Will County ILGenWeb Biographies..... 
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File contributed for use by:
Dori Leekly & Margie Glenn

Author: History of Will County IL, 1878

Col. Edwin WAKEFIELD, Justice of the peace, Braidwood; the subject of this sketch 
was born in Monmouthshire, Eng., in 1830, and is the son of Charles and Mary Ann 
(LECHIE) WAKEFIELD; his father was a professional gardener; Col. WAKEFIELD worked 
with his father in the garden until he was about 13 years of age; he then entered 
the coal mines, and followed coal mining for over twenty-five years; in 1855-6, 
Col. WAKEFIELD served as gunner in the British Royal Artillery, in the Crimean war. 
In 1857, he immigrated to America; he has been engaged in mining in different parts 
of Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois. At the breaking-out of the war, 
he enlisted as Captain of Co. D, 7th Mo. V. I., June 1861; he participated in some 
of the hard-fought battles, was at the siege and capture of Vicksburg, Miss.; was 
promoted as Major of the 7th Mo., Nov. 29, 1862; resigned Aug. 1, 1863. He then 
came to Illinois, and settled in Braceville, Grundy Co., nine years in mining; in 
1874, came to Braidwood, and entered the mercantile business. Has held the office 
of Justice of the Peace in Grundy Co. Is a National Greenbacker in politics. 
Married in 1863, to Josephine BRUMFIELD, of Ottawa, IL; have four children.


Additional Comments:
HISTORY OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS; Chicago: Wm LeBaron Jr & Co, 186 Dearborn Street, 1878.