• Home
•  | 
• Login/Register
•  | 
• Help

1.)SamuelJames Savage place of birth as yet unknown, dob 1830's deaceased Melbourne 1930's in his 100th yr According to family legend thr following information is collated.
Samuel James was probably the eldest of three brothers
2.)One being "Captain" Savage who left a wife Anne & two daugters in England while sailing the Nth & Sth Pacific between Australia,New Zealand & Nth America during the gold rush era of the colonial era mid 1800's during which time he fathered an extended famiy with two maori sisters from the Opotiki region and left a large number of whanau / extended family other members of this family line have in the 1960's complied a whakapapa / genealogical file for themselves of themselves.
3.)The third brother, whose names are presntly unknown to us at thie time of writing these notes on 5th Aug 2008 is supposed to have gone to the United States of America and established a pick & shovel / gold pan manufacturing business in the same gold rush era and later produced small arms a .22 rifle from Savage Arms Co
4.) Sons or grand sons of this family line according to family legend were in New Zealand with the U.S. Army Engineering Battalion prior to active service in the Pacific Campaign of W.W.II. where they were subsequently killed in action. So far as we know this male line is now extinct , any female line is as yet unknown to us.
5.) Samuel James was a remitance man & soldier of fortune / bounty hunter.
he came to New Zealand from Belfast Ireland as many emmigrants fron Ireland set sal from Belfast Port.
6.)On arrival in NZ approx 1850 /55 and was soon engaged as a trooper in the Colonial Maori Wars of yhe 1850's /1860'/1870's Some time was spent according to his own testimoy to H.A Savage,his grandson at the Tuakau Redoubt 35 miles south of Auck;and on the Waikato river bank.. this site is now a cemetary, for two years during the 1860's,
7.) Some where during these turbulent times 1850 /1870's or shortly before or afterwards he married one of three Calvert sisters.. their names are unknown to us at present, one sister married into the Craig family of Auckland NZ and the other into the William "Bill" Jordan family Bill Jordan was the New Zealand High Commissioner to London in the 1940's
8a.)After a season as Trooper Samuel James spent a further two years bounty hunting for the Colonial New Zealand Government hunting to capture the famous Maori Chief Te Kooti.
8b.)Much of his time was spent within the Aotea tribal area of the central north island, the largest tribal region and numerically the largest also at that time,under the chieftanship of paramount chief Pehi Turoa family.
8c.) It has now been established that Samuel James Savage during those two years probably established another family with a maori woman who was a twin sister from a prominant family whose name / names we are compelled for privacy reasons not to disclose publically
9a.) After the "bounty hunting escapade" Samuel James received a land grant of 1500 acres of land within the boundary of what is now Wanganui City at the mouth of the Wanganui river, this he promptly sold and emmigrated to the Australian gold fields and eventually lived out his life into his 100th yr in Melbourne where he is buried
9b.) He left two sons Arthur Edward Savage the eldest,who left Australia at age 20 or so after marrying Violet Ada Mathews at age 17 who "ran away from a Tasmanian Convent" and both worked with J.C.Williamson Theatre Co travelling the AU/NZ Stage Show circuit between Melbourne,Sydney & Auckland , Wellington etc Arthur & Violet variosly lived in Danneverke, Wanganui and finally Hamilton wher A.E was self employed as piano importer/ piano reconditioner. He was also a competant musician being able to play and teach all the instruments of a symphony orchestra, he held the rank of Captain in the Waikato Regiment as Band Conductor
9c)Stanley Savage the younger brother married Hermione and had two sons
,both were killed on active service in the Ausralian navy , this is information we presently seek to cofirm and verify
9d.) Stanley and Hermione lived at 198 Toorack Road Melbourne for many years. Stanley was a building construction contractor and built many large housing estates before and after WW.II
10a.) Arthur and Violet had only two children f. & m.The female Valda m George Read and they had three daughters and at least two sons.
10b.The Son: Howard Arthur Wallace Savage married Amy Lynds
H.A. Savage first studied law then redirected into school teaching in the NZ Native Schools directly controlled by the NZ Department of Education of the late 1920's with his wife Amy, this work they continued till the 1940's untill retirment in the late 1950's
10c.)H.A & Amy had three children:
10.c.1 Arthur H.B.E now a divorced retired school teacher who in early 1960's married Elizabeth May Dillon teacher and have four adult children Peter.Arthur.E.D, Shelly May, Joanne Maree, Stephen James ,
10c.2.) Mary Phillipa no issue
10,c,3.)Desmond Eric Scahill an accountant who was adopted by his mothers younger sister and now lives at 9 Martense Ave,Wishart Brisbane QLD Australia
The various military exploits of Samuel James and his direct descendants is a compelling tragic story of the futility of war and yet there is now the revelation of: "Everything actually working together for good for those that believe".... now begins the tedious search of incomplete records within New Zealand for Maori were not obliged to register births compulsorily before 1920.
Other family lines of enquiry include Calvert, Mathews/Keogh,Fields & Lynds here in NZ & AU Ireland, Wales, England possibly Scotland also Thank you for contacting us at or 69 Don Buck Road Massey AKLD 0614 New Zealand pn 649 632 8419 or 021 265 4625

You must be logged in to post a comment regarding this story.