Biography of J. C. Brookfield - Craighead Co, AR

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Submitted by: Unknown < >
        Date: 26 Sep 1998
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SOURCE: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas.
Goodspeed Publishers, 1889.

page 321

J. C. Brookfield, a careful student, a fluent speaker, and an able and
successful lawyer, is a pioneer citizen of Northeast Arkansas, born in
Lawrence County, Ark., July 14, 1829. The Brookfield family are of
Scotch and English origin, and were early emigrants to America. Isaac
Brookfield, Sr., the paternal grandfather of J. C., came with his wife,
Hannah, from England, and settled in Newark, N. J., and there they
resided until their respective deaths. James Campbell, the maternal
grandfather of our subject, was of [p.321] Scotch Irish descent; and
his wife, whose maiden name was Wilson, was descended from the Rhine
Dutch, and was a sister of Col. Wilson, once speaker of the House of
Representatives, who killed Col. Anthony in the State-house at Little
Rock. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell emigrated to Lawrence County, Ark., in the
fall of 1812, and were among the very first settlers. About 1821 he was
elected sheriff of the county, which then comprised several of the
present counties, and served for some time in that capacity. Isaac
Brookfield, Jr., the father of J. C., through the influence of Bishop
Asbury, came from New Jersey to St. Louis in 1819, as a missionary to
the Indians. He was a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was
thoroughly educated, and possessed that power and magnetism of speech
and character so necessary to a successful preacher. In 1823 he married
Nancy Campbell, and after locating settled in Lawrence County, where he
continued his Master's work, and lived an earnest, zealous and
consistent Christian life. In 1825 be began mercantile business, his
dry-goods, which were shipped from New York, being six months in
reaching their destination; his groceries were principally from New
Orleans. He continued this business until his death, in 1844. His wife
died in 1875. To them were born a family of six children. J. C.
Brookfield was reared on the farm, receiving his education mainly at
Batesville, Ark. After his father's death, he closed up the business,
and engaged in rafting on the St. Francis River, thus earning
sufficient means to educate himself. When twenty-one years of age he
began the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in Poinsett County,
Ark., October 23, 1853. He immediately began practice in Harrisburg,
and his practice, now extending over all adjoining counties, still
embraces that court. In 1883 he moved to Jonesboro, where he has since
made his home. At the opening of the late war he was captain of a
company of militia, and once served as deputy clerk of Poinsett County,
but has never aspired to office, rather choosing to serve his party
than ask of it official favor. He has been for many years a leading
lawyer of Northeast Arkansas, and enjoys, in its fullest extent, the
love, respect and confidence of his people. He was first married, in
1855, to Susan C. Arledge, and to them were born five children, two now
living: Mrs. Mary L. Roleson and Mrs. Ida A. Ware. Mrs. Brookfield died
in 1871, and three years later Mr. Brookfield was married to Mrs. Julia
F. Pope, who was the mother of one child, Albert M. Pope. Mr. and Mrs.
Brookfield are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and he
is prominent both as a Mason and an Oddfellow.