Simon B. Conover

Simon Barclay Conover ( born September 23, 1840 Middlesex County, New Jersey, † April 19, 1908 ) was an American politician ( Republican), who represented the state of Florida in the U.S. Senate.

After attending a private school in Trenton Simon Conover studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 1864 and took his degree at the Medical Faculty of the University of Nashville. During the Civil War he served in the medical staff of the Union Army. Even after the war, he continued working as a surgeon for the army and was posted to Lake City. After the resumption of Florida into the Union, he took his leave from the military.

1868 Conover took part as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of Florida; In the same year he was appointed Minister of Finance ( Treasurer ) of the state. He was also a member of the Republican National Committee, where he remained until 1872. In 1873 he then moved into a House of Representatives from Florida, where he served as Speaker.

His tenure in the state legislature, however, was short-lived, for on March 4, 1873 Conover joined the post of U.S. Senator in Washington. During the next six years, he served as Chairman of the Committee on Enrolled Bills. After his retirement from Congress in March 1879, he again worked as a doctor, but also remained politically active. So he ran unsuccessfully in 1880 as Governor of Florida; In 1885 he was again a delegate to the Constitutional Convention.

In 1889, Conover resigned as United States Surgeon with his office in Port Townsend back in government services. In addition, he was from 1891 before the governing body of the Agricultural College of the State of Washington.