Our English Savage–French–Mason Lines

 

From Cheshire Knights to the Montana Frontiersmen

In the turbulent Cheshire of the mid-15th century, Sir John Savage of Clifton navigated the shifting loyalties of the Wars of the Roses. A substantial landowner linked by marriage to the powerful Stanleys, he raised a large family whose sons served successive kings. One of them, Christopher, carried the family name into Gloucestershire manors and died fighting the Scots at Flodden in 1513 under Henry VIII.

A generation or two later, in the market town of Pershore in the fertile Vale of Evesham, the French family—local gentry and manor lords—intermarried with a Savage daughter named Susan. Their son George French became a counsellor-at-law and lord of the manors of Old and New Pershore in the early 17th century, a period of rising religious and political tension that culminated in civil war. From this same Pershore community came Ann French, who married the yeoman Thomas Mason. Their son George, baptized at the Abbey Church of the Holy Cross in 1629, grew up amid Royalist sympathies. After the defeat of Charles I’s cause, the young Cavalier emigrated to Virginia around 1652, carving out a plantation on the Potomac frontier, serving as burgess and militia officer, and founding a family that would later produce a key author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights.

Collateral or later Mason lines, if the proposed connections hold, moved with the westward flow of settlement. By the late 18th century, descendants or related families appear among the Overmountain Men and East Tennessee militia who defended the frontier against Cherokee raids and British-aligned forces, and who later served in the War of 1812 under local colonels such as Edwin Booth. One such line produced Valentine Boyd, who left Tennessee for Ohio and then Iowa. His daughter Sophia married into the Bailey family; their descendants pushed farther west. Franklin Jackson Bailey, born on the Nebraska plains in 1886, homesteaded near Kalispell, Montana, in the early 20th century—raising cattle and timber with Belgian horses, hunting elk, and later farming wheat in Idaho—embodying the final continental reach of a story that began with Cheshire knights and Worcestershire manor lords.

Genealogy Notes:

The early English portion (Savage–French–Mason) has partial support in secondary genealogical sources and family association charts, but includes gaps, disputed parentage, and date mismatches; the later American Boyd–Bailey portion aligns better with available records, especially where DNA matches are noted. Primary documentation is sparse for several links, and user-tree or visitation-based claims should be treated cautiously pending further primary evidence (parish registers, wills, land records, or stronger DNA triangulation).  

Early Savage line

Sir John Savage (c. 1422/1423–1495) of Clifton, Cheshire, is well-attested. He was a prominent Cheshire landowner, mayor-related figure, and participant in the Wars of the Roses era; he married Katherine Stanley and had numerous children, including Christopher (or Christoffer) Savage (c. 1468/1473–1513). Christopher was a knight who held manors in Gloucestershire (including Chipping Campden area), served under the early Tudors, and was killed at the Battle of Flodden Field. A Richard Savage (c. 1512–c. 1551/1553) is sometimes claimed as a son of Christopher in secondary trees and appears linked in some FamilySearch/WikiTree discussions to a daughter Susan. However, standard lists of Christopher’s children emphasize other sons (notably another Christopher who married Anne Lygon); the Richard–Susan link is described in genealogical forums as previously undocumented or needing stronger sourcing. 

Susan Savage (c. 1550) is recorded in French Family Association charts and Worcestershire visitation-derived material as marrying Edward French of Pershore (mid/late 1500s). Their children include a George French (c. 1570–1647), a counsellor-at-law and lord of the manors of Old and New Pershore who married Cecily/Cecilia Grey.

French–Mason connection

George Mason I (baptized 10 June 1629, Pershore, Worcestershire–1686, Stafford County, Virginia), the immigrant progenitor of the prominent Virginia Mason family (great-grandfather of Founding Father George Mason IV), was the son of yeoman Thomas Mason and Ann French of Pershore. He was a Royalist/Cavalier who emigrated (likely on the Assurance around 1651–52) after the English Civil War, settled in what became Stafford County, served as a justice, burgess, and militia officer, and helped defend the frontier. 

Ann French’s exact parentage is disputed across sources. Some secondary accounts and trees place her as a daughter of George French (c. 1570–1647) and Cecily Grey; French Family Association charts more often assign an Ann French (who married Thomas Mason in 1624/25 at Pershore Abbey) to George’s brother Dennis French. Geographic and social ties in Pershore support a close French–Mason connection in either case, and the families intermarried further (e.g., George Mason I also married a Mary French). Dates and sibling lists show inconsistencies across trees.

Mason descendants in the proposed line

George Mason I had sons including George Mason II (the main line leading to the statesman) and a Richard Mason (c. 1662–1693, by second wife Margaret Allerton in some accounts). The proposed Richard Mason (1670–1730) → William Mason (1692–1745) → Margaret Mason (1725–1752) does not match the best-documented children or the primary Gunston Hall/Virginia line. These later names may represent a collateral or poorly documented branch, or conflation with other Mason families; stronger primary evidence would be needed.

Boyd–Bailey segment

This portion has better corroboration in secondary and some primary-aligned records, consistent with the DNA-match notes:

• James Boyd (c. 1757–1791), Revolutionary War veteran, fits the profile of East Tennessee/Overmountain Men service under figures such as John Sevier (frontier ranging, Cherokee campaigns, etc.). A Lt. James Boyd (1783–1854) associated with Booth’s East Tennessee Militia (War of 1812 era, 5th Regiment under Colonel Edwin Booth, men from Knox/Blount/Sevier etc. counties) is plausible in the same regional militia context.
• Valentine Boyd (c. 1811/1813–1870), born Tennessee, married Sarah Catherine Groom (1835, Ohio), lived later in Iowa; children include Sophia Boyd (1836–1908).
• Sophia’s son David Jackson Bailey (1865–1949) and grandson Franklin Jackson Bailey (29 April 1886, Valley County, Nebraska–15 March 1968, California) match records of a Montana homesteader near Kalispell (c. 1912 era: cattle, logging, garden, hunting; later wheat farming near Kendrick, Idaho; Montana Militia service noted in family recollections).

These later links are more consistent with census, marriage, and local history traces, especially when supported by DNA.

Overall genealogy assessment

The lineage is a plausible multi-century chain in broad outline—Cheshire gentry Savages → Worcestershire French gentry → Pershore Masons → Virginia immigrant → frontier Tennessee/Ohio/Iowa movement → Nebraska/Montana homesteaders—but several mid-links (especially Richard Savage as father of Susan, Ann French’s precise father, and the post-George Mason I Mason generations) rest on secondary or user-compiled trees with acknowledged gaps or alternatives. DNA matches noted for the Boyds strengthen the American end. For rigorous verification, prioritize primary sources (Cheshire/Worcestershire parish registers and wills, Virginia land/court records, Tennessee militia pensions, U.S. censuses, and homestead patents) and autosomal/Y-DNA triangulation.