Savage, Henry S. MAGA © 2000-2014
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BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF CASS, SCHUYLER and BROWN COUNTIES, Illinois - 1892

Chicago: Biographical Review Publishing Co.

Page 355

HENRY S. SAVAGE was born in Morgan county, Illinois, April 22, 1824. His father, John Savage, was a native of New York State. He emigrated from there to Illinois, making the journey with teams, and becoming one of the first settlers of Morgan county. He located at Diamond Grove, near Jacksonville, and worked at the trade of carpenter for some time. He built the first frame house ever erected in Jacksonville. From Morgan he came to Cass county, and settled six miles southwest of the present site of Virginia. Here he bought a tract of land, built a log house, and subsequently a frame one, and passed the rest of his life on this farm. In politics he was a Whig until the organization of the Republican party, when he identified himself with it. He served as Sheriff of the county. His wife, Elizabeth Smith, daughter of Guy Smith, Esq., was a native of New York. She died on the home farm. The names of their seven children are as follows: Emily, wife of Hon. John W. Pratt; Spencer; George; Henry; Harriet, wife of O. J. Silverthorn; John W.; and Charles W.

Henry S. was reared and educated in Cass county. He remained on the farm till he was sixteen, when he engaged in clerking in Virginia. He clerked here some years and was then employed in the same capacity in Beardstown. He subsequently purchased a farm south of Virginia, and devoted his time to farming, residing there at the time of his death, March 29, 1865, meeting death by accident, having been thrown from a horse. Like his father, he was first a Whig and afterward a Republican.

January 10, 1844, he married Sarah Frances Ward, who was born in Scott county, Kentucky, August 8, 1828. Her father, Jacob Ward, was born in Kentucky in 1800, his parents being natives of Virginia and pioneers of Scott county, Kentucky. Grandmother Ward died in Scott county, and grandfather Ward afterward moved to Missouri, where he spent his last years. Jacob Ward was reared and married in Kentucky, and came to Illinois in 1830, making the journey overland with teams. He located near the present site of Arcadia, where he engaged in farming for a short time, after which he moved into the village of Arcadia and opened a dry goods and grocery store, at the same time operating a blacksmith and wagon shop and conducting a hotel. Indeed, he was the proprietor of the greater portion of the business there. A number of years later he moved to Cass county, and bought a farm three miles south of the city of Virginia. From this he subsequently moved to a farm on the State road, near Virginia, and was a resident there at the time of his death. He was a prominent and influential man. He served as Associate Judge of the county, having been elected in 1851. The maiden name of his wife was Eliza J. Stevenson. She was born in Kentucky, in 1807, spent her last years in Cass county, Illinois, and died on the farm near Virginia.

Mrs. Savage was small when her parents moved to Illinois. She remembers well the incidents of their pioneer life here, and vividly describes the primitive log school houses with their rude furnishings. She resided with her parents till her marriage and for some years past has occupied a beautiful home in Virginia. She has five children living, viz: Charles W., Edward E., Lewis L., Ella Belle and Henry S. Charles W. married Kittie Kelly and has five children; Louise, Bertha May, Harriet, Katie and Chase. Edward E. married Alice Heaton and has four children: Henry H., Walter W., Bessie and Zella. Lewis L. married Emma L. Stribling and has five children: Ada F., Charles J., Fred D., Lewis L. and Tom. Ella Belle is the wife of Henry W. Collins, and her children being G. Ward and Elizabeth.

Mr. and Mrs. Savage both joined the Christian Church before their marriage.


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