Thomas Nelson Page (April 23, 1853 – November 1, 1922) was an American

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

, politician, and

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

. He served as the U.S. ambassador to Italy from 1913 to 1919 under the administration of President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In his writing, Page popularized

Plantation tradition Plantation tradition is a genre of literature based in the Southern United States that is heavily nostalgic for antebellum times. The ideology is that of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy, though this specific genre is often called "The Plantation ...

literature which was used to promote the

Lost Cause The Lost Cause of the Confederacy, known simply as the Lost Cause, is an American pseudohistorical and historical negationist myth that argues the cause of the Confederate States during the American Civil War was just, heroic, and not cente ...

myth across the

New South New South, New South Democracy or New South Creed is a slogan in the history of the American South first used after the American Civil War. Reformers used it to call for a modernization of society and attitudes, to integrate more fully with th ...

. Page first got the public's attention with his story "Marse Chan" which was published in the '' Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine''. Page's most notable works include ''The Burial of the Guns'' and ''In Ole Virginia.''

Life and career

Page was born on one of the Nelson family's plantations,

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

, near the village of Beaverdam in

Hanover County, Virginia Hanover County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 109,979. Its county seat is Hanover, Virginia, Hanover. Hanove ...

. He was the son to John Page, a lawyer and a plantation owner, and Elizabeth Burwell (Nelson). He was a scion of the prominent

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

and

Page Page most commonly refers to: * Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also refer to: Roles * Page (assistance occupation), a professional occupation * Page (servant), traditionally a young m ...

families, each

First Families of Virginia The First Families of Virginia, or FFV, are a group of early settler families who became a socially and politically dominant group in the British Colony of Virginia and later the Commonwealth of Virginia. They descend from European colonists who ...

. Although he was from once-wealthy lineage, after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, which began when he was only 8 years old, his parents and their relatives were largely impoverished during

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

and his teenage years. In 1869, he entered Washington College, known now as

Washington and Lee University Washington and Lee University (Washington and Lee or W&L) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. Established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, it is among ...

, in

Lexington, Virginia Lexington is an Independent city (United States)#Virginia, independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 7,320. It is the county seat of Rockbridge County, Virg ...

when

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a general officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate ...

was president of the college. In Page's later literary works, Robert E. Lee would come to serve as the model figure of Southern Heroism. Page left Washington College before graduation for financial reasons after three years, but continued to desire an education specifically in law. To earn money to pay for his degree, Page tutored the children of his cousins in Kentucky. From 1873 to 1874, he was enrolled in the law school of the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. At Washington College and thereafter at UVA, Nelson was a member of the fraternity of Delta Psi, (St. Anthony Hall).

Career

Admitted to the

Virginia Bar Association The Virginia Bar Association (VBA) is a voluntary organization of lawyers, judges and law school faculty and students in Virginia, with offices in Richmond, Virginia. Key elements are advocacy, professionalism, service and collegiality. It pro ...

, he practiced as a lawyer in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

between 1876 and 1893, and also began his writing career. In 1893, Page, who had become disillusioned with the Southern legal system, gave up his practice entirely and moved with his wife to Washington, D.C. There, he wrote eighteen books that were compiled and published in 1912. Page popularized the

plantation tradition Plantation tradition is a genre of literature based in the Southern United States that is heavily nostalgic for antebellum times. The ideology is that of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy, though this specific genre is often called "The Plantation ...

genre of Southern writing, which told of an idealized version of life before the Civil War, with contented slaves working for beloved masters and their families. Page viewed the Antebellum South as a representation of moral purity, and often vilified the reforms of the

Gilded Age In History of the United States, United States history, the Gilded Age is the period from about the late 1870s to the late 1890s, which occurred between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was named by 1920s historians after Mar ...

