Hiram Parks Bell was a native of rural Georgia in the pioneer days of that state. He was at first a school teacher. After a few years, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1849. He was a member of the Georgia secession convention who voted against secession, calling it �imprudent,� but seeing the way things were going, he changed his mind and was one of the signers of the Secession Ordinance of Georgia. He would say that he reasoned Georgia would have to either �grasp in fraternity the bloody hand of Massachusetts, or align with gallant South Carolina.� He then chose the latter course of action. Bell resigned his seat in the Georgia State Senate to join the Confederate army, where he served as a Captain, and was later promoted to Colonel. He served in the last Confederate Congress in Richmond, also Democratic Representative to the 43rd United States Congress. Bell was elected to represent Georgia's 9th congressional district in the 43rd U.S. Congress as a Democrat. He served from March 4, 1873 to March 3, 1875. He would later fill the vacant seat in Congress left by Benjamin Harvey Hill. He died in Atlanta in 1907 and is buried in the Cummings Cemetery.