James Wakefield

{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2011}} {{Infobox officeholder |name= James Beach Wakefield |image=Wakefield, Hon. J.B (cropped).jpg |caption= |office1=Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota |order1= 8th |term_start1= January 7, 1876 |term_end1= January 10, 1880 |governor1= Cushman Davis <br> John S. Pillsbury |predecessor1= Alphonso Barto |successor1= Charles A. Gilman |state2 = Minnesota |district2 = 2nd |term_start2= March 4, 1883 |term_end2= March 3, 1887 |preceded2= Horace B. Strait |succeeded2= John Lind |order3=8th |office3=Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives |term_start3= 1866 |term_end3=1866 |predecessor3=Jared Benson |successor3=John Q. Farmer |office4=Member of the Minnesota Senate |term4=1867-1869 |office5=Member of the Minnesota House of Representatives |term5=1858<br>1863<br>1866 |birth_date= {{birth date|1825|3|21|mf=y}} |birth_place= Winsted, Connecticut, U.S. |death_date= {{death date and age|1910|8|25|1825|3|21|mf=y}} |death_place= Blue Earth, Minnesota, U.S. |party= Republican |profession= lawyer, judge, politician |spouse= Nannette Reinhart |footnotes= }} '''James Beach Wakefield''' (March 21, 1825 – August 25, 1910) was a United States representative from Minnesota. He was also the eighth lieutenant governor of Minnesota.

Wakefield was born in Winsted, Connecticut, to Dr. Luman Wakefield and Betsey Rockwell. His father was a Connecticut politician, and his brother was a doctor from Yale University, who married Sarah F. Wakefield.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8VduAwAAQBAJ&dq=%22James+Beach+Wakefield%22+%22luman%22&pg=PT227 White Captives: Gender and Ethnicity on the American Frontier, June Namias, p. 204-208]</ref> His niece was Helen Wakefield Yale, member of the Yale family and wife of Judge John H. Kennard.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8VduAwAAQBAJ&dq=%22James+Beach+Wakefield%22+%22luman%22&pg=PT227 White Captives: Gender and Ethnicity on the American Frontier, June Namias, p. 204-208]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/yalegenealogyhis00yale/page/310/mode/2up?view=theater&q=wakefield|author=Rodney Horace Yale|title=Yale genealogy and history of Wales. The British kings and princes. Life of Owen Glyndwr. Biographies of Governor Elihu Yale|date=1908|publisher=Milburn and Scott company|website=Archive.org|pages=311–312–467–468|language=en}}</ref> His sister, Lucy Clarissa, married to the son of Congressman Lancelot Phelps, and brother of Congressman James Phelps, whose father-in-law, Samuel Ingham, was also a congressman and senator from Connecticut.<ref>Wakefield, Homer (1897). [https://archive.org/details/wakefieldmemoria00wake/page/66/mode/2up?q=clarissa Wakefield memorial, comprising an historical, genealogical and biographical register of the name and family of Wakefield], Bloomington, Ill., Priv. print. for the compiler Pantagraph Printing and Stationery Co., New York Public Library, p. 66</ref>

James attended the public schools at Westfield, Massachusetts, and Jonesville, New York, graduated from Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, in 1846 and studied law in Painesville, Lake County, Ohio. He was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Delphi, Indiana, in 1852. He moved to Shakopee, Minnesota, in 1854. He was first judge of the probate court of Faribault County, Minnesota.

He was elected as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1858, 1863, and 1866, serving as speaker in the session of 1866. He was elected as a member of the Minnesota State Senate 1867–1869. He was appointed receiver of the United States Land Office at Winnebago City Township, Minnesota, June 1, 1869, and served until January 15, 1875, when he resigned. He was the eighth lieutenant governor of Minnesota 1875–1877. In 1879, he was expected to be the Republican nominee for Governor that year, until incumbent John S. Pillsbury announced he was running for a third term. Wakefield was defeated in the primary.<ref>{{cite news|title=PILLSBURY TRUIMPHANT|date=September 3, 1879|url=https://newspaperhub.mnhs.org/?a=d&d=sppp18790903.1.2&e=------187-en-20--1--img-txIN-Convention----1879-------}}</ref> He was elected as a Republican to the 48th and 49th congresses, (March 4, 1883 – March 3, 1887).

He retired from public life and died at Blue Earth, Faribault County, Minnesota, with interment in Evergreen Cemetery, Painesville, Ohio.

== References == {{Reflist}} {{CongBio|W000026}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20100621050754/http://www.mnhs.org/people/governors/lt_gov/ltgov_07.htm Minnesota Historical Society] *[http://www.leg.state.mn.us/legdb/fulldetail.asp?ID=11835 Minnesota Legislators Past and Present]

{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box|title=Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives|years=1866 |before=Thomas H. Armstrong|after=John Q. Farmer}} {{succession box | before=Alphonso Barto | title=Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota | years=1875–1877 | after=Charles A. Gilman}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{succession box | before=Horace B. Strait | title=U.S. Representative from Minnesota's 2nd congressional district | years=1883–1887 | after=John Lind|}} {{s-end}} {{MNLieutenantGovernors}} {{MNSpeakers}} {{MNRepresentatives}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wakefield, James}} Category:1825 births Category:1910 deaths Category:Republican Party Minnesota state senators Category:Lieutenant governors of Minnesota Category:Speakers of the Minnesota House of Representatives Category:People from Winsted, Connecticut Category:People from Painesville, Ohio Category:Republican Party United States representatives from Minnesota Category:People from Blue Earth, Minnesota Category:People from Shakopee, Minnesota Category:People from Winnebago, Minnesota Category:19th-century Minnesota state court judges Category:19th-century United States representatives Category:19th-century members of the Minnesota Legislature Category:Minnesota gubernatorial candidates