Levi Savage

Levi Savage Jr. (March 23, 1820 – December 13, 1910) is a prominent figure in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He was one of the earliest LDS Church missionaries to Asia, and was one of the leaders of the Mormon pioneer Willie Handcart Company.

Savage was the second of 15 children born in Greenfield Huron County, Ohio to Levi Savage Sr. and Polly Haynes. He grew up on a farm in southern Michigan, where he had some schooling. During his lifetime, Savage was a teamster, soldier, teacher, pioneer, and missionary to India and Burma. He spent the remaining years of his life as a farmer in southern Utah. Savage kept a detailed journal from October 6, 1852 to March 16, 1903.

In the early 1840s, Savage's parents joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The family moved from Michigan to Nauvoo, Illinois, and later migrated as Mormon pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.

During the move from Nauvoo to Salt Lake City, Savage enlisted in the U.S Army as a part of the Mormon Battalion. His enlistment began in July 1846 in Company D of the battalion. The battalion marched 1,400 miles from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to San Diego, California.

Savage's family was a part of the June 18, 1847, Abraham O. Smoot/George B. Wallace wagon train company. His mother, Polly Haynes Savage, died on the trek to Utah. Savage learned of his mother's death after he finished his enlistment with the Mormon Battalion. Savage arrived in Salt Lake City via San Diego on October 16, 1847, three weeks after the family.

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