CHILDREN: i PHEBE, b. say 1627 (in a November 1630 letter, John Page indicated he had two children in New England [ WP 2:316]); m. by 1662 as his third wife James Cutler [ MCF 1678 III].
At the court of 2 April 1650 daughter Phebe Page sued John Flemming and his wife for slanderously saying that she was with child. This case illustrated a family at odds with itself; with the depositions of over twenty neighbors, it seemed that the entire town was talking about them [ Pulsifer 1:6-8]. Flemming defended himself and said that his words were based on "the common practice of Phebe Page, & the report of her own friends." "John Spring being on the watch on Saturday night after midnight testified that he met John Poole & Phebe Page together, and he asking them why they were so late, she answered because she could dispatch her business no sooner & he said he went with her because he lived with her father." Anthony White also witnessed that "Phebe Page said she must either marry within a month or run the country or lose her wits," and also that "Phebe Page said my mother I can love and respect, but my father I cannot love." William Parker deposed that, having "much discourse with Phebe's mother, she wished her daughter had never seen Poole for she was afraid she was with child." White advised her to return to her father's house again and "she answered no, before I will do so I will go into wilderness as far as I can & lie down and die." Perce witnessed that "Goodman Page coming to his house said thus that what with his wife and daughter, he was afraid they would kill him, and constantly affirmed the same." Goody Mixture testified that "old Page said if she knew as much as he, Phebe deserved to be hanged." Parker again testified "he living at Long Island & Phebe Page there also, she would not keep the house one night, but kept a young man company, and they were both whipped for it by the magistrates' order there, also that she confessed" and both were censured. Joseph Tainter said "he was informed by one that lived at Long Island that Phebe Page confessed herself she had carnal copulation with a young man at the Island." Phebe withdrew her action, and the Court granted the defendant costs £2 4s. 6d. John Page Senior confessed a judgment of the costs of Court against his daughter.
