John Brownfield, Jr. family papers

John Brownfield was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania on December 24, 1808. He was elected as a Trustee of Indiana Asbury in 1857. His children were John Brownfield, Jr. and Lydia Brownfield Campbell (Mrs. Marvin Campbell).

John Brownfield, Jr., son of John Brownfield and Lydia Ann Beeson, was born in South Bend, Ind., on July 4, 1849. He was prepared for college in Miss Bacon's private school and graduated from Indiana Asbury in 1870. In 1872, he married Joanna Kelley of South Bend; and in June 1872, he graduated from Harvard Law School. After graduation, he entered the practice of law in South Bend, which he followed until he became owner and editor of "The Union," a democratic paper and the predecessor of the "South Bend Times." John moved to Indianapolis in 1884. After his return to South Bend in 1889, he was connected to the Campbell Paper Box Co., until his retirement in 1912. After retirement, he made his home with his daughter in Chicago and Gary, Indiana and moved to Greencastle in 1922. John Brownfield, 90 years old, and possessor of the DePauw cane given successively to the oldest living graduate of Asbury-DePauw University, died at his home on Memorial Day in 1940. John Brownfield, Jr., was the father of Lillian Beeson Brownfield, one of the members of the faculty of DePauw University.

Lillian Beeson Brownfield was born in South Bend, Indiana on March 4, 1873. She was the daughter of Joanna Kelley Brownfield and John Brownfield, Jr. She entered DePauw University in 1892 and received an A.B. in Latin (1895). She then returned to South Bend, where she headed the English department and taught Latin and Greek at South Bend Central High School until 1912. During this time, she also earned an M.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University (1904). Lillian taught English at Indiana University and received her Ph.D. there in 1914. She returned to DePauw in 1922 and taught advanced literature until her retirement in 1940. Lillian Beeson Brownfield died on September 2, 1961.

Marvin Campbell (1849-1930), son of Samuel A. Campbell, married Lydia Brownfield, daughter of the late John Brownfield, one of the earliest merchants in South Bend. He was selected as a Trustee of DePauw University in 1902.