| Honorific-Prefix: | The Honorable |
| Eleazer Wakeley | |
| Office: | Nebraska District Court Judge |
| Term Start: | 1883 |
| Term End: | 1892 |
| Office1: | Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the |
| Term Start1: | January 1857 |
| Term End1: | May 1861 |
| Predecessor1: | James Bradley |
| Successor1: | William F. Lockwood |
| Office2: | Member of the Wisconsin Senate |
| Constituency2: | 12th Senate district |
| Term Start2: | January 1, 1853 |
| Term End2: | January 1, 1856 |
| Predecessor2: | Alva Stewart |
| Constituency3: | 14th Senate district |
| Term Start3: | January 1, 1852 |
| Term End3: | January 1, 1853 |
| Predecessor3: | George Gale |
| Successor3: | Alva Stewart |
| State Assembly4: | Wisconsin |
| District4: | Dane 5th |
| Term Start4: | January 1, 1867 |
| Term End4: | January 1, 1868 |
| Predecessor4: | Benjamin F. Hopkins |
| Successor4: | Levi B. Vilas |
| Office5: | Member of the of the for |
| Alongside5: | George Walworth |
| Term Start5: | October 18, 1847 |
| Term End5: | March 13, 1848 |
| Successor5: | Position Abolished |
| Birth Date: | 25 June 1822 |
| Birth Place: | Homer, New York |
| Death Place: | Omaha, Nebraska |
| Restingplace: | Prospect Hill Cemetery Omaha, Nebraska |
| Mother: | Hannah (Thompson) Wakeley |
| Father: | Solmous Wakeley |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Profession: | lawyer, judge |
| Allegiance: | United States |
| Branch: | United States Volunteers Union Army |
| Serviceyears: | 1862 - 1863 |
| Rank: | Corporal, USV |
| Unit: | 145th Reg. Penn. Vol. Infantry |
| Battles: | American Civil War |
Eleazer Wakeley (June 25, 1822November 21, 1912) was an American lawyer, politician, judge, and pioneer of Wisconsin and Nebraska. He was a Nebraska District Court Judge, a justice of the Nebraska Territory's Supreme Court, and a delegate to Nebraska's constitutional convention. In Wisconsin, he served two terms in the Wisconsin State Senate and one in the Wisconsin State Assembly, he also served in the last sessions of the legislature of the Wisconsin Territory.
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, in Walworth County, where he served in the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature.
In 1857, Wakeley was appointed to the Nebraska Territorial Supreme Court serving until 1861. He served briefly in the American Civil War, volunteering with the 145th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, but received a medical discharge after the Battle of Fredericksburg, only four months into his service. He returned to Wisconsin to practice law and, in 1863, ran for Wisconsin Attorney General, but lost.[1] [2]
Wakeley served in the Wisconsin State Senate 1851–1855 and the Wisconsin State Assembly 1866–1867.[3]
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.[4] [5]
After he died in Omaha on November 21, 1912, he was buried at the Prospect Hill Cemetery.