Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Felder, John Myers

FELDER, John Myers, lawyer, b. in Orangeburg district, S. C., 7 July, 1782; d. in Union Point, Ga., 1 Sept., 1851. His grandfather, a native of Switzerland, came to South Carolina about 1720, and was killed during the Revolution while defending his house against an attack by Tories. John was graduated at Yale in 1804, studied at the Litchfield, Conn., law-school, and was admitted to the bar at Columbia, S. C., in 1808. He was a major of volunteers in the war of 1812, and was several times in the legislature between 1812 and 1830. He was then elected to congress as a Democrat, and served from 1831 till 1835, declining a third candidacy. From 1840 till his death he was a state senator. After reaching the head of his profession, Major Felder retired about 1830, became a successful mill-owner and planter, and in time accumulated a fortune.