Unknown Friend Family Male

Elijah Friend, 1870 United States Federal Census

Name Elijah Friend Age in 1870 36 Birth Date abt 1834 Birthplace Missouri Home in 1870 Benton, Howell, Missouri Post Office West Plains Occupation Farmer

Elijah Friend 36 Elizabeth Friend 37 Nancy E Friend 13 Anna Brown 6

Big Spring School One of the older schools in northeast Benton Township. It acquired its name from the large, good spring near, generally known as Big Spring, which had taken names of landowners at various times. The old building and spring were called Friend's for Elijah Jefferson Friend, a former school commissioner and Civil War veteran who settled there before the Civil War. The spring and cemetery were later known for a time as "Martin" for "Grandma" Martin who had settled near, under the "Squatter's act, about 1880. Robert Wilcox acquired the Martin land and was, for many years, caretaker of the cemetery, being paid by the community. The burial ground took his name but the spring apparently refused it. (--Place Names.)

Yankee Doodle A post-office, 18 miles southwest of West Plains. (--Campbell's Gazetteer of Missouri, Campbell, 1874, p. 257.)

An early post-office kept by E. Jefferson Friend (see Big Spring School) in his home near Bly, to which place the post-office was moved during the 1880's. He was born of Tennessee pioneers in Ozark County. The name chosen is that of the old Revolutionary War song. (--Place Names.)

From: A Directory of Towns, Villages, and Hamlets Past and Present of Howell County, Missouri

Compiled by Arthur Paul Moser thelibrary.org