Richmond Mumford Pearson, Jr. (January 26, 1852 – September 12, 1923) was an American

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

and member of the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

Biography

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

Yadkin County, North Carolina Yadkin County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The population was 37,214 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Its county seat is Yadkinville, North Carolina, Yadkinville. Yadkin County i ...

, the fourth of five children of North Carolina Supreme Court Justice

Richmond Mumford Pearson Richmond Mumford Pearson (June 28, 1805 – January 5, 1878) was an American jurist who served as chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court from 1859 to 1878. He was the father of Congressman Richmond Pearson and the father-in-law of Nor ...

. Pearson attended

Horner Military Academy Horner Military School was a private educational institution in North Carolina that operated from 1851 until 1920. It was founded by James Hunter Horner in 1851 in Oxford, North Carolina as The Horner School. An 1844 graduate of the University ...

and Princeton College. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1874. The same year he was appointed United States

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

Verviers Verviers (; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Ensival, Heusy, Lambermont, Petit-Rechain, Stembert, and Verviers. It is also the cent ...

and

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, which he resigned in 1877. In 1882, he married his wife, Gabrielle Thomas. They had four children. Pearson was elected to one term (1884–86) in the

North Carolina House of Representatives The North Carolina House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House is a 120-member body led by a Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, Speaker of the House, who holds powers si ...

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 Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

appointed Pearson consul to

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

in 1901, ambassador to

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

in 1902, and ambassador to

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

in 1907. He retired from the diplomatic service in 1909, and lived most of his later life at his home in

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. Located at the confluence of the French Broad River, French Broad and Swannanoa River, Swannanoa rivers, it is the county seat of Buncombe County. It is the most populou ...

, called " Richmond Hill" (the same name as his father's home in Yadkin County). It was there that he died in 1923.

References

External links

Appalachian State University LibraryRichmond Hill Inn website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearson, Richmond Ambassadors of the United States to Greece 1852 births 1923 deaths Ambassadors of the United States to Iran Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina Republican Party members of the North Carolina House of Representatives Politicians from Asheville, North Carolina 20th-century American diplomats 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 19th-century members of the North Carolina General Assembly 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives