Surname: Wakefield

The Wakefield surname comes to me via Rosmer P. Kerr's great-great-grandmother. Our Wakefield lineage is:

• John Wakefield, a commissioned officer who served Charles I, said to have emigrated from England to Ireland. He is said to have been married to Elizabeth Littlefield. Based upon assumptions as noted in Wakefield Memorial, John and Elizabeth were my ninth great-grandparents.
  
• Dr. Albert Wakefield, a surgeon on the staff of William of Orange. Based upon assumptions as noted in Wakefield Memorial, he was my eighth great-grandfather.
  
• Robert Wakefield I, the only child of Dr. Albert Wakefield. Robert was my seventh great-grandfather.
  
• Robert Wakefield II, thought to have been born on the family estate, which was located on the road between Aughrim and Ballinasloe, County Galway, Connaught, Ireland. He was my sixth great-grandfather.
  
• David Wakefield who, when implicated with his brothers in a plot against Catholic rule in Ireland, escaped by being hidden in a hogshead of clothes by his wife, Mary Jane Wade. Tradition has it that she embarked with it on an American-bound vessel, and they were three days out to sea before the captain of the ship found out that he was on board. David and Mary Jane were my fifth great-grandparents.
  
• Joanna Wakefield, one of eight children born to David and Mary Jane. Joanna married William Carroll in Pennsylvania about 1775, based upon the birth year of their first child. William and Joanna were my fourth great-grandparents.
  

Descendants of this line will learn much about their history in An Excerpt from Wakefield Memorial, posted at The Vertical File.

See also p. 53-54 below:


Storey, Henry Wilson. History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania. New York: Lewis Pub. Co, 1999.

In the next book, you'll want to scroll up just a tiny bit to the last paragraph on p. 208. That and the first paragraph on p. 209 are the only ones which pertain to my own lineage; however, other Wakefield descendants may want to read through p. 212:


Boucher, John Newton. A Century and a Half of Pittsburg and Her People. [Pittsburg, Pa.]: Lewis Pub. Co, 1908.

Wakefield Memorial is available online for reading or download at Internet Archive. It includes an excellent portrait of the author, Dr. Homer Wakefield, and someone thought to attach a clipping of his 1946 obituary from the New York Herald Tribune at the front of the book. That's where I learned that Homer spent twelve years researching the material for Wakefield Memorial. I also learned that, after a career in internal medicine and cancer research, ironically his life ended in a place charmingly called the Home for Incurables.

Wakefield, Homer. 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.], 1897.

See also Wakefield Surname Origin.