244 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



Pilgrims, — ^.that December 21st, new style (instead of the 22d), corre- 

 si^ouded to December 11th, old style, the day of the landing. The error 

 occurred in this way : In 1769, when the celebration of this event was 

 first instituted at Plymouth, eleven days was the true difference between 

 old and new style, and this difference was erroneously assumed to repre- 

 sent the true day of the landing in 1620; whereas but ten days were 

 required. Mr. Savage also pointed out many other errors in chronology 

 which occurred in the same way. 



In 1853 Mr. Savage published a new edition of Winthrop's History 

 of New England, " with additions and corrections." After the com- 

 pletion of this labor, he devoted himself unremittingly to the prepara- 

 tion of his last great work, " A Genealogical Dictionary of the First 

 Settlers of New England, showing Three Generations of those who came 

 before May, 1692, on the basis of Farmer's Register," in four large 

 octavo volumes. The first and second volumes appeared in 1860, the 

 third in 1861, and the last in 1862. This work must ever be regarded 

 as a monument of persistent labor and industry, on a subject to most 

 persons dry and uninviting. In the preface to the first volume he says, 

 " In fulfilment of this great undertaking, more than fifteen years are 

 already bestowed, and near two years longer may be necessary." 



Mr. Savage was an Overseer of Harvard College from 1838 to 1853, 

 and in 1841 that institution conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. 

 He was the founder of the " Provident Institution for Savings " in 

 the city of Boston. While on a visit to his friend the late Benjamin 

 Vaughan, of Hallowell, in 1816, he met with one of the reports of the 

 " London Provident Institution," an examination of which deeply im- 

 pressed him with the importance of establishing a similar institution in 

 the city of Boston. He laid the subject before a number of prominent 

 citizens, some of whom approved of the scheme, while others gave no 

 encouragement. Mr. Savage persevered, and the Provident Institution 

 was established. From 1817 to 1862, a period of forty-five years, he 

 was successively its secretary, treasurer,. vice-president, and president; 

 and for the greater part of this long service absolutely declining all 

 compensation. During his absence in Eui'ope in 1842, his associates 

 procured a marble bust of him to be made, by a Boston artist, from a 

 model previously prepared, and placed it in the vestibule of their hall, 

 as an enduring memorial of their founder. For many years he was a 

 member of the religious society of which the Rev. William E. Chan- 

 ning, D.D., and the Rev. Ezra S. Gannett, D.D., were the ministers, and 

 in 1834 he was unanimously chosen deacon of the church ; and his 

 devotion to these eminent men ended only with their lives. Indeed, in 