as a sign of moral decline. His 1887 collection of short stories, '' In Ole Virginia'', is Page's quintessential work, providing a depiction of the Antebellum South. His most well-known short-story from that collection was "Marse Chan". "Marse Chan" was popularized because of Page's ability to capture southern dialect. Another short-story collection of his is entitled ''The Burial of the Guns'' (1894). As a result of his literary success, Page was popular amongst the Capital elite, and was regularly invited to socialize with politicians from around the country.Dauer, Richard Paul. "Thomas Nelson Page, Diplomat" (MA, College of William and Mary, 1972) During the first quarter of the 20th century, he founded a library in the Sycamore Tavern structure near Montpelier, Virginia, in memory of his wife, Florence Lathrop Page. Under President

, Page was appointed as U.S. ambassador to Italy for six years between 1913 and 1919. There he supported the Czechoslovak Legion in Italy. Despite being untrained in Italian and having little experience in governmental affairs, Page was determined to do a good job. He eventually learned Italian, formed beneficial relationships with Italian government officials, and accurately reported on the Italian state during

. Page managed to maintain and improve American-Italian relations during World War I, and provided a sympathetic ear to the Italian and

Triple Entente The Triple Entente (from French meaning "friendship, understanding, agreement") describes the informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was built upon th ...

cause in the U.S. government. After a disagreement with President Wilson over the terms of the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

, in which he argued for increased Italian benefits, Page resigned his post in 1919. His book entitled ''

Italy and the World War Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern and Western Europe. It consists of a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land border, as well as nearly 800 islands, notably Sic ...

'' (1920) is a memoir of his service there. After returning to his home in Oakland, Virginia, Page continued to write for the remainder of his years.

Writing themes

Page's postbellum fiction featured a nostalgic view of the South in step with what is termed

ideology. Emphasizing the element of noblesse oblige within the historical reality of

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

, enslaved people are depicted as faithful, happy and simple, slotted into a paternalistic society. For example, the formerly enslaved person in "Marse Chan" is uneducated, speaks phonetically, and has unrelenting admiration for his former master. The gentry are noble and principled, with fealty to country and to chivalry—they seem like knights of a different age. The strain epitomized by Page would carry through the postwar era, cropping up again in art with films like ''

The Birth of a Nation ''The Birth of a Nation'' is a 1915 American Silent film, silent Epic film, epic Drama (film and television), drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. The screenplay is adapted from Thomas Dixon Jr.'s 1905 novel and ...

''. The ideology and thoughts that appear in Page's writing and in Southern ideology are no mere simplistic, archaic world-view; they are part of a complex history that has informed, for worse and for better, the evolution of the Southern mind to 1940. Thomas Nelson Page lamented that the slavery-era "good old darkies" had been replaced by the "new issue" (Blacks born after slavery) whom he described as "lazy, thriftless, intemperate, insolent, dishonest, and without the most rudimentary elements of morality" (pp. 80, 163). Page, who helped popularize the images of cheerful and devoted Mammies and Sambos in his early books, became one of the first writers to introduce a literary black brute. In 1898 he published ''Red Rock'', a

novel, with the heinous figure of Moses, a loathsome and sinister Black politician. Moses tried to rape a white woman: "He gave a snarl of rage and sprang at her like a wild beast" (pp. 356–358). The depiction of rape using animal metaphors was a common feature of American sentimental literature. He was later lynched for "a terrible crime". Page dealt with the morality of

lynching Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged or convicted transgressor or to intimidate others. It can also be an extreme form of i ...

by acquitting the mob from any guilt, holding, instead, the supposedly debased Blacks responsible for their own violent executions. In his 1904 essay, ''The Negro: The Southerner's Problem'', he advocated for the white man's right to lynch: Likewise, Thomas Nelson Page complained that African American leaders should cease "talk of social equality that inflames the ignorant Negro,"Page (1904), p. 111. and instead, work to stop "the crime of ravishing and murdering women and children."

