Born: 1804-02-11 North Bend, Ohio
Died: 1887-06-05 Heyworth, Illinois
Flourished: McLean County, Illinois
Wakefield married Margaret Elder on May 24, 1827, in Hamilton County, Ohio, and they had one son. The Wakefields moved to McLean County, Illinois, in 1835. Over the next two years, he purchased four tracts of public land in McLean County, totaling 196 acres. He and his son eventually owned 1,400 acres of land in McLean County. With the construction of the Illinois Central Railroad through McLean County, Wakefield donated land for the village of Heyworth, which he laid out in 1858. In 1860, he owned $20,000 in real estate, and $3,000 in personal property. He served as a justice of the peace for thirteen years. He was an active member of the Presbyterian church and a life-long Democrat.
Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, McLean County, 236:128, 218, 220, 229, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Randolph, McLean County, IL, 88; The Biographical Record of McLean County, Illinois (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1899), 516; Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of McLean County, eds. Ezra M. Prince and John H. Burnham, (Chicago: Munsell, 1908), 728; Portrait and Biographical Album of McLean County, Ill. (Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1887), 878-79; Gravestone, Heyworth Cemetery, Heyworth, IL.