Herron Carney Pearson

Herron Carney Pearson (July 31, 1890 – April 24, 1953) was an American politician and attorney who served as a Democratic U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1935 to 1943. He was born in Taylor, Williamson County, Texas, the son of John Lafayette Pearson and Annie (Herron) Pearson. In 1891, when he was still an infant, his family moved to Jackson, Madison County, Tennessee, where he was raised and would reside for most of his life.

Pearson was educated in the public and high schools of Jackson, Tennessee. He went on to attend Union University in Jackson, from which he graduated in 1910. Pursuing a legal career, he enrolled at the Cumberland School of Law at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, and completed his legal studies there in 1912. That same year he was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in Jackson. On June 23, 1915, he married Evelyn Pearcy, establishing his family life in the same community in which he built his professional and political career.

Pearson’s early public service was rooted in municipal government. In 1915 he served as municipal judge of the city of Jackson, Tennessee, gaining experience in local judicial administration. He later held the position of city attorney of Jackson from 1920 to 1923, advising the city on legal matters and further enhancing his profile as a civic leader. These roles in local government and his ongoing legal practice helped establish him as a prominent attorney and Democrat in west Tennessee.

Elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-fourth Congress and to the three succeeding Congresses, Herron Carney Pearson represented Tennessee in the United States House of Representatives from January 3, 1935, to January 3, 1943. His four consecutive terms in office coincided with a significant period in American history, encompassing much of the New Deal era and the early years of World War II. As a member of the House of Representatives, Pearson participated in the legislative process during these transformative years and represented the interests of his Tennessee constituents within the broader framework of national policy debates. Throughout his service, he contributed to the work of Congress as part of the Democratic majority that shaped federal responses to economic recovery and emerging global conflict.

After serving four terms, Pearson was not a candidate for renomination in 1942. Upon leaving Congress at the conclusion of his final term in January 1943, he returned to Jackson, Tennessee, where he resumed the private practice of law. In his post-congressional years, he continued to be identified with the legal profession and with the civic life of Jackson and Madison County, maintaining the community ties that had defined his career from its outset.

Herron Carney Pearson died in Jackson, Madison County, Tennessee, on April 24, 1953, at the age of 62. He was interred at Hollywood Cemetery in Jackson, Tennessee. His career reflected a progression from local judicial and municipal service to national legislative office and then back to private legal practice, marked throughout by his long-standing connection to Jackson and his service as a Democratic Representative from Tennessee during a pivotal era in American history.