William H. Felton - Cartersville, GA - Citizen Memorials on Waymarking.com

County of plaque: Bartow County
Location of plaque: Friendship Plaza fence, behind train depot, Cartersville
Plaque erected: 2001
Plaque erected by: Cartersville-Bartow Convention & Visitors Bureau

Plaque Text:

U.S. Congressman, 1875-81. Leader of Independent party movement, advocate of reform of prison system as Representative of Georgia legislature, 1884-1890. With wife Rebecca L. Felton, edited Cartersville Free Press and Cartersville Courant.

His listing on Find-A-Grave provided nice background and family relationships, but little history.

"FELTON, William Harrell, (husband of Rebecca Latimer Felton), a Representative from Georgia; born near Lexington, Oglethorpe County, Ga., June 19, 1823; attended the common and primary schools; was graduated from the University of Georgia at Athens in 1843 and from the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta in 1844; practiced medicine, taught school, and also engaged in agricultural pursuits near Cartersville, Ga.; member of the State house of representatives from Cass (now Bartow) County in 1851; ordained as a Methodist minister in 1857; served as a surgeon during the Civil War; elected as an Independent Democrat to the Forty-fourth, Forty-fifth, and Forty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1875-March 3, 1881); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1880 to the Forty-seventh Congress; resumed his activity as a minister and again followed agricultural pursuits; again served in the State house of representatives 1884-1890; trustee from the State at large for the University of Georgia 1886-1892; died in Cartersville, Ga., September 24, 1909; interment in Oak Hill Cemetery." ~ Biographical Guide of the US Congress