Standard History of Georgia and Georgians, Vols. I-V
by Lucian Lamar Knight, published by the Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1917
Hiram Parks Bell. -- The late Col. Hiram P. Bell was born in Jackson
County, Georgia. January 19, 1827, was reared on a Georgia farm near
Cumming, Forsyth County, and obtained his first task of his classical training
in the academy of that place. At the end of a two years' course in that institution
Mr. Bell became a teacher himself, and pursued that avocation while
studying law. He was admitted to the bar November 28, 1849, when about
twenty-two years of age, and entered upon the practice of his profession
January 1, 1851, at Gumming. The first public position to which Mr. Bell
was called was as a delegate to the Secession Convention of 1861. By this
convention he was elected commissioner to Tennessee, with instructions to
present the Ordinance of Secession as enacted by Georgia, with reasons for
its adoption by Tennessee, and to ask co-operation in the positions taken by
the Georgia convention. He was elected to the State Senate October, 1861.
In 1862 he organized a company of which he was made captain, and which
became Company I of the Forty-third Georgia Regiment in the Confederate
service. Because of this connection with the Confederate army he resigned
his seat in the State Senate in October, 1862, that he might remain with his
regiment, then stationed at Georgetown, Kentucky. His distinguished service
gave him rapid promotion in the army. After serving as captain he became
Lieutenant-colonel upon the organization of the Forty-third Regiment of
Georgia Volunteers in March, 1862. He was wounded and disabled on
December 29, 1862, at the battle of Chickasaw Bayou, near Vicksburg. He was
promoted to the colonelcy of his regiment upon the death of Colonel Harris,
who was killed at Baker's Creek. This position and all subsequent connection with
the army Colonel Bell was compelled to resign because of the serious
nature of his wounds.
Upon his retirement from active service in the army Colonel Bell was
elected to the Second Confederate Congress in November, 1863. He served
on the committees on privileges and elections and post offices and post roads.
After secession the people of his district believed they could not do better
than continue the public service that had been so entirely acceptable, and
Colonel Bell was chosen the first senator from the Thirty-ninth Senatorial
District of this state. In November, 1872, he was elected to the Forty-third
Congress of the United States and after an interval of one term was elected
to the Forty-fifth Congress. He served on the committees on coinage, weights
and measures, banking and currency, and education and labor. He was a
member of the Electoral College in 1868 that cast the vote of the state for
Seymour and Blair, and was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention that met
at St. Louis and nominated Tilden and Hendricks in 1876.
The last political position held by Colonel Bell was as state senator, again
representing the Thirty-ninth District. He was made chairman of a joint
committee on constitutional amendments and took active interest in all
measures of special concern to the state government.
Colonel Bell was a prominent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South; was a trustee of Wesleyan Female College, the leading Methodist
college for women in the South, from 1874 forward, and a trustee of Emory,
the state Methodist college for men, for the same period of time. For years
he was one of the trustees for the Orphanage under the control and support
of his denomination, located at Decatur, Georgia. He was married to
Miss Virginia Lester January 22, 1850, and to their marriage were born six
children. Mrs. Virginia Lester Bell died April 30, 1888, and Colonel Bell
was united in marriage to Miss Anna Adelaide Jordan, of Eatonton, June 11,
1890. Colonel Bell died at the home of his son, Judge George Bell, in Atlanta,
on August 16, 1907.
This website created October 12, 2011 by Sheryl McClure.
� Georgia American History and Genealogy Project
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