Papers : 1770-1862.

John Savage was born in Ireland. He emigrated to New York with his brothers, James and Edward, and they settled near Spencertown. His wife was Ann Pratt (1741-1822), the daughter of Elisha Pratt, and their family included one son, Lt. John Savage Jr.(1780-1840), and five daughters. Before the American Revolution, John Savage owned a large tract of land and a fine house. Early in the war he was confined in the Albany jail when he refused to command a company of rebel soldiers on behalf of Congress. He escaped, and made his way to New York where he was commissioned a lieutenant in the Loyal Rangers. On several occasions, he was captured while carrying despatches for the British and confined in jails, usually in irons, in Kingston and Fishkill, New York, and in Hartford, Connecticut. On one occasion he narrowly escaped hanging. At the end of the war all his property was confiscated by the rebels, and he was not allowed to reside in the district. He was forced to flee with his family and his brother Edward from Spencertown to Quebec by way of Lake Champlain. Both his family and his wife's family were sharply divided during the Revolution, with members of each family fighting on opposite sides of the conflict.

In 1784, he settled at Caldwell Manor, near Quebec, and remained there until 1792 when that part of the Manor, on which his farm was located, was claimed by the Americans. He petitioned the Governor at Quebec to be granted the Township of Shefford and led a group of associates to settle the area, which comprised thirty-four thousand acres of land. In 1801, Letters Patent were granted for the Township, and he and thirty-eight others associated with him, including his son John Savage Jr. and three sons-in-law, received full legal titles to their lands. John Savage soon became a leading citizen in the Township and is frequently referred to in the Papers as, Leader.

He received commissions in the St. John's Militia in 1788 and in 1796, and became a captain in the 2nd Battalion of the [Eastern Township's] Militia in 1804. His son John Savage Jr. became a lieutenant in the same company in 1805. Even as late as 1813, during the War of 1812-1814, when he was seventy years of age, John Savage received a commission in Sir John Johnson's Frontier Light Infantry and served until the end of the War.

On 30 June 1812, he was appointed a commissioner to administer the oath of allegiance to all persons over the age of fourteen. Besides his military interests, John Savage was instrumental in establishing regular religious services in the district when he donated land for an Anglican church, and supervised its construction in 1820. He cleared paths, which were the only roads in the Township at that time, and supervised the construction of a road between Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and Montreal. In 1807, he received a commission appointing him a justice of the peace for the District of Montreal, acting in the Townships of Potton, Bolton, Granby, Shefford and Stukely, which was renewed on two later occasions. On 27 September 1826, John Savage died in West Shefford (Bromont) Lower Canada, a Loyalist and revered citizen who persevered against great odds and remained true to his convictions.