In 1851, he was elected as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives, representing Cass County (now called Bartow County). In October 1853, he married Rebecca Ann Latimer at her home and moved to live with him on his plantation just north of Cartersville, Georgia. They had five children, one daughter and four sons. Only one, Howard Erwin Felton, survived childhood. In the aftermath of the Civil War, their plantation was destroyed. Because they were now unable to rely on slave labor as a means of producing income, Felton returned to farming as a way to earn income until there was enough money to open a school. The Feltons opened Felton Academy in Cartersville, where they both taught.