Richmond Pearson

Richmond Pearson (1852-1923) was an American diplomat and member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina. He was born in Yadkin County, North Carolina, the fourth of five children of North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Richmond Mumford Pearson.

Pearson studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1874. The same year he was appointed United States consul to Verviers and Liege, Belgium, which he resigned in 1877.

Pearson was elected to one term (1884-86) in the North Carolina House of Representatives and later to two consecutive terms in the U.S. House, serving from 1895 to 1899. When he ran for re-election in 1898, he was initially declared the loser, and William T. Crawford the winner. But he successfully contested the election and was seated for the last half of the Fifty-sixth Congress (May 10, 1900 to March 1901). [cite news
last =
first =
coauthors =
title =House Ousts a Democrat
work =New York Times
pages =6
language =English
publisher =
date =May 11, 1900
url =http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9404E2DE163CE433A25752C1A9639C946197D6CF
accessdate =2007-10-10 ]

President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Pearson consul to Genoa in 1901, ambassador to Persia in 1902, and ambassador to Greece and Montenegro in 1907. He retired from the diplomatic service in 1909, and lived most of his later life at his home in Asheville, North Carolina, called "Richmond Hill" (the same name as his father's home in Yadkin County). It was there that he died in 1923.

External links

*CongBio|P000169|name=PEARSON, Richmond|inline=1
* [http://dd1.library.appstate.edu/regional_history/people/Pearson,%20Richmond.htm Appalachian State University Library]
* [http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/asheville/ric.htm National Register of Historic Places]
* [http://www.richmondhillinn.com/history.shtml Richmond Hill Inn website]
* [http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/mss/pearson/pearson.htm University of North Carolina at Asheville Library]

References