Bird Murphy Pearson was a Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

, planter and a Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 politician who served on the Florida Supreme Court

Florida Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of the State of Florida is the highest court in the U.S. state of Florida. The Supreme Court consists of seven judges: the Chief Justice and six Justices who are appointed by the Governor to 6-year terms and remain in office if retained in a general election near the end of each...

 from 1856 to 1859, one of the first to be popularly elected. He replaced Thomas Baltzell

Thomas Baltzell

Thomas Baltzell was an American lawyer and politician who was the first popularly elected chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court...

 as Chief Justice

Chief Justice

The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...

. He was born in 1803. He died October 9, 1859.

Person was born in Union District, South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

, in 1803. He graduated from South Carolina College

University of South Carolina

The University of South Carolina is a public, co-educational research university located in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, with 7 surrounding satellite campuses. Its historic campus covers over in downtown Columbia not far from the South Carolina State House...

 and read law. Little is known of his law practice, though he served as a state solicitor in South Carolina. He lived for a time in Faunsdale, Alabama

Faunsdale, Alabama

Faunsdale is a town in Marengo County, Alabama, U.S. At the 2000 census the population was 87. The town was named for nearby Faunsdale Plantation. Faunsdale is home to a medium-sized community of Amish Mennonites and the only Amish Mennonite community in this area of Alabama outside of Greensboro,...

, where he built a plantation

Plantation

A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...

. He moved to a Hernando County plantation near Brooksville, Florida

Brooksville, Florida

Brooksville is an incorporated city in Hernando County, Florida, in the United States. It is the county seat of Hernando County. It is a suburban city included in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...

 in 1845. The plantation he built at what is now Chinsegut Hill Manor House

Chinsegut Hill Manor House

The Chinsegut Hill Manor House is a U.S. historic site approximately five miles northeast of the city of Brooksville, Florida on Chinsegut Hill. It is located at 22495 Chinsegut Hill Road...

 is on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

.

An ardent proponent of states' rights

States' rights

States' rights in U.S. politics refers to political powers reserved for the U.S. state governments rather than the federal government. It is often considered a loaded term because of its use in opposition to federally mandated racial desegregation...

, slavery, and secession

Secession

Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...

, he was a delegate to the 1850 Nashville Convention

Nashville Convention

The Nashville Convention was a political meeting held in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 3 – 11, 1850. Delegates from nine slave holding states met to consider a possible course of action if the United States Congress decided to ban slavery in the new territories being added to the country as a...

. In 1851, he moved to Jacksonville

Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

. It was felt that a bid to run for the Florida Supreme Court would be premature in 1853, as the State's sentiments were too pro Union. In 1855, he ran to fill the vacancy left by the death of Thomas Douglas

Thomas Douglas

Thomas Douglas may refer to:* Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk , founder of the Red River Colony* Tom Douglas, American chef, restaurateur and writer...

. Ill health forced him to not seek reelection. He died in Jacksonville on October 9, 1859.