William Baldwin Brownell, lawyer, was born in Hamilton, N. Y., Nov. 28, 1859, a son of William and Elvira (Baldwin) Brownell. In 1883 he graduated in Hamilton College, Clinton, N. Y., and was for a short time instructor in the Brooklyn Polytechnic, Brooklyn, N. Y., when he came to the University of Kansas, in 1883, as assistant teacher of English. In 1886 he graduated in the law department of the university, and then, in 1887, resigned as an instructor in the university and began the practice of law at Lawrence. From 1894 to 1898 he was again identified with the university, as a professor in the law department, but resigned in 1898, when he was elected county attorney for Douglas county. To this office he was reëlected in 1900, serving two terms. As a lawyer Mr. Brownell is numbered among the ablest, and as a citizen he is highly esteemed. In politics he is a Republican; fraternally a Master Mason, and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and in church faith a communicant of the Episcopal church, being a vestryman of Trinity Church at Lawrence. In 1894 Mr. Brownell married Miss Lallie Buckingham, of Lawrence. They have one daughter—Evelyn.