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William was born on September 14, 1750 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, the son of William and Mary (Peters) Savery. His mother was of Welsh extraction and his father of French Huguenot. The latter was a cabinet maker of Philadelphia, the producer of some notable pieces of colonial furniture.
William Savery received a Quaker education, and was apprenticed as a tanner.
As a master tanner Savery operated his own tanneries in Philadelphia and apparently prospered in the business, although at times his absence from home on religious journeys left the burden of affairs on others.
On two rather notable occasions he was present, with other Friends, during treaty negotiations with the Indians. One such occasion was the fruitless attempt, in 1793 near Detroit, to make peace with the western Indians; another, more successful in its outcome, was the council of 1794 with the Six Nations at Canandaigua, New York. The report of Savery and his companions concerning the latter occasion led the Friends of Philadelphia into an extensive missionary work among the Seneca Indians.
Aside from his journeys to the Indian country, Savery traveled much "in the ministry" at home and abroad. He visited Quaker centers in various parts of the United States, preaching frequently to large audiences.
From 1796 to 1798 he was absent from home, in company with a few other Friends, on a religious pilgrimage to Europe. He visited many of the German states, and preached to the Germans in their own language, apparently with considerable effect. In Holland and France the travelers also found Friends and held meetings with them and with others. In Paris Savery and one of his companions, David Sands, met Thomas Paine, who was born a Friend, but who proved to be not at all amenable to the religious admonitions of his Quaker visitors. Savery also toured Ireland twice in the years 1797-98.
The power of his preaching was best exemplified in his meetings in England, where he felt especially called to address those who were not Friends. His fame became so great there that he often spoke to audiences of hundreds and even of a thousand or more people.
At the time of Savery's visit to England Elizabeth Gurney (later Fry) was a rather giddy young girl, very vain and stylish for a Quakeress; but, as she herself testified: "He has caused me to feel a little religion. I have felt there is a God. I loved the man as if almost he were sent from heaven". She continued under the influence of Savery and became a Quaker, while he remained in England.
The most eventful years of his life were past when, in 1798, he ended his work in Europe and returned to Philadelphia. In his home city he carried on his former business, rendered great service in some of the yellow fever scourges of those years, and pursued his religious activities until his death, apparently from dropsy, at the age of fifty-four years.
William Savery Jr. was known as a defender of the rights of Native Americans, influenced on signing Treaty of Canandaigua, which established peace and friendship between the United States of America and the Six Nations, and affirmed Haudenosaunee land rights in the state of New York. He was a signatory to the Quaker Anti-Slavery Petition. The outstanding event of his ministry was the conversion of Elizabeth Gurney (later Fry), whose subsequent ministry to prisoners and influence on prison reform are well known.
(Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)
Following the completion of his apprenticeship his Quaker faith lapsed. Later he experienced a deep Quaker religious transformation that changed his life.
Savery was a man of average height and of good figure, although somewhat inclined to corpulency. He had a melodious voice.
Quotes from others about the person
The English newspaper Bath Chronicle, after referring to his "good sense, fluency, and even eloquence, " added: "He is a man of prepossessing appearance and address, mild and persuasive in his language and manners, and unusually liberal in all his sentiments".
Savery married a religious fellow-Quaker Sarah Evans in 1778.
