettes to Parade in New York, Great Banner Shipped Gotham, Emancipated Residents of the State Now in New York Will Leap for Joy, Plans Are All completed, Banner Six Feet Tall, Four Feet Wide, Orange and Sagebrush Green." Nevada State Journal. April 21, 1911; p. 1.

"Nevada Suffragettes to Parade New York." Reno Gazette-Journal. April 21, 1911; p. 6.

"Page Will Distribute Two Hundred Thousand Fish in Streams of State." Reno Gazette-Journal. July 2, 1907; p. 5.

"Personals." Nevada State Journal. November 2, 1911; Vol LVI, Issue 124; p. 4.

"Random References." The Ogden Standard. Oct. 31, 1903; p. 5.

"Random References." The Ogden Standard. Oct. 27, 1903; p. 5.

"Random References." The Ogden Standard. 20 November 1906; p. 6. (petition for divorce McCamant).

"Society Notes - Equal Franchise Society Notice." Reno Gazette-Journal. 15 Jun 1911; page. 6. (refers to Mrs. F. Page).

"Society's Doings in Reno." Reno Gazette Journal. 20 Oct 1910; p 6.

"Sport Store Owner Claimed by Injuries." The Ogden Standard-Examiner. Feb 12, 1958; p. 13.

"Suffragist Campaign Outlined Preliminary to Mass Meeting, Organization to Fight for Rights, Informal Committee Discusses Action to be Followed to Gain Ends, Ladies Are in Earnest, Prominent Women Gather at Reeves Office in Clay Peters Building." Nevada State Journal. January 25, 1911, Vol. LV, No. 24; p. 1.

"Suit for Divorce." Deseret Evening News. Nov. 20, 1906; p. 3.

"The Society Page of the Nevada State Journal." Nevada State Journal. June 28, 1914, p. 2.

West Texas marriages: Concho, Runnels, Sterling, Reagan, Kimble, Schleicher, Crockett, Sutton, Irion, Menard, Newton & El Paso, plus some other counties, Angelina & Williamson. (1900).

"Working Overtime." The Daily Appeal. June 15, 1908; p. 3.

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