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 in 1844. When Governor Thomas Stevenson Drew resigned from office on January 10, 1849, Byrd was president of the Senate and became acting governor. Byrd left the office on April 19, 1849, and returned to his mercantile store in Jefferson County, Arkansas. Byrd died at his home in Jefferson County following a lengthy illness. 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.