Reception and criticism

Thomas Nelson Page was one of the best-known writers of his day. He served as Woodrow Wilson's ambassador to Italy, and the president referred to him as a "national ornament". In her effort to control the image of slavery and Civil War in the American mind,

Mildred Lewis Rutherford Mildred Lewis Rutherford (July 16, 1851 – August 15, 1928) was a prominent white supremacist speaker, educator, and author from Athens, Georgia. She served the Lucy Cobb Institute, as its head and in other capacities, for over forty years, and ...

, historian general of the

United Daughters of the Confederacy The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, a ...

from 1911 to 1916, urged that "no library should be without…all of Thomas Nelson Page's books". Modern historian

David W. Blight David William Blight (born 1949) is the Sterling Professor of History, of African American Studies, and of American Studies and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University. Previous ...

calls it "America's national tragedy" that American memory was informed by the "romantic fantasies" of writers like Page and

Joel Chandler Harris Joel Chandler Harris (December 9, 1848 – July 3, 1908) was an American journalist and folklorist best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories. Born in Eatonton, Georgia, where he served as an apprentice on a plantation during his t ...

, while the authentic memories of former slaves were largely forgotten. He approvingly cites Sterling A. Brown's ironical criticism: "Thomas Nelson Page was not lying in his eulogy of the mammy…Page's feeling is honest if child-like. I am sure that he loved his mammy to death."

Personal life

He was married to Anne Seddon Bruce on July 28, 1886. She died on December 21, 1888, of a throat hemorrhage. He remarried on June 6, 1893, to Florence Lathrop Field, a daughter of Jedediah Hyde Lathrop and the widowed sister-in-law of retailer

Marshall Field Marshall Field (August 18, 1834January 16, 1906) was an American entrepreneur and the founder of Marshall Field's, Marshall Field and Company, the Chicago-based department stores. His business was renowned for its then-exceptional level of qua ...

(her husband Henry Field had died less than three years earlier). Page's second wife Florence was a member of the prestigious

Barbour family The Barbour family is an American political family of Scottish origin from Virginia. The progenitor of the Barbour family was James Barbour, who emigrated to Virginia from Scotland in the middle of the 17th century. Summary of notable members T ...

, making Page a member by marriage. Their wedding was held at the

Elmhurst, Illinois Elmhurst is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage and Cook County, Illinois, Cook counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is a western suburb of Chicago. The population was 45,786 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History M ...

Byrd's Nest estate of

Thomas Barbour Bryan Thomas Barbour Bryan (December 22, 1828 – January 26, 1906) was an American businessman, lawyer, and politician. Born in Virginia, a member of the prestigious Barbour family on his mother's side, Bryan largely made a name for himself in Chic ...

and his wife Jennie Byrd Bryan (). Thomas Barbour Bryan was Florence's maternal uncle, while Jennie Byrd Bryan was distant cousins with Mr. Page (meaning that the Bryans' children –

Jennie Jennie may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Jennie'' (film), a 1940 American drama film * ''Jennie'' (musical), a 1963 Broadway production * ''Jennie'' (novel), a 1994 science fiction thriller by Douglas Preston * '' Jennie: Lady Randolph C ...

and

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

– were both distant relatives of both Nelson Page, and first cousins of his second wife). Page was an activist in stimulating the

Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

to mobilize to save historical sites at Yorktown and elsewhere, especially in the

Historic Triangle The Historic Triangle includes three historic colonial communities located on the Virginia Peninsula, bounded by the York River on the north and James River on the south. The three points that form the triangle are Jamestown, Colonial Williams ...

of Virginia, from loss to development. He was involved in gaining Federal funding to build a

seawall A seawall (or sea wall) is a form of coastal defense constructed where the sea, and associated coastal processes, impact directly upon the landforms of the coast. The purpose of a seawall is to protect areas of human habitation, conservation, ...

