JOHN B. PAGE was born in Rutland, Vermont. At the age of sixteen he went to work as a teller at the National Bank of Rutland, of which he later became president. He also served as president of the Rutland Railroad Company, director of the Champlain Transportation Company and the Caughnawauga Ship Canal Project, treasurer of the Howe Scale Company, and a member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He was a member of the Vermont General Assembly from 1852 to 1854, State Treasurer from 1860 to 1866, and Allotment Commissioner by appointment of President Abraham Lincoln. After serving two terms as governor, he served briefly as a state representative but otherwise retired to private life.