Quick Facts
Biography
Eleazer Wakeley (June 25, 1822 – November 21, 1912) was a Nebraska and Wisconsin politician and jurist.
Born in Homer, New York, Wakeley and his family moved first to Pennsylvania and then to Elyria, Ohio, where he studied the law and was admitted to the Ohio bar. His father was Solmous Wakeley, who served in the Wisconsin Legislature. Wakeley moved to Wisconsin Territory to Whitewater, Wisconsin, where he served in the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature. In 1857, Wakeley was appointed to the Nebraska Territorial Supreme Court serving until 1861. He returned to Wisconsin to practice law and ran for the Wisconsin Attorney General, but lost.
Wakeley served in the Wisconsin State Senate 1851–1855 and the Wisconsin State Assembly 1866–1867.
In 1867, Wakeley and his family moved to Omaha, Nebraska. There he practiced law and served in the 1877 Nebraska Constitutional Convention. Wakeley was appointed Nebraska district court judge and was the first president of the Nebraska State Bar Association.
After he died in Omaha on November 21, 1912, he was buried at the Prospect Hill Cemetery.