Wakefield, E. B. (Edmund Burritt)

Wakefield was born in Greensburg, Ohio on August 27, 1846. He was the son of Edwin and Mary Payne (Churchill) Wakefield. His father was an early Disciples of Christ minister. Wakefield entered the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (as Hiram College was then known) in 1863 where he studied under Harvey W. Everest, J. H. Rhodes and Almeda Booth. At the close of the 1863-1864 school year, 18 year old E. B. Wakefield enlisted in the Army as a private in Co. G 177th Ohio Infantry and served with the 23rd Army Corps in Tennessee and North Carolina until the end of the Civil War.

After the Civil War, he attended Bethany College in West Virginia in 1868-1869. He returned to Hiram College to graduate in 1870 with an A. B. degree. With further studies, he earned an A. M. degree in 1873.

In 1870, Wakefield married Martha (Mattie) Sheldon of Aurora Ohio. They had four children, Edwin F., Albert Sheldon, Arthur Paul and Cornelia. In 1872, Wakefield served one season on the US Geological Survey team under the leadership of Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden. This was the famous Hayden survey which is regarded as the most definitive of all Yellowstone expeditions and culminated in the lands of Yellowstone being designated in 1872 as the world's first national park.

Wakefield taught at Hiram College for two years as Professor of Natural Science before serving in North Bloomfield, North Bristol, and Warren, Ohio for the next seventeen years as a pastor in Disciples of Christ congregations. In 1890, Wakefield served as Acting President of Hiram College. A much loved figure on campus, upon his retirement in 1910, he was awarded the rank of Professor Emeritus. He continued to reside in Hiram until his death in 1921.

Edmund Burritt Wakefield was an early alumnus of the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute, Civil War veteran, professor of Hiram College, and member of the US Geological Survey team that surveyed Yellowstone.

From the guide to the Wakefield Family Collection: 1863-1921, 1846-1940, 1863-1910, (Hiram College)