William Barton Wade Dent (1806-1855)

US Congressman. Elected as a Democrat to represent Georgia's 4th District in the Thirty-third Congress, he served from 1853 to 1855. Dent was born in Bryantown, Maryland, and graduated from the Charlotte Hall Military Academy in 1823. The following year he moved to Georgia, where he was involved in various business pursuits in Wilkes, Coweta, Carroll and Heard Counties. He did especially well in land speculation and over time acquired extensive property holdings in states ranging from Alabama to Texas. He was also a founder of the city of Newnan, Georgia, where he eventually settled. During the Creek War (1836) he served as a Colonel of the Heard County Volunteers, Georgia Militia. Although he did not formally study law, Dent served in the State House of Representatives (1843) and was a presiding judge of the Inferior Court of Coweta County from 1849 to 1853, a position he resigned to take his seat in the US House. Ill health may have prompted his decision not to seek reelection in 1854. He died in Newnan six months after leaving office, one day shy of his 49th birthday.

Bio by: Bobb Edwards