with Judge Williams, his relative,
and was pronounced by the late Judge Murphy, who knew him long and
well, to be "the most perfect model of a lawyer that our bar has
produced." ... No man could look upon him without pronouncing him one
of the great men of the age. The impress of greatness was upon his
countenance; not that greatness which is the offspring of any single
talent or moral quality, but a greatness which is made up by blending
the faculties of a fine intellect with exalted moral feelings.
Although he was at all times accessible and entirely free from
austerity, he seemed to live and move in an atmosphere of dignity. He
exacted nothing by his manner, yet all approached him with reverence
and left him with respect. His was the region of high sentiment; and
here he occupied a standing that was pre-eminent in North Carolina. He
contributed more than any man, since the time of General Davie and
Alfred Moore, to give character to the bar of the State. His career at
the bar has become identified with the history of North Carolina: and
his life and his example furnish themes for instruction to gentlemen
of the bench and to his brethren of the bar. May they study his life
and profit by his example!

He represented his district in Congress from 1799 to 1803, and the
town of Salisbury frequently in the State Legislature. He married
Sarah, daughter of William Alexander, and sister of William Alexander
and Nathaniel Alexander, afterward Governor of the State. He left two
children, the late Archibald Henderson, Esq., of Salisbury, and Mrs.
Boyden, wife of the late Hon. Nathaniel Boyden.

He died on the 21st of October, 1822, in the fifty-fourth year of his
age.

RICHMOND PEARSON.

(Condensed from Wheeler's "Historical Sketches.")

Richmond Pearson, late of Davie county when a part of Rowan, was born
in Dinwiddie county, Va., in 1770, and at the age of nineteen years
came to North Carolina and settled in the forks of the Yadkin river.

When the war of the Revolution broke out he was a Lieutenant in
Captain Bryan's company (afterward the celebrated Colonel Bryan, of
Tory memory). After the Declaration of Independence, at the first
muster which occurred, he requested some on whom he could rely to load
their guns. When Captain Bryan came on the ground he ordered all the
men into ranks. Pearson refused, and tendered his commission to Bryan,
whereupon he ordered him under arrest. This was resisted, and he was
told that