the men had their guns loaded. They then came to a parley,
and it was agreed by the crowd, as matters stood, that Bryan and
Pearson, on a fixed day, should settle this national affair by a fair
_fist fight_, and whichever whipped, the company should belong to the
side of the conqueror, whether Whig or Tory. At the appointed time and
place the parties met, and the Lieutenant proved to be the victor.
From this time the Fork company was for liberty, and Bryan's crowd, on
Dutchman's creek, were Loyalists. The anecdote illustrates by what
slight circumstances events of this period were affected. When
Cornwallis came south, Pearson, with his company, endeavored to harass
his advance. He was present at Cowan's Ford on the 1st of February,
1781, where General Davidson fell in attempting to resist the passage
of the British. Captain Pearson was a successful merchant and an
enterprising planter. He died in 1819, leaving three sons and one
daughter: 1st, Jesse A.; 2d, Joseph; 3d, Richmond; and 4th, Elizabeth
Pearson. Jesse A. Pearson was frequently a member of the General
Assembly from Rowan county. In 1814 he marched as Colonel of a
Regiment to the Creek Nation, under General Joseph Graham, and was
afterward elected Major General of the State Militia. He died in 1823,
without issue.

Hon. Joseph Pearson was a member of the General Assembly in the House
of Commons from Rowan county in 1804 and 1805, and a member of
Congress from 1809 to 1815. He died at Salisbury on the 27th of
October, 1834. He was thrice married. By his first wife, Miss McLinn,
he had no issue; by the second, Miss Ellen Brent, he had two
daughters--one, the wife of Robert Walsh, Esqr., of Philadelphia--the
other, the wife of Lieutenant Farley, of the U.S. Navy; and by the
third wife (Miss Worthington, of Georgetown), he left four children.

Richmond Pearson married Miss McLinn. He was never in public life, but
was an active, enterprising man. He left the following children: 1st,
Sarah, who married Isaac Croom, of Alabama; 2d. Eliza, who married
W.G. Bently, of Bladen county, N.C.; 3d. Charles, who died without
issue; 4th. Hon. Richmond M. Pearson was born in June, 1805, educated
at Statesville by John Mushat, and graduated at Chapel Hill in 1823.
He studied law under Judge Henderson, and was licensed in 1826. He
entered public life in 1829 as a member to the State Legislature from
Rowan county, and continued as such until 1832. In 1836 he was elected
one of th