Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/430

 COUSINS

COVERT

battle of Cowpens, Jan. IT, ITSl"; to the oue hundred and fourteen dead of the Washing- ton light infantry in the civil war; and to Gen. R. S. Ripley, C.S.A. With his corps he was present at the Bunker Hill centennial in 1875; at the Philadelphia centennial in 1876; at the centennial of the founding of the govern- ment, New York, in 1889; and at the unveiling of the Lee monument at Richmond iij 1890. He was elected mayor of Charleston in December, 1879, for four years; was unanimously re-elected in 1883, and in 188T declined further service. In his eight years' service he reoi-ganized the entire city government; paved fifteen miles of streets, reduced the city debt several hundred thousand dollars, advanced city securities from fifty to ninety cents on the dollar, and did this on a smaller annual income than had been spent in the preceding decade. A marble bust by Valen- tine stands in the mayor's office with this in- scription: " Mayor of Charleston, 1879-87. As chief magistrate he administered the government with firmness, impartiality and success, even amid the disasters of cyclone and earthquake, • office is a public trust.' Erected by his grate- _ful fellow citizens." His efficient work after the earthquake disaster of 1886 won for him the high appreciation of his fellow citizens. A schoolhouse erected in Charleston in 1888 is in- scribed '"Courteuay Public School." In 1887 he was im.animously elected a trustee of the Pea- body education fund in place of Governor Aiken, deceased. In 1893 he founded a large cotton manufacturing interest and a mill city called Newrj" in Oconee county, S.C, in sight of the Blue Ridge mountains, where he erected a hand- some mansion with extensive grounds kno\vn as '' Innisf alln. "
 * signally illustrating the safe maxim that ' public

COUSINS, Robert G., representative, was born in Cedar comity, Iowa, in 1859. He was graduated from Cornell college, Mt. Vernon, Iowa, in 1881, was admitted to the bar in 1883 and located in Tipton, Iowa, for the practice of his profession. He was a member of the Iowa house of representatives, 1886-87; presidential elector in 1888; prosecuting attorney for the county, 1888-90, and a Republican representative from the fifth district of Iowa in the 53d, 54th, 55th, 56th, 57th and 58th congresses, 1893-1905.

COVERLEY, Robert, musician, was born at Oporto, Portugal, Sept. 6, 1863: of Scotch-Portu- gese parentage. At a verj- early age he gave evidence of musical ability, instructing himself in counterpoint, violin and piano, and improvis- ing with facility. Between the ages of ten and twelve he had already written several composi- tions for the violin and piano, besides learning the art of orchestrating. His parents being

averse to his receiving instruction in music, it was not until he was fourteen years old that he took his first lessons in counterpoint and violin from a graduate of the Paris conservatory. He first achieved popularity in London in light and dance music. Removing to New York in 1883 he succeeded immediately by his characteristic marches of the na- tions which were played by aU the principal musi- cal organizations throughout the United States, his work first becom- ing popular under the baton of P. S. GiLmore. Then fol- lowed many .popu- lar works, in the orchestration of wliich he intro- duced some novel and striking ef- fects. He later devoted himself to more seri- ous work including compositions for piano, con- cert etudes, tarantelles, and short pieces for violin and piano. As a song writer, he gained a prominent position among American composers. His best known compositions, written chiefly between the years 1889 and 1898, include the baUads: Ask Thine Heart Again; In a Garden of Hoses; Love's Pleadings; Tell Me, Fair Moon!; To The Xightingale; To Sleep (from Tennyson's last poem); To Ton and But To You; Bemembrance; In Dreams; An Old Skidl; Italian Love Song; Xorice- gian Love Song; The Night Hath a Thousand Eyes; I Dreamed Again; and the instrimiental composi- tions: Two Tarantelles; Two Impromptus; L'Enqui- etude; two concert-stUcke for violin and piano; two comic operas. La Baigneuse, produced in 1894, and The Pretenders (1898). He also pub- lished Ten Sketches (1897); and Ten Ballads (1898), both for piano.

COVERT, James Way, representative, was born at Mill Neck, Queens county, N.Y., Sept. 2, 1842; son of Thomas and Ruth (Seaman) Covert; grandson of Gabriel Covert, and a descendant" of Teunis Jans Covert, a French Huguenot who em- igrated to Holland and subsequently to New Amsterdam. He was educated at Locust Val- ley, N.Y., was admitted to the bar in 1863 and practised in Queens county and in New York city. He was elected as a Democrat a school comuaissioner for his county in 1866; was assistant district attorney, 1867-70; surrogate, 1870-74; state senator, 1882-84, and a representative in the 45th and 46th congresses, 1877-81, and in the 51st 52d and 53d congresses, 1889-95.