Richard Evelyn Byrd Sr. Richard Evelyn Byrd Sr. Richard Evelyn Byrd Sr. (August 13, 1860 – October 23, 1925) was a Virginia politician. He 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. One of his sons, Richard, became famous as a naval aviator who led an expedition to the South Pole; another,
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.