Elijah Friend was born, lived and died at Sang Run, MD. Elijah Friend was the grandson of John Friend Sr. (1728 to aft 1808), founder of Friendsville, MD, and the tenth child of John Friend Jr. (1764 to 1849) and Elizabeth Ward (1778 to 1845). Elijah Friend’s life was tragically cut short at the age of fifty-five years in a barn raising accident. At the time of his death, Elijah Friend was a businessman, a land-owner, husband of Elizabeth Smith and father of nine children. Elizabeth Smith out lived her husband by another twenty-eight years. Both Elijah and Elizabeth were buried beside each other in the family cemetery at Sang Run, MD.
Elijah and Elizabeth’s children remained close, living in and around the Sang Run, Hoyes Run and Friendsville Areas of Garrett County, Maryland for the remainder of their lives. They appeared to function as a close-knit family. They bought and sold land as a group from 1871 into the mid 1920’s. They purchased land next to one another and shared their homes and property. The children of Elijah Friend were primarily farmers. Joseph H. Friend, Elijah Friend’s first child, was born in 1839. Joseph H. Friend went to war, serving in the Union Army (3rd Regiment, Co. D, MD Infantry) during the American Civil War. The remainder of Elijah Friend’s children led relatively peaceful lives. Many of their children left the Sang Run Area, yet returned years later to their childhood homes. The births, lives and deaths of Elijah Friend’s family have influenced the Sang Run, MD area for over a hundred years.
Unfortunately, we have found no personal descriptions of Elijah or his wife. We have attempted to reveal Elijah Friend’s life and his descendents through public records (family Bibles, marriage records, photographs, US Census, land deeds and family histories), many which were obtained from the Friend Family Association of America (FFAA) Library. This book is a continuation of Pat Thompson’s John Friend Sr. of Friendsville, MD and Pat Smith’s John Friend Jr. of Sang Run, MD (2007). We have attempted to chronicle the life of Elijah Friend and his descendents in order to preserve this information.