History of Langlade County, Wisconsin, 
from U. S. Gov't Survey to Present Time, with Biographical Sketches
Dessureau. Antigo, WI: Berner Brothers, 1922, p 266
Submitted by Cathy Kubly

William LeRoy ACKLEY, the first white settler in Langlade County, was born in New York State on or about 1830.  Little is known of his boyhood days except that he was a venturesome lad who was lured to the western states by the stories of adventure among the Indian tribes and the plucky fur traders of the great northern wilderness.  He came west to the hamlet of Wausau [Marathon County], where he stopped for a time before definitely settling in Ackley Township, Langlade County, in 1853.  [In 1853 New County, created in 1879 and renamed Langlade County in 1880, was still part of Marathon and Oconto Counties, created respectively, in 1850 and 1851.  Wisconsin became a State 29 May 1848.]  Mr. [William LeRoy] ACKLEY was associated with P. HOGARTY, a proprietor of a stopping place, who had extensive commercial intercourse with Indians and home seekers.  He built a log shack on the banks of the Eau Claire River, Section 28, when he first came into this vast wild country inhabited by Indians and animals.  Young ACKLEY was twenty-one years old when he first made a claim in this region.  [William J.] ACKLEY, fur trader, lumber cruiser, adventurer, was a leader of the Indians who sought his counsel.  He was a just barterer and those who were acquainted with him acknowledged him to be an upright business man.  He never took advantage of the Chippewa's in their fur transactions.  Most of his fur products were shipped down the Eau Claire River to Schofield [Marathon County, Wisconsin] and sold to agents of St. Louis fur buyers.

He [William LeRoy ACKLEY] married Me-Da-Gee-Wa-No-Kwa, "Maiden of the Forests," a Chippewa Indian maiden, who bore him two children, DeWitt and Charles.  Charles ACKLEY is a merchant in Wabeno, Forest County.  DeWitt ACKLEY is living with the Potawatomi Indians near Mole Lake [Forest County], Wisconsin.  Mr. [William LeRoy] ACKLEY died 24 November 1894.  His wife died 09 March 1899, having lived to be over one hundred years of age.