THOMAS NELSON PAGE
PAGE, THOMAS NELSON, author, lawyer, was born at "Oakland," the old mansion house of the family, in Hanover county, Virginia, on April 23, 1853. He is the son of Major John and Elizabeth Burwell (Nelson) Page, and a direct descendant of old and distinguished Virginia families on both sides — the Pages, of Roswell, and the Nelsons, of Yorktown. John Page, his great grandfather, was a conspicuous patriot of the Revolutionary war, and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Nelson, another of his forbears, was war governor of Virginia at the time of the revolution, and rendered important services during the subsequent era of national construction.
The boyhood of Mr. Page saw his country in the throes of Civil war, which conflict interfered, in no small degree, with his early education, but by way of recompense, furnished him much of the material for his future literary work. His home was within the zone of conflict, in full view of the horrors of war, and was soon made to suffer the impoverishment that follows on a series of campaigns. He entered Washington and Lee university, at Lexington, Virginia, but the debating society and the college paper seemed to have more charm for him than the routine of the class-room. His talents were distinctively literary, and he found greater pleasure in editing the college paper, constructing the framework of stories, assembling incidents of the war or characteristics of persons, and studying customs and manners, than in the curriculum of systematic study.
After teaching school for one year, he entered the law department of the University of Virginia, completed its course of study, and received a degree in law, in 1874. He was admitted to the bar shortly thereafter, and practised law in Richmond until 1893, devoting his leisure, meanwhile, to literary work and the platform. He attained popularity as a public lecturer as great as was his repute in the field of literature. Among his best known works are: "In Ole Virginia" (1887); "Two Little Confederates" (1888); "On Newfound River" (1891); "Elsket and Other Stories" (1892); " Befo' the War" (in
