Richard E. Byrd the South Pole by air. However, his claim to have reached the North Pole is disputed. Byrd was born in Winchester, Virginia, the son of Esther Bolling (Flood) and Richard Evelyn Byrd Sr. He was a descendant of one of the First Families of Virginia. His ancestors include planter John Rolfe and his wife Pocahontas, William Byrd II of Westover Plantation, who established Richmond, and Robert "King" Carter, a colonial governor. He was the brother of Virginia Governor and U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, a dominant figure in the Virginia Democratic Party from the 1920s until the 1960s; their father
Richard C. Byrd Richard C. Byrd Richard C. Byrd (1805 – June 1, 1854) was an American politician and Acting Governor of the State of Arkansas in 1849. Byrd was born in 1805 in Hawkins County, Tennessee. Byrd was a merchant and farmer, and moved to Arkansas in 1826. Byrd became auditor for the Arkansas Territory and served in that position from 1829 to 1831. He served in the Territorial Legislature in 1833. He served as a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1836, and in the Arkansas Senate in 1840, 1842, 1846, and 1848. Byrd had an unsuccessful gubernatorial run