Washington C. DePauw

John DePauw had been a lawyer, judge, and a member of the Indiana Constitutional Convention.

[2] His ancestors, the De Pauw family, came from the city of Ghent in Flanders, Belgium.

Throughout his lifetime, Washington amassed a fortune by investing in ventures such as grain, steel and glass, and during the American Civil War, government supplies.

In 1881 he made provisions to establish a Methodist university after his death, which was to be named after him.

John Baptiste Ford was W.C. De Pauw's first cousin and one-time business partner.