Charles J. Lavery, M. D.


	This biography appears on pages 821-823 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	CHARLES J. LAVERY, M. D .- Fort Pierre, Stanley county, has an 
able and popular representative of the medical profession in the person 
of Dr. Lavery, who is a native of the old Empire state of the Union. He 
was born in the town of Clinton, Clinton county, New York, on the 5th 
of February, 1867, and is a son of John and Jane (Courter) Lavery, both 
of whom were born in the fair Emerald Isle. the former in County Armagh 
and the latter in County Mayo. William Lavery, the paternal 
grandfather of the Doctor, was likewise born in County Armagh, Ireland, 
whence he emigrated with his family to America in 1831, locating in 
Ontario, Canada, near Huntington, and not far distant from the line of 
New York state. He there engaged in farming and there passed the 
remainder of his long and useful life, while the old homestead is still 
in the possession of his descendants. The father of the subject 
remained at the parental home until he had attained the age of 
seventeen years, when he removed to Chateaugay, Franklin county, New 
York, where he was residing at the time of the outbreak of the war of 
the Rebellion, when he showed his intrinsic loyalty by promptly 
tendering his services in defense of the Union. In 1861 he enlisted, in 
response to the President's first call as a private in the Ninety-sixth 
New York Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until the close of 
his three months' term. He then re-enlisted in the same regiment and 
was made first lieutenant of Company A. He participated in many of the 
most notable engagements of the great conflict, including the battles 
of the Wilderness, Seven Oaks Lookout Mountain, Shenandoah and many 
others, while he continued in active service until practically the 
close of the war, having received his honorable discharge on the 25th 
of January, 1865. He then returned to New York and took up his 
residence on the farm which he had purchased, in Clinton county, and 
there he continued to make his home, honored by all who knew him, until 
his death, which occurred on the 28th of July, 1896, while his devoted 
wife passed away on the 14th of November, 1902. They became the parents 
of three children, Charles J. William Burns and Ellen M., the subject 
of this sketch being the eldest, the other two dying in childhood, 
William Burns at the age of six years and Ellen M. when but eight 
months old.  

	Dr. Lavery was reared to the sturdy discipline of the homestead 
farm, and received his rudimentary education in the district schools of 
the locality, after which he completed a course of study in the high 
school at Churubusco, New York. He began the study of medicine in 1885 
with Dr. M. S. Carpenter, of Ellenburg Center. New York. In 1886 he was 
matriculated in Starling Medical College, in Columbus, Ohio, where he 
continued the study of medicine and surgery under the most favorable 
conditions for the ensuing two years, when his health became so 
impaired as to demand his withdrawal from school, and he then passed 
about two years on the home farm, fully recuperating his energies. He 
then came tot the west, taking up his residence in South Dakota in 
1890, on the 18th of February of which year he passed the required 
examination entitling him to the degree of Doctor of Medicine and to 
practice his profession in the state. He had in the meanwhile continued 
his technical studies and advanced himself to high proficiency in his 
chosen profession. From 1890 until 1893 the Doctor devoted his 
attention to practice at Fort Pierre, this state, and then took a post-
graduate course of six months' duration in the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons in Chicago. Holding nothing less than the most perfect 
professional knowledge as satisfactory in a personal way, he then took 
a post-graduate course in hospitals in the city of Toronto, Canada, and 
later a special hospital and clinical course in hospitals under 
professional control of the celebrated McGill University, in the city 
of Montreal. The Doctor then made a visit to his old home, where he 
remained a brief interval, at the expiration of which, in April, 1895, 
he returned to Fort Pierre and resumed the active practice of his 
profession, in which he has met with most gratifying success. His 
services have been self-abnegating and often arduous, as he has been 
frequently called to minister to those forty, fifty and even one 
hundred miles distant from his home, while in nearly all such cases he 
has had to make the journey on horseback or with team and vehicle, and 
often over country little traveled. His devotion to his profession and 
to the cause of suffering humanity has been shown in the labors which 
he has thus performed, while he has been specially successful in his 
surgical practice, in which he has attained a high reputation and a 
business excelled by that of but few physicians in the state, if indeed 
any. He has the best standard and periodical literature pertaining to 
his profession and keeps in close touch with the advances made, while 
once or twice each year he visits certain of the leading metropolitan 
hospitals and medical colleges for the purpose of further study and 
investigation, while in his office will be found all the newest 
appliances and most recent instruments for the treatment of disease, 
both medical and surgical. The Doctor served for a number of terms as 
county coroner, and was also county physician for several years, while 
he also had the distinction of being the first superintendent of the 
first board of health of Stanley county, and has ever since been an 
active and valued member of the board. In 1900 he was elected a member 
of the board of trustees of the South Dakota State Medical Society, at 
the annual meeting, in Aberdeen, and at the annual meeting of 1903, at 
Mitchell, he was selected, with Dr. Rock, of Aberdeen, to represent the 
state association at the meeting of the American Medical Association at 
Atlantic City, New Jersey, in May, 1904, and in August, 1903, he was 
elected secretary at the organization of the Fourth District Medical 
Society and was reelected in December, 1903. Dr. Lavery was the first 
president of the Republican League of Stanley county, which was 
organized in 1890, and served until 1894, taking a most active part in 
the party work in the county. In 1896 he showed the courage of his 
convictions by transferring his allegiance to the Democratic party and 
supporting Bryan for the presidency, and he has since been a prominent 
advocate of the principles of this party. He has attained the thirty-
second degree in the Scottish Rite Masonry, being identified with 
Oriental Consistory, No. 2, at Yankton, South Dakota, and at the time 
of this writing he is worshipful master of Hiram Lodge No. 123, Ancient 
Free and Accepted Masons, in his home town, and is a member of the 
Royal Arch chapter and Eastern Star in Pierre. He is also identified 
with the Sons of Veterans, the Knights of Pythias, and the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen. He is a thoroughly loyal citizen of his 
adopted state and deeply interested in all that conserves its 
prosperity and advancement.  

	On the 20th of February, 1895, Dr. Lavery was united in marriage 
to Miss Matilda I. Widmeyer, of Clearwater, Manitoba, she having been a 
daughter of Charles Widmeyer, an extensive and prominent farmer of that 
section of the Canadian northwest. Mrs. Lavery entered into eternal 
rest on the 6th of October, 1896, leaving one child, Ruble St. Elmo, 
who was born March 22, 1896. On the 14th of October, 1897, the Doctor 
wedded Miss Margaret Ethel Whitney, of Emmettsburg, Iowa. She is a 
daughter of Dr. Joshua J. Whitney, who was surgeon of the Eighteenth 
Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry during the war of the Rebellion, and who 
later became one of the pioneers of Fort Pierre, South Dakota, where he 
opened what was probably the first drug store in the town and being one 
of the most influential citizens of this locality up to the time of his 
death, on the 5th of October, 1890, at the age of sixty years. Dr. and 
Mrs. Lavery have one child, a little girl, born January 14, 1904. They 
are both communicants of the Protestant Episcopal church, both having 
been brought up in that belief. The Doctor is warden of the church in 
Fort Pierre and always has been an active church worker.