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thumb Josiah Wedgwood ( 1730- 1795) Josiah Wedgwood ( 1730- 1795) was a noted potter and a friend of Erasmus Darwin; in 1780 on the death of Josiah Wedgwood's long-time business partner Thomas Bentley , Wedgwood turned to his friend Erasmus Darwin for help in running the business. As a result of the close association that grew up between the Wedgwood and Darwin families, one of Josiah's daughters later married Erasmus' son. One of the children of that marriage, Charles Darwin, also married a Wedgwood — Emma, Josiah's granddaughter. Essentially, this double-barrelled inheritance of Josiah's money permitted Charles Darwin the life of leisure that eventually led to the formulation of his theory of evolution.
Josiah Wedgwood married Sarah Wedgwood ( 1734- 1815), and they had two children, Josiah Wedgwood II (See below) and Susannah Wedgwood (later Darwin; see below)
right Erasmus Darwin ( 1731- 1802) Erasmus Darwin ( 1731- 1802) was a physicianA physician is a person who practices medicine. In the United States the term physician is traditional and commonly used. In Britain and Australia, the term doctor is more common as physician refers to specialists in internal medicine. Because of the exte, botanist and poet from Birmingham. He married twice, first to Mary Howard 1757, who died in 1770 from alcohol-induced liver failure , aged 31. She gave birth to:
He then had an extra-marital affair with a Miss Parker, producing two daughters:
He then became smitten with Elizabeth Collier Sacheveral-Pole, who was married to Colonel Sacheveral-Pole. Sacheveral-Pole died shortly afterwards, and Erasmus married her and they bore an additional seven children: