The McCann brothers were three Irishmen who migrated from Ohio to Wisconsin in the mid-nineteenth century. They played an important role in the early phases of Wisconsin's lumber industry, and in the political and social organization of Chippewa County.
Their parents, Arthur McCann, who was of Irish descent, and Barbary Smith were born in Pennsylvania. In 1810, they married in Scioto County, Ohio, where the two oldest brothers, Stephen Smith McCann and Arthur J. McCann, were born in 1811 and 1814, respectively. In 1816, the youngest of the three, Daniel McCann, was born in Adams County, Ohio. A fourth brother, Thomas McCann, was born in 1824, but he stayed in Ohio.
The elder Arthur and his brother, Thomas, came to Clinton County, Ohio, in 1811, shortly after it was founded in 1810. They were among the earliest Catholics to locate here. These McCanns built and operated a pottery in Wilmington, Ohio, where they manufactured a dark colored, finely polished ware.