This fact in itself gives an insight into his character.
While his brothers were grappling with Latin and Greek and theology--one of them became a Methodist preacher of the hortatory type for which the South is famous--we catch glimpses of the older man battling with the logs in the Cape Fear River, or penetrating the virgin pine forest, felling trees and converting its raw material to the uses of a growing civilization.

Like many of the Page breed, this Page was a giant in size and in strength, as sound morally and physically as the mighty forests in which a considerable part of his life was spent, brave, determined, aggressive, domineering almost to the point of intolerance, deeply religious and abstemious--a mixture of the frontiersman and the Old Testament prophet.

Walter Page dedicated one of his books[2] to his father, in words that accurately sum up his character and career.

"To the honoured memory of my father, whose work was work that built up the commonwealth." Indeed, Frank Page--for this is the name by which he was generally known--spent his whole life in these constructive labours.

He founded two towns in North Carolina, Cary and Aberdeen; in the City of Raleigh he constructed hotels and other buildings; his enterprising and restless spirit opened up Moore County--which includes the Pinehurst region; he scattered his logging camps and his sawmills all over the face of the earth; and he constructed a railroad through the pine woods that made him a rich man.
Though he was not especially versed in the learning of the schools, Walter Page's father had a mind that was keen and far-reaching.