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Richard Evelyn Byrd Sr.

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American politician
Richard Evelyn Byrd Sr.
United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia
In office
1914–1920
PresidentWoodrow Wilson
Preceded byBarnes Gillespie
Succeeded byJoseph J. Chitwood
40th Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates
In office
January 8, 1908 – January 14, 1914
Preceded byWilliam D. Cardwell
Succeeded byEdwin P. Cox
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates for Frederick and Winchester
In office
January 10, 1906 – January 14, 1914
Preceded byEdwin C. Jordan II
Succeeded byJohn M. Steck
Personal details
BornRichard Evelyn Byrd
(1860-08-13)August 13, 1860
Austin, Texas, U.S.
DiedOctober 23, 1925(1925-10-23) (aged 65)
Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
Resting placeMount Hebron Cemetery
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse Eleanor Bolling Flood ​ ​(m. 1886)​
Children3, including Harry and Richard Jr.
Education
Profession
  • Lawyer
  • politician
  • newspaper publisher
  • farmer
Signature

Richard Evelyn Byrd Sr. (August 13, 1860 – October 23, 1925) was a Virginia lawyer, politician and newspaperman. He was the father of politician Harry Byrd and aviator Richard Byrd Jr.

Early and family life

He was the first son born to Jennie (Rivers) and her husband William Byrd, who had become an adjutant general of the state of Texas, and born in Austin, Travis County, Texas, months after the American Civil War had begun. After the war, his parents returned to Virginia, and lived with his grandparents. His grandfather and namesake, also Richard E. Byrd (1801-1872), was a politician and by then former slaveholder (the elder Richard E. Byrd owned 26 enslaved people in Frederick County in 1860, and possibly more in neighboring Clarke County). The elder Byrd had been one of the representatives of Frederick, Hampshire, and Morgan counties in the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1851 and had also served in the Virginia General Assembly. His great grandfather was Thomas Taylor Byrd, who used enslaved labor to work plantations, mostly in what became Clarke County after it was split from Frederick County. His great-great grandfather William Byrd had served in the British army during the American Revolutionary War, then moved to northwestern Virginia. This Richard E. Byrd graduated from the University of Virginia and later received a law degree from the University of Maryland.

This Richard E. Byrd married Eleanor Bolling Flood, also descended from the First Families of Virginia, in Martinsburg, West Virginia, on September 15, 1886. They would have sons Harry Flood Byrd (1887–1966); Richard Evelyn Byrd (1888–1957) and Thomas Bolling Byrd (1890–1968).

Career

Byrd moved to Winchester, Virginia from West Virginia in 1887 and became a wealthy apple grower in the Shenandoah Valley and published the Winchester Star newspaper. He represented Winchester in the Virginia House of Delegates, and served as that body's Speaker from 1908 until 1914. He was the United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia from 1914 until 1920.

Legacy

One of his sons, Richard, became famous as a naval aviator who led an expedition to the South Pole; another, Harry, would serve as Governor of Virginia and in the United States Senate.

References

  1. 188- U.S. Federal Census for District 45 of Winchester, Frederick County Virginia p. 44 of 52
  2. Dictionary of Virginia Biography Richard Evelyn Byrd available www.lva.gov/public/dvd/bio.asp?b=Byrd_Richard_Evelyn_1801-1872
  • Jamerson, Bruce F., Clerk of the House of Delegates, supervising (2007). Speakers and Clerks of the Virginia House of Delegates, 1776-2007. Richmond, Virginia: Virginia House of Delegates.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

External links

Speakers of the Virginia House of Delegates


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