Paul Martin Pearson

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Paul Martin Pearson
Born	(1871-10-22)October 22, 1871 Litchfield, Illinois, U.S.
Died	March 26, 1938(1938-03-26) (aged 66) San Francisco, California, U.S.[1]
Occupation(s)	Author, college professor
Spouse	Edna Wolfe ​ (m. 1896)​
Children	3, including Drew

Paul Martin Pearson (October 22, 1871 – March 26, 1938) was a college professor, author, editor of journals, the first civilian Governor of the United States Virgin Islands and Quaker.

Pearson was born in Litchfield, Illinois, and attended Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas, for his Master of Arts degree. In 1909, he obtained his doctorate at Northwestern University and did some teaching there, before moving to Swarthmore, Pennsylvania and becoming a professor of Public Speaking at Swarthmore College. He wrote several books on public speaking and was an editor of the quarterly magazine "The speaker". He was also a major advocate of the Chautauqua movement in the US and founded the Swarthmore Chautauqua Association. Besides this he served as a speaker for the American Red Cross.^{[citation needed]}

During World War I, he was responsible for the YMCA education programs in United States Army cantonments.

In 1869, he was married to Edna Rachel Wolfe Pearson (1874-1942), with whom he had four children, the oldest son being Drew Pearson, the well-known newspaper columnist and radio host.^{[citation needed]}