SAVAGE, CHARLES W., grain dealer, and an efficient business man and public spirited citizen at Virginia, Ill., was born three miles from Virginia, Cass County, January 12, 1853, and is a son of Henry S. and Sarah Frances (Ward) Savage, who were the parents of thirteen children, eight of whom died in infancy. The father, Henry S. Savage, died in 1865, and the mother reared the five surviving children carefully and conscientiously. They were as follows: Charles W., Edward E., Louis L. and H. S., all residing in Cass County; and Nellie, who married Henry Collins and died in Spokane, Washington in 1897, leaving two children, Ward and Elizabeth Collins.

John Savage, the grandfather, came to Morgan County, Ill., in 1822, and settled at Diamond Grove, where his son, Henry S. was born in 1824. He came from New York to Morgan County, and a few years later removed to Cass County, took up government land and became a man of substance and prominence, owning large bodies of land at the time of death in 1865, and having served as sheriff of Cass County for two terms. John Savage married Elizabeth Smith, who died in January, 1875, aged seventy-five years. They had the following children: Spencer, Henry S., John, George, Charles, Emily (Mrs. John Pratt), and Harriet (Mrs. Oliver Silverthorn). John Savage built the first log house at Jacksonville and there are traces of his building work still to be found in different parts of the county. The maternal grandfather, Jacob Ward, came from Kentucky to Arcadia, Morgan County, where he was one of the first settlers and later removed to Cass County where he became a very prominent man and was one of the county commissioners at the time Cass was separated from Morgan County. He married Eliza Stephenson and they had two children, Jane, who married James Beggs and died one year after marriage, and Sarah Frances, who became the wife of Henry S. Savage.

Charles Ward Savage grew up on his father's farm and attended the local schools and also those of Jacksonville. For about seven years after beginning to work for himself, Mr. Savage engaged in farming. IN 1878 he came to Virginia where he embarked in a grain and lumber business, and has since conducted the grain business on a large scale, the firm style being C. W. Savage & Son. Although he has served three times as mayor of Virginia, he was never a candidate for the office, but proved exceedingly efficient and useful when elected and it was during his administration that the pavements were laid, the sewer system put in and other public improvements started.

Mr. Savage was married at Davenport, Iowa, January 6, 1875, to Kittie S. Kelley, a daughter of Moses and Harriet (Morse) Kelley, and they have had five children: Louise, wife of Clifford Ireland, of Peoria, Ill.; Mae, who is at home; Harriet, wife of E. B. Conover, of Springfield, Ill.; Kathryn, who is the wife of John McHenry, of Springfield; and Charles C., who is associated in business with his father, married Lucilla Fullenweider, and they have one child, Caroline. The mother of the above children died in 1893, aged thirty-seven years. Mr. Savage was married again in 1897, at Petersburg, Ill., to Nellie, a daughter of Daniel Rule. Mr. Savage has passed all the chairs in the local lodge of Odd Fellows. He belongs to the Christian church and has been very active as a church official, having been a deacon for many years and secretary, clerk and treasurer for a long period.