Richard C. Byrd was a Democratic Governor of the State of Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

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Richard C. Byrd was born in 1805 in Hawkins County, Tennessee

Hawkins County, Tennessee

Hawkins County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2010, the population was 56,833. Its county seat is Rogersville, Tennessee's second-oldest town....

. Byrd was a merchant and farmer. He 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 became a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives in 1836 and served in the Arkansas Senate in 1840, 1842, 1846, and 1848. Byrd had an unsuccessful gubernatorial run in 1844.

When Governor Thomas Stevenson Drew

Thomas Stevenson Drew

Thomas Stevenson Drew was the third governor of the U.S. state of Arkansas. Though Drew was the third to be elected governor, he was the fourth in office because his predecessor, Samuel Adams, had served as acting governor during much of 1844, having gained the office through the previous...

 resigned from office in 1849, Byrd was president of the Senate and became acting governor. Byrd left the office on 19 April 1849 and returned to his store in Jefferson County, Arkansas

Jefferson County, Arkansas

Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. Its population was 77,435 at the 2010 United States Census. It is included in the Pine Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area. Jefferson County's county seat and largest city is Pine Bluff...

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