J. C. Lawver, M. D. Biography

	This biography appears on pages 1101-1102 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	J. C. LAWVER, M. D., established in the successful practice of his 
profession in the town of Spencer, McCook county, was born in Bellville, 
Washington county, Pennsylvania, on the 2d of January, 1862, a son of 
Martin and Margaret (Moss) Lawver, of whose eight children all are 
living save one. Martin Lawver was born in Brownsville, Fayette county, 
Pennsylvania, as was also his father, while the grandfather was a native 
of Germany, whence he came to America in an early day, being numbered 
among the sterling pioneers of the old Keystone state. In the maternal 
line the Doctor traces his ancestry back to Scotch-Irish stock. His 
mother died in 1882, and his father now resides in Spencer, this state, 
having come to South Dakota about 1883 and purchasing land in McCook 
county, where he was actively engaged in agricultural pursuits until 
1902, when he removed to Spencer, where he has since lived retired. 

	Dr. Lawver may be said to have inherited a certain predilection 
for the medical profession, since on the maternal side of the family 
there have been a number of able physicians, in the various generations. 
His uncle, John C. Moss, was the inventor of the process of photo-
engraving, in which connection his name became known throughout the 
civilized world, while several others of the Moss family attained 
distinction as lawyers and educators. Dr. Lawver secured his early 
education in the public schools and supplemented this by a course of 
study in Waynesburg College, at Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. At the early 
age of fourteen years he purchased medical books and began to devote his 
attention to careful study of the same, having determined to fit himself 
for the medical profession. In 1882 he went to New York city to complete 
his medical studies. In the fall of 1884 he entered the Bellevue 
Hospital Medical College, in New York city, where he continued his 
studies for the ensuing three years, being graduated with the degree of 
Doctor of Medicine. He then began the practice of his profession at 
Granville, West Virginia, where he remained until the fall of 1891 when 
he was matriculated in the Baltimore Medical College, in the city of 
Baltimore, where he was graduated in the spring of 1892, having thus 
secured the very best of preliminary training for his exacting and 
responsible profession. After his graduation the Doctor continued in 
practice at Granville for a short time, and in the fall of the same year 
he came to South Dakota in search of an eligible location. In February, 
1893, he established himself in practice in Spencer, where his skill, 
devotion and personal courtesy have been the factors which have enabled 
him to build up a large and representative practice. In addition to his 
superior medical education which fitted him for active duties, since he 
commenced to practice twelve years ago, he has been a liberal patron and 
student of most of the leading medical books and periodical publications 
in this country and abroad, by means of which he has successfully kept 
posted on the latest discoveries for the cure of human afflictions and 
the most skillful methods of treating them. Stacks of medical magazines 
and a magnificent library of the best medical works, representing a cost 
of hundreds of dollars, attest in the most emphatic terms to the 
educational qualifications of Dr. Lawver. Among the office equipments 
are nearly all the latest devices, implements and medical appliances 
used in testing the condition of the human system and for treating 
chronic diseases in the most scientific way. Very few country physicians 
have such a fine display of instruments and appliances as has Dr. 
Lawver, of Spencer, and this fact as well as the further fact that he 
possesses superior skill in handling them, is becoming widely known 
throughout this section of the country. During the past year the Doctor 
has erected a fine two-story brick building, entirely adapted to his own 
use, and it is his intention to ultimately utilize this building as a 
hospital in which he can treat cases of every description from different 
parts of the country, and give them hospital treatment at home equal to 
or better than what they now go to larger cities to obtain. He is a 
member of the State Medical Society and at all times keeps in touch with 
the advances made in both branches of his profession. In politics he 
renders allegiance to the Republican party, and fraternally is 
identified with the Free and Accepted Masons and the Modern Woodmen of 
America. 

	On the 2d of February, 1903, Dr. Lawver was married to Miss 
Margaret Theis, of Farmer, this state, she being a daughter of Jacob 
Theis and a native of the state of South Dakota.