Charles Roscoe Savage was born August 16, 1832, in Southampton, Hampshire, England to John Savage and Ann Rogers. At the age of thirteen, Charles began investigating religion in the local Southampton churches and was baptized a member of the LDS church on May 25, 1848. In 1855, having learned German and French fluently on service missions for the church, he was asked to serve as interpreter for a group of Saints who were emigrating to New York. He and his wife, Annie Adkins, made their home in Williamsburg, New York, where Charles worked in Samuel Booth's printing shop. While living in New York, Savage began to learn the photography business. In 1862, Savage formed a partnership with artist George Martin Ottinger, called Savage and Ottinger. Perhaps of all of his work, he is best known as one of the three photographers of the joining of the rails at Promontory Point. Savage and Ottinger legally dissolved their firm in 1870, after which Savage formed the Pioneer Art Gallery. In 1875, needing more space, he replaced it with the Art Bazaar.