Arthur Van Dyke (A. V.) Pierson was born in Ohio in 1849 and his family traveled by wagon to McLean County, settling in Lexington Township in 1855. A scientific farmer and stock raiser, Pierson was also a Presbyterian elder, a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, and a participant in local, state, and national historical societies. Further, he was a correspondent for the Lexington Unit-Journal and the Bloomington Pantagraph.