Richmond Pearson

For his father, the American jurist, see Richmond Mumford Pearson.

Richmond Mumford Pearson, Jr. (January 26, 1852 – September 12, 1923) was an American diplomat and member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina.

Biography

Richmond Mumford Pearson, Jr. was born 26 January 1852 at Richmond Hill 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).

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

• PEARSON, Richmond at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Appalachian State University Library
• National Register of Historic Places
• Richmond Hill Inn website
• University of North Carolina at Asheville Library

References

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by William T. Crawford	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's 9th congressional district March 4, 1895 – March 3, 1899	Succeeded by William T. Crawford
Preceded by William T. Crawford	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's 9th congressional district May 10, 1900 – March 3, 1901	Succeeded by James M. Moody
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Lloyd C. Griscom	United States Minister to Persia 1902–1907	Succeeded by John Brinkerhoff Jackson
Preceded by John Brinkerhoff Jackson	United States Minister to Greece 1907–1909	Succeeded by George H. Moses