Felton, Rebecca Latimer, 1835-1930

<p>Rebecca Ann Latimer Felton (June 10, 1835 – January 24, 1930) was an American writer, lecturer, reformer, and politician who became the first woman to serve in the US Senate, although she served for only one day. She was the most prominent woman in Georgia in the Progressive Era, and was honored by appointment to the Senate. She was sworn in November 21, 1922, and served just 24 hours. At 87 years, nine months, and 22 days old, she was the oldest freshman senator to enter the Senate. She was the only woman to have served as a Senator from Georgia until January 6, 2020, when Kelly Loeffler was appointed by Governor Brian Kemp to the seat vacated by the retirement of Sen. Johnny Isakson at the end of 2019. Her husband William Harrell Felton was a member of the United States House of Representatives and Georgia House of Representatives and she ran his campaigns. She was a prominent society woman; an advocate of prison reform, women's suffrage and educational modernization; a white supremacist and slave owner; and a woman who spoke vigorously in favor of lynching. Numan Bartley wrote that by 1915 she "was championing a lengthy feminist program that ranged from prohibition to equal pay for equal work."</p>

FELTON, REBECCA LATIMER, (wife of William Harrell Felton), a Senator from Georgia; born near Decatur, De Kalb County, Ga., June 10, 1835; attended the common schools and graduated from the Madison Female College in 1852; moved to Bartow County, Ga., in 1854; taught school; writer, lecturer, and reformer with special interest in agricultural and women's issues; served as secretary to her husband while he was a Member of Congress 1875-1881; appointed by the Governor as a Democrat to the United States Senate on October 3, 1922, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Thomas E. Watson, and served from October 3, 1922, to November 22, 1922, a successor having been elected; did not take the oath of office until November 21, 1922, and served just twenty-four hours while the Senate was in session; was not a candidate for election to fill the vacancy; aged 87 at the time of her appointment, is the oldest senator ever sworn in for a first term; the first woman to occupy a seat in the United States Senate; engaged as a writer and lecturer and resided in Cartersville, Ga., until her death in Atlanta, Ga., January 24, 1930; interment in Oak Hill Cemetery, Cartersville, Ga.