Page T. Hoagland, editor and proprietor of the Record, Oak Hill, was born in Malugin's Grove, near Dixon, Lee County, Ill., March 23, 1856, son of Abram Allen and Eunice E. (Bloodgood) Hoagland. He is of the eighth generation in descent from Christophal Hoageland, who was born in Holland in 1634, emigrated to America about the year 1654, and settled in New Amsterdam.
From Christophal the ancestral line is traced through his eldest son, Christopher (2), who was born in the vicinity of Brooklyn, N. Y.; John (3), who was born in Flatlands, N. J., in 1701, and died in 1767; Jacob Hoageland (4), born in Harbinger, N. J., in 1735; Abraham Hoogland (5), who was born in Sowerland, New Harbinger, Somerset County, N. J., about the year 1773; Benoni Hoogland (6), who was born in Gilboa, N. Y., February 25, 1796; and Abram Allen Hoagland (7), who was born in Gilboa in 1831; to Page T. Hoagland (8), the subject of this sketch.
Jacob Hoageland resided in New Jersey until after the settlement of his father's estate, when he came to New York, and, after sojourning for a time in Schoharie County, went from there to Albany County, where he passed the rest of his life. Abraham Hoogland, of the fifth generation, accompanied his parents to Gilboa in 1785. He married Polly M. Fraser, daughter of Benoni Fraser, who was one of the earliest settlers in Schoharie County and a Revolutionary soldier. On September 11, 1817, Benoni Hoogland, the grandfather, married Katy Shoemaker, who was born August 29, 1791, daughter of Jacob Shoemaker. Grandfather Hoogland died May 25, 1867, and the grandmother died May 27, 1868. They were the parents of nine children, two sons and seven daughters, and five of their family are now living.
About the year 1854 Abram Allen Hoagland, Mr. Page T. Hoagland's father, removed from New York to Illinois, where he followed his occupation of carpenter and joiner for a short time. Then going from there to Eau Claire, Wis., he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres adjoining the town site. Two years later he returned to New York, and from 1859 to 1866 resided in Ashland and Jewett, Greene County. After the close of the Civil War he again went to Illinois. He located in Rockford, and resuming his trade remained there until shortly after the death of his father, in 1868, when he came to Gilboa to care for his mother, who died suddenly within the following year. The next two years he spent upon a farm in Johnson Hollow, town of Roxbury, N. Y., and in 1870 removed to Oneonta, this State, where he was employed in the car-shops of the Albany & Susquehanna Railroad Company. He next settled in Binghamton on a leased farm, which he carried on until 1876; and the year after he cultivated the G. H. Bloodgood farm in Conesville. He then came to Oak Hill, followed his trade here for two years; and in 1879 he returned to Conesville, occupying the Hawver farm for about one year. Removing to Superior, Neb., in 1880, he resided there some years. He is now living upon a large farm in Oak Hill. his first wife, Eunice E., whom he married in 1854, was a daughter of Abraham Bloodgood. Her father, who was a tanner, spent most of his life in Jewett, and her mother was a representative of the Tower family of New England. It is said that some of her ancestors came over in the "Mayflower." Abram Allen Hoagland's first wife died in 1894, at fifty-nine years of age. The maiden name of his second wife was Eugenia Brand Lynam. He is the father of two children, both by his first wife: Page T., the subject of this sketch; and Edith G., who married William J. Winn, of Bridgeport, Conn.
Page T. Hoagland came from Wisconsin to Greene County with his parents when about three years old. His educational opportunities were confined to the schools of the various localities in which he lived up to 1870, when he became a pupil in the Oneonta graded school, under the supervision of Professor N. N. Bull. He was graduated in 1872, and immediately entered the store of L. Goldsmith as a clerk. Afterward he worked for Joseph and Morris Price in the same capacity, and later for Miller & Pope, dealers in flour and provisions. He taught school in Sullivan County during the ensuing winter, and then, joining his father on the farm at Binghamton, he remained there the following season. In the fall of 1879, having previously taught schools in Conesville and Rensselaerville, he entered the store of Hagadorn Brothers, Gilboa. A year later he went to Superior, Neb., and, after being employed as a clerk during the fall and winter of 1880 and 1881, he in the spring became a cow-boy, and remained on the ranch until July of that year, when he went to Plattsmouth, Neb., twenty miles below Omaha. Failing to find employment in the city stores, he worked in a brick-yard until, through the influence of a friend, he obtained a subordinate position upon the clerical force of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad. In 1883 he was appointed assistant station agent on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad at Pacific Junction, Ia., resigning in January, 1884, in order to take the position of manager of the loss and damage department of the Burlington & Missouri Railroad at their headquarters in Omaha. He continued to serve in that capacity until the ensuing fall, when he was forced by ill health to return to Gilboa.
In March, 1885, he purchased of H. V. Jones the Jefferson (N. Y.) Courier, which he conducted for over three years, selling in August, 1888, to George M. Proper, of Eminence, N. Y. He next purchased the Monitor, a paper published in Gilboa, which he carried on until 1893, when he disposed of it to Berton G. Griffin, and coming to Oak Hill in the spring of 1894 established the Record, which he has conducted successfully ever since. He has a well-equipped plant with ample facilities for handling the constantly increasing circulation of his paper, and his advertising department is both popular and profitable.
In June, 1882, Mr. Hoagland was united in marriage with Frances Stryker, daughter of Abraham Stryker, of Gilboa. She died in 1894, at the age of thirty-seven, having been the mother of seven children. Of these, five are living — Scott R., Hazel C., Guy W., Cecil A., and Ellen F. On September 4, 1895, he married for his second wife Ella Cherritree, daughter of Walter S. Cherritree, a native of Durham and prominently identified with the foundry interests of Oak Hill.
In politics Mr. Hoagland is a Republican, and during his residence in Jefferson he served as Town Clerk and as School Trustee. He served in the same capacity in Gilboa, where he was candidate for Supervisor in 1893, and was again his party's candidate for Town Clerk in 1898. He has been a member of the Republican County Committee since 1896. He was made a Mason at Jefferson in Working Lodge, No. 554, F. & A. M., of which he was Junior Warden for two years. In 1889 he was demitted to Gilboa Lodge, No. 630, of which he served as secretary four years. He is now a member of Cascade Lodge, No. 427, Oak Hill. In 1892 he joined Blenheim Lodge, No. 651, I. O. O. F., from which he withdrew to become a charter member of Lyman Tremaine Lodge, No. 265, Oak Hill, of which he was treasurer for the years 1896 and 1897, and was chosen Vice-Grand in 1898. He was made Noble Grand January 1, 1899, serving until July 1 of the same year. During this year he was recommended to the Grand Lodge as secretary to the Grand Committee, District of Greene. He is also a member of Middleburg Encampment, No. 129, and Valley Chapter, No. 38, Order of the Eastern Star. At the age of fourteen he was confirmed by Bishop Doane, of Albany, and has served as vestryman of the Episcopal church. Educational and literary matters have absorbed his leisure time, and he has a well-selected library of standard works.