California Biographies Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm Source: History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from its earliest settlement to the present time. Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905 Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176 ELMER J. COUEY, M. D. The family represented by E. J. Couey, M. D., of Fresno, is of southern extraction, but was identified with the pioneer history of Illinois and Wisconsin prior to becoming established in California. The doctor's father, Andrew A., a native of Ran- dolph county, Ill., and a farmer by occupation, responded to the first call for volunteers at the outbreak of the Civil war, becoming a member of Company C, Thirtieth Illinois Infantry. After a considerable service under General Grant he accompanied Sherman on the memor- able campaign through the South and the march to the sea. during the progress of which he was captured by Confederate soldiers, and for nine months remained a prisoner at Andersonville. At the close of the war he returned to Wisconsin and resumed farm pursuits, remaining in that state until 1886, when he came to California. Settling one and one-half miles west of Fresno, he gave his attention to ranching and the raising of fruit, in which occupations he continued during the remainder of his life. At the time of his death, which occurred November 27, 1903, he was sixty-one years of age. In politics he voted with the Republican party. His father, James F. Couey, was born in Georgia, and at fifteen years of age accompanied his parents to Illinois, then a frontier region beyond the limits of civilization. Later he entered a tract of raw land in Richland county, Wis., and from there in 1884 came to Fresno, where he engaged in farming for some time, but of recent years has lived retired from active cares. The marriage of Andrew A. Couey united him with Eliza Hartley, who was born in Ken- tucky and at an early age accompanied her parents to Wisconsin. Since the death of her hus- band she has continued to make her home on the property which they purchased after com- ing west. In their family of four children the youngest child and only son was E. J., whose birth occurred in Richland county, Wis., November 25, 1876, and who at the time of coming to California was a boy of ten years. His education was acquired primarily in Wisconsin, but principally in the schools of California, his attendance at the Fresno grammar and high schools being supplemented by a course of study in Healdsburg College. On his return from col- lege he aided his father on the home place for a year, and then entered the St. Helena Sani- tarium in Napa county, Cal, from which he was graduated May 25, 1897. as a trained nurse. During the fall of the same year he matriculated in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at San Francisco, where he took the regular course of study, graduating in 1900 with the degree of M. D. Immediately after his graduation Dr. Couey began the practice of medicine in Fresno. Under appointment by the county board of supervisors, February 1, 1901, he became stew- ard and resident physician at the county hospital, and this position he filled until June 1, 1903, when he resigned to resume private practice. He has his office in the Republican build- ing. Among the members of his profession he has a high standing. For some years he has made a special study of smallpox and other diseases that are characterized by eruptions. In the diagnosis of disease he is careful, painstaking and accurate, never contenting himself with superficial examinations, but penetrating to hidden causes, which, once discovered, are prompt- ly and skillfully brought under control. During 1903 he was honored with the office of president of the Fresno County Medical Society. Other organizations with which he holds membership are the San Joaquin Valley Medical Society, the California State Medical Society, the American Medical Association, the Alumni Association of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of San Francisco, and the Order of Pendo, in which he is medical examiner, be- sides being medical examiner for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. In matters politi- cal he gives his influence to the Republican party. His marriage occurred in San Francisco in 1902, and united him with Miss Blanche B. Bodwell, a native of Nebraska, but a resident of California from girlhood. They are the parents of a son, Donald B.