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WILLIAM WEDGWOOD, the successful farmers of Waukechon township, Shawano county, who by diligence and patient industry have made homes for themselves and their families, is Mr. Wedgwood. He was born in Haldimand county, Canada, in 1851, and is a son of David and Henrietta (Weir) Wedgwood, from the State of Maine and Haldimand county, Canada, respectively.

William Wedgwood received a common-school education in Canada, and never went to school after he was fourteen years of age. In 1863, he came with his parents to Wisconsin, lived at home until he was seventeen years of age, then went out to work, and has since earned his own living. He was first employed in the sawmill of A. C. Conn & Co., of Little Suamico, Oconto county, and remained with them ten years. He then went to Marinette, Marinette county, worked there in a sawmill for one year, and then came to Waukechon. On December 19, 1872, Mr. Wedgwood was united in marriage with Mary J. McCourt, who was born in Pittsburg. Penn., and they have had five children, namely: Mary, Catherine, Elizabeth and Henrietta, who are at home; and William, who died at the age of six years. The parents of Mrs. Wedgwood, John and Catherine (Woods) McCourt, were from Ireland, and located in Ohio many years ago, but finally came to Wisconsin, being among the early settlers of Cato, Manitowoc county. Mr. McCourt took up a homestead, and his occupation was farming. When the Civil war broke out he went as a Union soldier, served nearly three years, and was wounded in a way that eventually caused his death.  He returned, dying about 1883. He reared seven children as follows: One who died; Mary; Margaret, deceased, who was the wife of Peter Webber, of Milwaukee. Wis.; John C., who died at the age of twenty-five years; Henry, who is engaged in farming in Cato, Manitowoc county; Anna, now the
wife of Joseph Wrenz, a carpenter, of Iron Mountain, Menominee Co.. Mich., and James, residing in Cato.  Mrs. Catherine McCourt still lives on the homestead with her two sons. She is now seventy-four years old. 

In 1873 Mr. Wedgwood came to Waukechon township, and bought eighty acres of land in Section I, which still forms a part of his farm. The land was in a primitive condition, inhabited only by the beasts of the forest. A few roads had been cut at that time, but he had no team. There was a log house 16x20, covered with boards, in which he lived for seven years. He commenced clearing, and did much of his logging by hand, or hired it done, for two or three years. His first crop was oats, sowed among the stumps, harvested with a cradle, and threshed with a machine. He pressed on with the clearing as rapidly as he was able, and it was chiefly by his own hard labor that this work was done. He has thus succeeded in clearing some seventy acres, now having 120 acres of good land, with good improvements, and what he has has been procured through his own efforts.

Mr. Wedgwood is a Republican in politics, has taken much interest in the success of his party, and is an ardent supporter of the schools. He has held the office of township chairman one year, and has been supervisor for two years. Socially he is a member of Shawano Lodge, I. O. O. F., and Mrs. Wedgwood and the children are members of the Catholic Church.