Lost the prior database, but at least I now have a non-iPage-branded installation of WordPress. Took several hours to get it all in place, but it’s done.
On to picking a theme, and eliminating all traces of the WordPress branding as well as the theme creator branding.
Lost all my notes in the database from the previous install!
They may be lurking in the database, somewhere, but I have no idea how to get at them. Already tried copying the wp-config.php file from the previous install, only to have it fail to connect to the database altogether. I suspect the “install” option overwrote the prior contents. Again, CRAP!