WW was described as having purchased wild land upon which he placed his residence and converted the forest into highly productive farmland (3). Presumably he spent much of his time working on establishing the farm but he also had time for other activities. He joined the Highland Society of PEI and became a vice president in April 1839 (4). This was rather unusual considering he was from the Scottish Lowlands and Lowlanders and Highlanders didn't usually get along!

WW is noted in 1839 as being a member of the Agricultural Society which was known for importing various animals from Britain and the United States so as to improve the breeding stock on PEI farms (5). WW purchased for 25 pounds one such animal, a "spotted bull", imported from Britain (6). The sum of 25 pounds was quite considerable when compared to wages at the time. For example in 1848 a good annual salary would be 50-100 pounds.

WW’s farm must have had fairly good stock, since later in the same year, he won a prize of 1 pound for a filly at the agricultural show in Charlottetown and in the following year won 2 pounds for the best 2-4 year old bull (7,8). He must have been of the opinion that there was some future in farming in PEI as he expanded his farming enterprise by leasing 2718 acres for 61 years from David Stewart in November 1839 (9).

The 1841 Census provided the following figures which gave a good picture of WW’s success at farming. The farm then consisted of 330 acres owned by him, the original 200 acres and a 100 acre farm purchased from Hugh McLean on what is now known as the Green Road, and 2626 acres leased for a term of 999 years. (These later figures were incorrect as the area leased was actually 2718 acres and the term was for 61 years). Two hundred and ninety-six acres of the whole farm were listed as arable, upon which he had produced the following crops over the past year: 80 bushels of wheat 40 bushels of barley 300 bushels of oats 450 bushels of potatoes. His stock consisted of: 6 horses 13 "neat" cattle 15 sheep 16 hogs.

WW had no family living with him, but probably the families of David McKenzie and James Roggers worked for him on the farm as the arable acreage could not have been worked by him alone. These families were composed of 12 individuals, of whom 4 were males between 16 and 45 years of age and 3 were females in the same age class. Probably the men worked the farm and at least one of the women would have kept house for W (10).

In 1841 WW was noted as having brought "skilful mechanics from Scotland for the purpose of making modern agricultural implements" (1 1). These "skilful mechanics" would probably have been blacksmiths or wagon makers. A description of the farm in 1856 mentions a blacksmith’s forge on the property, so it may have dated from this time, although it was not mentioned in a detailed 1848 advertisement (12).

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