Library of Congress

CONOVER, Simon Barclay, a Senator from Florida; born in Middlesex County, N.J., September 23, 1840; attended an academy in Trenton, N.J.; studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia; graduated from the medical department of the University of Nashville, Tenn., in 1864; during the Civil War served in the medical department of the Union Army; appointed acting assistant surgeon in 1866, assigned to Lake City, Fla; resigned from the medical department of the Army upon readmission of the State of Florida into the Union; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1868; was appointed State treasurer in 1868, serving one term; a member of the Republican National Committee 1868-1872; member, State house of representatives 1873, and served as speaker; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1873, to March 3, 1879; was not a candidate for reelection; chairman, Committee on Enrolled Bills (Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth Congresses); resumed the practice of his profession; unsuccessful Republican candidate for Governor in 1880; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1885; appointed United States surgeon at Port Townsend, Wash., in 1889; became president of the board of regents of the Agricultural College and School of Sciences of the State of Washington in 1891; practiced medicine in Port Townsend, Wash., until his death, April 19, 1908; interment in the Masonic Cemetery.