at Jamestown in 1900, protecting a site where the remains of James Fort were later discovered by

archaeologists Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

working on the

Jamestown Rediscovery Jamestown Rediscovery is an archaeological project of Preservation Virginia (formerly the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities) investigating the remains of the original English settlement at Jamestown established in the Virg ...

project. He died in 1922 at the age of 69 at Oakland, Virginia in

Publications

* ''In Ole Virginia, or Marse Chan and Other Stories'' (1887) short stories. * ''Befo' de War: Echoes in Negro Dialect'' (1888) poems. * ''Two Little Confederates'' (1888) short novel for young readers. * ''Among the Camps'' (1891) short stories for young readers. * ''Elsket, and Other Stories'' (1891) short stories. * ''On Newfound River'' (1891) novel. * ''The Old South: Essays Social and Political'' (1892) essays. * ''The Burial of the Guns'' (1894) short stories and one novella. * ''Pastime Stories'' (1894) short stories. * ''Unc' Edinburg: A Plantation Echo'' (1895). * ''Social Life in Old Virginia Before the War'' (1896). * ''The Old Gentleman of the Black Stock'' (1897) novella. * ''Red Rock: A Chronicle of Reconstruction'' (1898) novel. * ''Santa Claus's Partner'' (1899). * ''A Captured Santa Claus'' (1900). * ''Gordon Keith'' (1903) novel. * ''Two Prisoners'' (1903). * ''Bred in the Bone'' (1904) short stories. * ''The Negro'' (1905). * ''The Coast of Bohemia'' (1907) poems. * ''John Marvel, Assistant'' (1907) novel. * ''Under the Crust'' (1907) short stories and one play. * ''The Old Dominion: Her Making and Her Manners'' (1908) essays. * ''Tommy Trot's Visit to Santa Claus'' (1908). * ''Robert E. Lee: The Southerner'' (1908). * ''Mount Vernon and Its Preservation, 1858-1910'' (1910). * ''Robert E. Lee: Man and Soldier'' (1911). * ''The Land of the Spirit'' (1913). * ''The Page Story Book'' (1914). * ''The Stranger's Pew'' (1914) short story. * ''The Shepherd Who Watched by Night'' (1916). * ''Address at the Three Hundredth Anniversary of the Settlement of Jamestown'' (1919). * ''Italy and the World War'' (1920). * ''Dante and His Influence: Studies'' (1922). * ''The Red Riders'' (1924). Selected articles
"Lee in Defeat,"
''The South Atlantic Quarterly,'' Vol. VI (1907).
"The Spirit of a People Manifested in their Art,"
''Art and Progress,'' Vol. II (1910).
"Our Relation to Art,"
''The American Magazine of Art,'' Vol. XIII (1922). Collected works * ''The Novels, Stories, Sketches and Poems of Thomas Nelson Page'' (18 vols., 1910–12).

References

External links

* *
Works by Thomas Nelson Page
at

Hathi Trust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries. Its holdings include content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digit ...

Works by Thomas Nelson Page
at

JSTOR JSTOR ( ; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources founded in 1994. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary source ...

*
Social Life in Old Virginia before the War.
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1897. * *

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Page, Thomas Nelson 1853 births 1922 deaths 19th-century American novelists 20th-century American novelists Ambassadors of the United States to Italy American essayists American male novelists American memoirists American people of English descent American people of Scottish descent 19th-century American poets American male short story writers Nelson family (Virginia)

Thomas Nelson Page Thomas Nelson Page (April 23, 1853 – November 1, 1922) was an American lawyer, politician, and writer. He served as the List of United States ambassadors to Italy, U.S. ambassador to Italy from 1913 to 1919 under the administration of Presiden ...

People from Hanover County, Virginia Novelists from Virginia Writers from Washington, D.C. 20th-century American poets American male poets American male essayists 19th-century American short story writers Writers of American Southern literature University of Virginia School of Law alumni Washington and Lee University alumni People from Dupont Circle Barbour family 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American diplomats Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery Neo-Confederates Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters