FATHER JAMES PAGE

Side One: Father James Page was born in 1808, in Richmond, Virginia. Born enslaved to John Parkhill, (1786-1855) James Page migrated to Middle Florida along with the Parkhill family in 1827, three years after Tallahassee was founded as territorial capital. The relationship between Parkhill and Page was an unusually close one; despite selling members of Page’s family prior to the migration, Parkhill taught Page to read and write and made him overseer of Parkhill’s two plantations: Tuscawilla and Bel Air. In 1828, with Parkhill’s knowledge, Page began teaching and preaching in the woods around Tallahassee to the people enslaved by the Parkhill family. Though raised in Parkhill’s Presbyterian denomination, Page soon became a Baptist during the Second Great Awakening. His religious services became increasingly popular. Despite concern from the planter class about the subversive nature of enslaved preachers’ messages, Parkhill allowed Page to travel through much of the South, baptizing and preaching the Gospel to enslaved persons. During his life, Page established dozens of congregations including St. Peter Primitive Baptist Church, Concord Baptist, Bethlehem Baptist Church, and Bethel Baptist Church in and around Tallahassee. Side Two: James Page was formally ordained in the Baptist church in 1851. After the Civil War, he stayed in Tallahassee. He established the Bethel Baptist Sunday School on land donated by Harriet Parkhill to teach freed bondsmen to read and write. He also worked with the Freedman’s Bureau providing tangible assistance, such as equitable labor contracts, food, clothing, housing, and health care. In 1867, in preparation for Florida’s constitutional convention, Page was appointed one of three Leon County voter registrars. In July of that year, he served as Leon County delegate to the state Republican Party convention. He was the first African American to serve on the Leon County commission, from 1868 to 1870. In 1872, Governor Harrison Reed appointed Page Justice of the Peace for Leon County. Father James Page died March 14, 1883, and was buried in the segregated section of Tallahassee’s Old City Cemetery.