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- GEORGE COVERT, M. D., a leading physician of Southern
- Wisconsin, residing in Clinton, was born in Ovid, Senecca
Co., N.Y., Dec. 7, 1829, and is the eldest son of John A. and
Catherine (HUFF) COVERT. The family is of Holland descent, the
ancestors being numbered among the pioneer families of New Jersey
and New York. One of their number was the founder of Brooklyn
and built the first house of worship in that city. The Doctor's
great-grandfather and grandfather were among the first settlers
in the Lake country in New York, and his father's eldest sister
was the first white child born in Senecca County. His ancestors
were noted for their longevity, his paternal grandfather at his
death having nearly reached his one hundredth birthday, while
his maternal grandmother attained the advanced
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- age of one hundred and one years and seven months.
- The subject of this sketch was born and reared on a farm,
and being the eldest of the family had
- to assist his father in the labors of farm life. Until sixteen
years of age his educational advantages were limited to those
afforded by an attendance at the district school during the winter
term. During the previous years, by his work upon the farm and
in the field sports, he had developed much muscle and became
quite noted in that locality as a young athlete, accomplishing
feats of strength and endurance which few mature men could rival.
However, through his rashness in lifting great weights, he injured
the muscles in his back so that he was unable to further engage
in manual labor. Deprived of his former strength, and wishing
something to occupy his time and engage his mind, he turned to
his books and entered upon a course of study with the same zeal
which he had bestowed upon his farm avocations. The district
school curriculum was soon exhausted; from thence he went to
the village and the high school, and, at eighteen years of age,
entered the Collegiate Institute of Brooklyn, N.Y., where he
was also employed as a teacher. About that time his thoughts
began to turn to the practice of medicine as his life work; so,
while teaching in the village and district schools, he began
fitting himself for his chosen profession. At twenty-two years
of age he entered the office of Drs. THRAWL and VAN EPPS of Columbus,
Ohio, pursing his studies under their direction, attending special
courses of medical lectures and becoming conversant with the
therapeutics of the Allopathic and Homoeopathic schools. While
in Columbus the city was visited with the cholera scourge and
an epidemic of dysentery, and during those trying times the marked
success of the New School physicians attracted his attention
and was the means of influencing him to take his further course
of lectures at the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati,
where he ultimately obtained his degree. While in that city he
also attended lectures in a school of Electropathy and received
a certificate of graduation therefrom.
- From the foregoing it may readily be seen that the medical
education of Dr. COVERT was
- neither narrow nor partisan. At the outset he familiarized
himself with the teaching of the various systems of practice,
and learned the merits and deficiencies of each. The same spirit
of investigation and fair-mindedness has characterized his medical
career form that time on. He refuses to give adherence to any
exclusive dogmas in practice and will be bound only by the decrees
of truth and science. Without prejudice, he uses impartially
such remedies as have been proven by experience to be the best
under the circumstances, and believes in keeping abreast of the
times in the evident progress made in the practice of medicine.
After engaging in practice for two years in Michigan and Elgin,
Ill., he located in Clinton in December, 1856, and has been closely
identified with its subsequent progress and history. During the
early days of his residence he was for two years School Superintendent
of the town, and later served for a term of years upon the district
board.
- In the month of February, 1858, Dr. COVERT was joined in
wedlock with Mary J., daughter of
- the late Cyrus G. BARKER, one of the pioneers of Rock County
and a native of Massachusetts. The death of Mrs. COVERT occurred
in June, 1875, leaving three daughters, and in the month of June,
1887, the husband was again married, Miss Jennie MUZZY becoming
his wife.
- The Doctor has as large if not a larger country practice
than any physician in Southern Wisconsin.
- His medical career has been wonderfully successful - the
natural result of his unstinted and zealous devotion to his calling
and of his native penetration and sound judgment, combined with
studious and reflective habits. He saw no reason why the "country
doctor" should not be the peer of his more favored city
brethren in real merit. He has not been wholly absorbed in his
own individual practice, but has felt a lively interest in the
advancement of the profession and in those associations of physicians
for the broadening and quickening of thought. He is now an honorary
member of the Pennsylvania Medical Society; a member of the Wisconsin
Eclectic Medical Association, of which he was twice President
and also belongs to the National Association of which he was
also twice Vice-President, and was elected to the position of
President, but on account of his arduous and responsible duties
declined to accept. He is a regular correspondent of several
Medical Journals, and writes on an average one article per month.
In recognition of his standing in the profession he has been
given an honorary degree by Bennett College of Physicians and
Surgeons of Chicago, and has also been offered positions both
in St. Louis and Chicago Medical Colleges. Recently he was again
proffered a chair in Bennett College by the trustees of that
institution, which he has accepted conditionally. In his dealings
with his fellow men Dr. COVERT strives to follow the golden rule.
He is benevolent, sympathetic, ever ready to help the poor and
needy, and is especially beloved by children. He is a man of
unimpeachable integrity and uprightness of character, a gentleman
at heart, sans peur et sans reproch.
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- Taken from "The Portrait and Biographical Album of
Rock County, Wis." (c)1889, pp. 387-388; lithograph from
same book; same lithograph found in "The History of Rock
County, Wis." (c)1879, p. 801.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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