Harding Rugless Friend Bio
Braxton co. WV


Hardesty West Virginia Counties Volume 3 - Page 125
Jim Comstock - Richwood WV 1973

Harding Rugless Friend - was a son of Jonathan Caldwell and Eliza Jane
(Rugless) Friend, and their record is partly given in the sketch
following this one.  His mother is still living with him hale and hearty
and with good memory at the age of four score and five years.  She
married Johnathan C. Friend December 15, 1822 and they came to what is
now Braxton county May 24, 1823.  Their children were: Mary Jane, born
October 4, 1823, died March 16, 1849; Priscilla Sophia, July 8, 1825;
Matilda Ann, March 5, 1827; Harding Rugless, subject of this sketch,
June 17, 1829; Catharine Adelaide, March 11, 18321; Margaret Minerva,
May 12, 1832 - the living daughters all now residents in Braxton county,
this State, except Priscilla, who lives in Greenbrier county, and
Jonathan Caldwell, whose records is given below.  Her grandfather, James
Rugless, came from England to Baltimore county, Maryland, and married
Mary Winfield, whose parents came from Ireland.  He moved to Cheat river
when it was all wilderness, and was drowned in that river, while
returning from Baltimore with a load of goods.  James Rugless, his son,
married Elizabeth, daughter of Saville and Elizabeth (Ramsey) Harding,
who was born in Maryland.  They were married in that State, and
accompanied her parents, in 1796, to Maysville, Kentucky, where Eliza
Jane, mother of Harding R Friend, was born December 4, 1798.  Harding
Rugless Friend married Mary Skidmore, February 6, 1868, at her father's
residence on Little Birch, Braxton county.  She was a daughter of Allen
and Sarah (Shaver) Skidmore, her father is still a resident in this
county.  She was born January 20, 1848, and died March 25, 1870.  She
left one daughter, Lilly Jane, born November 5, 1868, now living with
her father.  Mr. Friend was clerk and bookkeeper in a store at Sutton
for over three years, beginning March 1, 1858.  After the breaking out
of the civil war he engaged in lumbering until he was married, and then
for five years he resided in Sutton, keeping books, farming, lumbering,
and carpentering.  October 27, 1873, he removed to his present location
on Raccoon creek, where he cultivates a farm of 60 acres.  His
postoffice address is Braxton C.H. Braxton county, West Virginia.