William Savage

Owner of Epping Farm in St David. Although William Savage died 23/10/1827 according to an inscription in Kingston Cathedral Church, Epping Farm had been transmitted to John Savage by 1823. His first wife Jane Cooper Demetres or Demetris was clearly related to Cooper Demetres (q.v.): her family estate of 'Toby Abbott's' has not yet been traced but Cooper Demetres was a landowner and slave-owner in Clarendon.

1. 'William Savage [son of Samuel Phillips, grandson of Arthur, great grandson of Thomas, and great great grandson of Thomas], born in Boston 14 June 1750, was a pupil at the Boston Latin School from 1757 to 1764. In the latter year he went to Newburyport and entered the employ of his father's friend, Nathaniel Carter, a rich merchant of that town. In the spring of 1775, with letters of introduction from his employer to John Savage of Charleston, S. C, he left Newburyport, with the intention of settling in business at Charleston. A serious illness in the summer of 1775 resulted in his removal to Bermuda to recuperate. John Savage had, in the meantime, gone to London, and thither in July 1777 William Savage went, evidently with the intention of increasing his business acquaintance, but still apparently with the expectation of returning later to Charleston. The unsettled conditions in South Carolina, however, caused him to change his plans, and after a residence in England of a year, he left in Sept. 1778 for Kingston, Jamaica, and in this place and in its vicinity he made his home for the remainder of his life. Here he became a prominent citizen and merchant, and a member of the firm of Duncomb, Savage & Co. In the summer of 1784 he made a visit to his native town, returning to Jamaica at the end of the year. About 1798 Savage with his two sons went to England, where he left them with relatives of their mother and returned soon to Jamaica. In 1799 he was appointed by President John Adams United States agent for the relief and protection of American seamen frequenting Jamaican waters. In Jan. 1800 he retired from the firm of Duncomb, Savage & Co., and with a portion of the money obtained from the sale of " Toby Abbott's " his late wife's plantation in the parish of Clarendon, he purchased " Epping Farm," a large estate near the Blue Mountains, in the parish of St. David, which he planted to coffee, and where for several years much of his time was passed. For many years Mr. Savage represented most of the United States insurance companies in Jamaica. For nearly twenty years before his death he was senior magistrate of Kingston, one of the masters of the Jamaican High Court of Chancery, and president of the Hospital and Workhouse. Through the failure of a business associate he lost most of his property near the close of his life, and his later years were burdened by severe attacks of gout. He was a man of unblemished character and generous disposition, and was much respected in Jamaica. He died at Kingston 23 Oct. 1827, and is buried in the parish churchyard there.'

http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/b/Barche05.htm [accessed 02/09/2019]

1. Lawrence Park, Major Thomas Savage of Boston and his Descendants (1914)