My Genealogy Hound

J. A. Cover, dealer in saddles, harness, etc., at Mountain Grove, Wright County, Mo., was born in Union County, Ill., in 1862, the son of Alson and Melissa (Sams) Cover. Alson Cover was probably a native of Pennsylvania, and by trade a plasterer, but he also followed farming and merchandising. He died in Johnsboro, Ill., at the age of forty-nine years, when the subject of this sketch was seven years of age. Melissa (Sams) Cover died when her son, J. A. Cover, was fourteen years of age. She was of English extraction and the Covers were of German origin. J. A. Cover was one of eight children born to his parents. After the death of his mother he went to Dent County, Mo., and then lived with his sister, Mrs. Pendergrass, for two years, mean while attending school. He then went to Illinois, and in one and a half years returned to Missouri, where he served an apprenticeship to the saddler’s trade at Salem, Dent County, Mo., for three years. He then came to Mountain Grove in 1883, built his present house and engaged in his present business. He is a young man of good business qualifications, and is respected by all. His average sales equal about $3,000 per year, and aside from this he is partner in the only furniture and undertaker’s establishment in the town. This is run by his brother, S. H. Cover. J. A. Cover was married in 1885 to Miss Ada A. Hayes, a native of Ohio, born in 1865. She was taken to Missouri at the age of twelve years, and supplemented her common-school education with a course at a graded school in Dent County, Mo. She has been a teacher in the public schools of Wright and Texas Counties, and also worked in the post-office at Mountain Grove for many years. She and her mother carried on the post-office at that place for sixteen years. She is a member of the Old School Presbyterian Church. Mr. Cover is a Democrat in his political views.