Louisiana AHGP

Part of the American History and Genealogy Project

John F. Brownfield

John F. Brownfield is a tiller of the soil who enjoys the reputation of being progressive and intelligent in his views, and well posted on all public matters. He was born on the farm on which he is now residing July 1, 1855, being a son of John M. and Sarah E. (Simontor) Brownfield, and grandson of John Brownfield and Felix Simontor. The parents of John F. were born in Georgia, and there the father grew to manhood, going afterward to Alabama, where he was married, his wife having been reared in that State. After farming in that, State for some six years, he, in 1854, came to Louisiana and purchased the farm in Claiborne Parish, on which the immediate subject of this sketch is now residing.

He cleared and improved this plantation, and prior to the war was the owner of a number of valuable slaves. He was a soldier of the Confederate Army during the Rebellion, serving from 1863 until the close of hostilities, and while in the service showed the pluck, endurance and determination of his Scotch ancestors. He was a prominent member of the Presbyterian Church, and died in September, 1865. His father was a North Carolinian. His widow survives him at this writing, is sixty- three years of age, but is yet hale and hearty.

John P. Brownfield is the second of four sons and three daughters, three sons and one daughter now living. The eldest son, Henry C., being a man of superior mental endowments, was president of Homer College, but was taken sick and died while tilling that position. By profession he was a civil engineer. John P. Brownfield attended the village school, and at the age of seventeen years was left in charge of the home farm, and has continued as its manager ever since, being now its owner. About 200 acres of land are open, and 100 are under cultivation. He is one of the best and thriftiest planters in his ward, and has always been interested in politics, serving as a delegate to State and parish conventions on different occasions.

He is a member of the Baptist Church, belongs to the Farmers' Alliance, and has been president one year in his local order.

Biographical Sketches| Claiborne Parish

Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana, Southern Publishing Company, 1890