My Genealogy Hound

Theo Brownfield is one of the progressive, intelligent and enterprising agriculturists of Poinsett County, and was born in Warren County, Middle Tennessee, in 1846, and of his parents’ nine children he was the eldest. His youthful days were spent in the State of Illinois, and he received a good practical education in the schools of Jackson County. He started out in life for himself, by driving stock through Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota, but after his marriage, which occurred in Jackson County, Ill., in 1865, to Miss Ellen Dale, he settled down to farming. Growing dissatisfied with that location, and thinking he could better his financial condition, he came to Harrisburg, Ark., in November, 1869, and, after residing in the town for one month, he purchased a timber tract of 160 acres, in Greenfield Township, and in a comparatively short time had forty acres fenced and partly cleared. He sold this property in 1872, however, and bought another farm, adding, in 1881, eighty acres more — this being the farm on which he is now residing. He has been an active member of the Democratic party, and belongs to the school board of his district, the Agricultural Wheel, and is a member of Lodge No. 184, of the A. F. & A. M. He and wife are the parents of the following family: Fayette, William and Oscar (twins), Mary Edna and Anna — living; those deceased are Freeman A., whose death occurred in 1882; Zella S., who died in 1875, and Estella, whose death occurred in 1879. Mr. Brownfield is a son of Robert and Edna (Kerby) Brownfield, the former a native of Alabama, and the latter of Warren County, Tenn. They were married in the latter State, and in 1849 emigrated to Marion County, Ill. After a short residence in St. Francis County, Mo., they returned to Illinois, in 1852, and resided there and in Jackson County until 1865, and from that time until the father’s death, in 1875, they resided in Clay County. The mother died in February, 1862.