Born in
Middlesex County, New Jersey, Conover attended an academy in
Trenton, New Jersey. He studied medicine at the
University of Pennsylvania, and graduated from the medical department of the
University of Nashville in 1864. During the
United States Civil War he served in the medical department of the
Union Army. He was appointed acting assistant surgeon in 1866, and was assigned to
Lake City, Florida. He resigned from the medical department of the army upon readmission of the State of Florida into the Union. Conover was a delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1868. He was appointed State
treasurer in 1868, serving one term. He was also a member of the
Republican National Committee from 1868 to 1872. He was a member of the
Florida House of Representatives in 1873 and served as speaker. Conover was elected to the
United States Senate and served from March 4, 1873, to March 3, 1879. There he served as chairman of the
U.S. Senate Committee on Enrolled Bills. After his time in Congress, Conover resumed the practice of medicine. He was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for governor in 1880, a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1885, and was appointed
United States surgeon at
Port Townsend, Washington, in 1889. He became president of the board of regents of
the Agricultural College and School of Science of the State of Washington in 1891. He practiced medicine in Port Townsend until his death, and was interred there in the Masonic Cemetery. == References ==