Levi Savage was a sub-captain for the Willie Handcart Company who traveled extensively for the Church prior to him joining the Company. He was well known for vocally speaking out against the Company leaving Florence (or, Winter’s Quarters) so late in the season:
“I…related to the Saints the hardships that we should have to endure. I said that we were liable to have to wade in snow up to our knees and shovel at night, wrap ourselves in a thin blanket, and lie on the frozen ground without a bed. [I said it] was not like having a wagon that we could go into and wrap ourselves in as much as we liked and lie down. No, said I, we are without wagons, destitute of clothing, and could not carry it if we had it. We must go as we are.
“The handcart system I do not condemn. I think it preferable to unbroken oxen and inexperienced teamsters. The lateness of the season is my only objection to leaving this point for the mountains at this time.”
However, when the decision was made to start the trek, he dutifully stepped up to fill his role and assist the Company members in getting to Salt Lake.
The day after the sixth crossing of the Sweetwater in mid-October, Captain Willie and Joseph Elder left the Company to search for the resupply wagons they had been told were nearby. While the Company waited hopefully for their return with help, Levi gave assistance to a dying man, John Linford:
John’s 11-year-old son recalled,
“While father was sick and just before he died of starvation, Levi Savage emptied his flour sack to make him some skilly as it was called; after eating this he died.”
Levi Savage continued giving much assistance to the members of the Handcart Company when things seemed most dire:
During the final 16 days of the journey, Levi continued to help those who were most in need. His responsibility for the wagons was especially onerous. They were overloaded with people who were too weak to walk, and the animals that pulled them were faltering. On October 31 the Willie company crossed the Green River, but Levi fell so far behind with the wagons that he couldn’t catch up. The company journal strikes a sympathetic tone in saying,
“Bro. Savage with the ox & cow teams did not get to camp this evening.”
Levi Savage arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on November 9 with the rest of the Company and was reunited with his family, whom he hadn’t seen in four years. Levi eventually moved to Toquerville where he lived out the rest of his life, passing away in 1910 at 90 years old. The previous accounts were featured in the book, Follow Me to Zion, published in 2013.