| Thirteen days
after the death of his wife who had been his
helpmate and companion for forty years had passed
to the other shore, J.W. Friend, well known and
highly respected resident of Collinsville for
nearly a half century was taken by death from
this life of sorrows and granted a happy reunion
in immortality with his life companion. Mr.
Friend had been in failing health for a number of
years, being a sufferer from liver troubles, and
some days ago taken to St. Louis, for the purpose
of undergoing an operation for gall stones. His
condition was such that an operation was thought
operative as a last resort, but owing to an
advanced age of the patient and the prevalence of
uremia poisoning in the blood, the recovery of
the patient was impossible and the end came at
10:35 p.m., Monday evening July 29th.  The announcement of the
demise of this worthy citizen has caused a great
wave of sorrow to mantle the community, as the
deceased was everybody’s friend, and a
gentleman who was always a delightful
acquaintance, a straight forward, upright and
true type of natures nobleman, and a member of
the community whose loss will be a real
deprivation to all who knew him. He was a man who
united sound sense with strong convictions, and a
candid, outspoken manner eminently fitted to
mould the elements of a pioneer society into form
and consistency, and in raising a high standard
of citizenship in a community composed of mixed
elements. How much this community owes him and
such as he, it is impossible to estimate, though
it would be a grateful task to trace his
influence for patriotism and high citizenship
through some of the more direct channels, to hold
him up in his various characters of husband, and
father, of neighbor and friend, to speak of the
sons and daughters he has reared in the love of
country and high ideals of honor to perpetuate
his name and emulate his virtues. The Grim Reaper
took him as a “shock of corn, ready for the
harvest and ripe for the gleaming.” His
memory will not be known as one who prospered at
the expense of his fellow men. But one who did
not acquire an undue share of this world’s
goods through methods questionable, but his name
will be enshrined as a citizen who did good as
far as lay in his power, who taught by example
the art of right living and who has gone to his
reward as a man who was willing to give his blood
and his youth in the defense of his country and
his mature years to the upbuilding of his native
land. J. W. Friend was the type of American who
has made a paradise out of a wilderness, who in
his humble way performed those things which was
given him to do, who reaped only where he had
sown and whose high sense of duty well performed
is to his bereaved children a grand heritage more
valuable and more to the desired than simply
riches. On his grave will be laid the grief of an
affection that is sincere, and the void in the
hearts of those who love him will always leave a
scar. The writer knew J.W. Friend and feels that
he would have wished no greater eulogy than to
have it said of him, “that his soul goes
marching on.”
John W. Friend was
born in Bloomsburg, Ohio, on the 4th of July,
1844. Until 18 years of age he followed the
ordinary occupations of the youths of those early
days and at the age of 18, when the war clouds
hovered over his country and Father Abraham
called for volunteers to bear arms to defend the
land from succession, Mr. Friend bade good bye to
relatives and those he held most dear and
enlisted in company C, of the 20th Ohio infantry,
and went to the front. He served with distinction
and full credit to himself all during the war.
His first enlistment was September 8th, 1861, in
the 20th Ohio Infantry, and he served until July
5, 1862, when he was discharged on account of
disability at Columbus, Ohio. On December 22nd,
1863, Mr. Friend re-enlisted as wagon master in
the 10th Ohio Light Artillery, and served until
discharged at Camp Dennison, on July 17th, 1865,
on account of the close of War. Mr. Friend took
part in many of the important battles of the war,
including the battle of Shiloh.
In 1869, after the
close of the war, Mr. Friend came to Illinois and
settled in Collinsville and has lived in this
city almost constantly since that time. Although
at periods employed at Troy and at Caseyville.
His occupation was that of a hoisting engineer up
to July 1st, being engaged in employment with
Lumaghi No. 2 mines. Mr. Friend was a member of
the Masonic order, and was an ardent member of
Sam T. Hughes post G.A.R., having always taken an
active interest in that organization and being
one of the standbys that have maintained the
G.A.R., which is rapidly passing by reason of the
death of its membership. He was always ready to
attend the funeral of a comrade or to serve at
the bedside of a sick member of the order.
On October 9th,
1872, Mr. Friend was married to Miss Mary S.
Pratt, in this city, and to this union there has
been born a family, the surviving members of
which are F.A. Friend and W. Leo Friend, of this
city, Larue Friend, of O’Fallon, and Mrs.
Grace Collins, of Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The funeral was
held Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m. from the M.E.
Church, the services being in charge of the
members of the G.A.R., and allied organizations,
and the internment being at Glenwood cemetery.
The remains were followed to their last resting
place by large cortege of mourners and citizens
who had known the deceased during his life and
who sympathize deeply with the bereaved in the
affection which they are called on to sustain.
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