THE OVERHOUSE AND CHURCH WEDGWOODS. 77 



married Francis Fynney), had a family of several sons 

 and daughters, and was the ancestor of the families known 

 as the " Overhouse Wedgwoods " and the " Church Wedg- 

 woods," of which latter Josiah was a member. He died 

 in the year 1678. By his will, which is dated February 

 14th, 1678, it appears that he had then a family of three 

 sons and five daughters living, seven of whom were under 

 age. The sons were John, of whom presently, Thomas, of 

 whom also more presently, and Timothy ; and the daughters 

 were Margaret, Margerie, Catherine, Mary, and Sarah. 



This Thomas Wedgwood was a man of considerable sub- 

 stance, owning a large part of Burslem, with three or four 

 pot-works. He resided at " the Upper or Over House," 

 which at that time appears to have been a goodly mansion, 

 with a " long table and forms thereunto belonging, standing 

 in the hall place of the house, " and with barns, outhouses, 

 stables, cowhouses, yards, folds, orchards, gardens, fish- 

 ponds, fields and crofts, and kiln yard for the pot works, 

 belonging to it. This estate was his own property, and 

 besides it he owned the " housing and lands lying at the 

 Churchyard side in Burslem," which were formerly in his 

 own possession and that of his father-in-law, Shaw ; a horse- 

 mill and buildings attached ; large pot works, consisting of 

 workhouses, shops, pot ovens, and all kinds of implements 

 " belonging to the art or trade of potting," which he had 

 erected on land which he had purchased of one William 

 Keen, of Crow Borrow ; houses, gardens, &c., and, I believe, 

 pot works called the "Almshouse;" fields of land in various 

 parts, coal mines, and other property. His will, which is a 

 particularly interesting document, I here for the first time 

 make public : 



" In the name of God, Amen. The fourteenth day of February, in 

 the one and twentieth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord 

 Charles the Second, by the Grace of God, of England, Scotland, 

 France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and Ann. Dom. 

 1678. 



" I, Thomas Wedgwood of Burslem, in the County of Stafford, 



