The fortunes of war brought Judge John C. Friend to Wyoming and choice has continued him as a resident of this state. Having enlisted for service in the Civil war as a member of an Ohio regiment, his command was ordered to the western frontier and he became so interested in this section of the country that he decided to remain and has since been one of the honored settlers of Wyoming. He is acquainted with every phase of pioneer life in this part of the country and has lived to see the remarkable changes which have occurred as the years have passed on. In fact, he has borne his full share in the work of general progress and development and is today one of the honored and valued citizens of Rawlins, where he is serving as justice of the peace and as notary public and is also engaged in the conduct of an insurance agency.
    He was born in Chandlerville, Cass county. Illinois, July 16, 1847, and is a son of Ezekiel Friend, a native of Pennsylvania. The founder of the American branch of the family was John Friend, who came from Prussia in 1790 and settled in the Keystone state, taking up his abode at Germantown, near Philadelphia. He was a baker by trade and after coming to the new world followed merchandising. In 1830 he migrated westward with his family, taking up his abode in Cass county, Illinois, and later he became a resident of Mason county, Illinois, where he followed farming until his demise, which occurred in 1860, when he was between seventy-five and eighty years of age.
   Ezekiel Friend was reared and educated in Philadelphia and took up the profession of medicine as a life work, preparing for active practice as a student in the University of Pennsylvania, from which he was graduted on completing a course in the medical department. He then accompanied his parents to Illinois, where he entered upon the practice of medicine and surgery and also devoted a portion of his time to farming. He remained in Mason county from 1854 to the time of his death, his life's labors being ended in 1892, when he was seventy-eight years of age, his birth having occurred in 1814. His wife bore the maiden name of Mary Ann Elizabeth Rhea and was a native of Kentucky. She was descended from a family of Scotch descent that was represented in Virginia and in Kentucky from early pioneer times. The death of Mrs. Friend occurred in Illinois in 1849 at the birth of the younger of her two children.
    Judge Friend of this review, the only surviving member of the family, spent his youthful days upon the old home farm in Illinois to the age of sixteen years, when he started out to provide for his own support, but any personal ambition that he may have had was put aside, for the country needed his services and his patriotic spirit was aroused. He was a youth of but sixteen years when on the 3^d of August, 1863, he enlisted at Benton Barracks as a member of Company G, Eleventh Ohio Cavalry, with which he served for three years. His regiment was sent to the west and he participated in the battle of Platte Bridge, Wyoming, on the 24^th of July, 1865. With his company he was then sent to Fort Laramie in September, 1865. Before this in the summer of 1864 he was stationed at Deer Creek and also at Platte Bridge. The command was also stationed for a time at Sweetwater Bridge and at other points in the state in order to suppress the uprisings of the Indians. During this period Judge Friend participated in a number of engagements with the Indians but was never wounded. After leaving the army he continued in the west learning the vocation of a telegrapher, and was first stationed for telegraph duty at Deer Creek, Wyoming. He was later at Horseshoe and arrived at the former place on the 6^th of August, 1866, and was there when the ranch and buildings were destroyed by the Indians. In the following winter he went to Horseshoe and he continued in the telegraph service for ten years. Subsequently he settled at Big Laramie, where he spent the winter of 1867, and was at Sherman in 1868. He then went east, but in 1869 returned to Rawlins, where he continued in telegraph work, taking charge of the Rawlins office in 1870 and continuing in that capacity for two years. Later in connection with others, he opened the Rawlins paint mines, shipping the ore to Salt Lake. He was associated with W. M. Masi, John C. Dyer, Harry Roach, P. T. Devald and others, who were the original locators of their placer mining claim. In this business they were quite successful and Mr. Friend was identified with mining interests for a number of years, or until railroad freight rates became so exorbitant that the owners of the mine and others incorporated the Rawlins Metallic Paint Company and the product of the mine was then manufactured into mineral paints. In 1874 Judge Friend sold one carload of paint to Sidney Dillon, president of the Union Pacific Railway Company, which was shipped to the east, and was the first used on Brooklyn bridge. The business was carried on for a number of years but eventually the plant was destroyed by fire. Judge Friend conducted his mining claim until 1882, when he sold the property to the Union Pacific Railway Company that has since further developed it. Later he entered the field of journalism and was a partner of W. T. Shaffer in the establishment and publication of the first paper in Carbon county in 1878, called the Carbon County News, Judge Friend remaining active in the conduct of the paper for a short period.
    In public affairs Judge Friend has long figured prominently. He served in the second, third and fifth territorial legislatures of Wyoming, first representing Carbon county in the house in 1871. He represented Carbon and Sweetwater counties in the council in 1873; and again represented Carbon county in the house in 1877. He has also filled the office of deputy county clerk and deputy county treasurer, acting in those capacities for many years. He has been a most earnest and staunch supporter of the democratic party, doing everything in his power to promote its growth and extend its influence. In November, 1879, he purchased the Carbon County Journal, of which he was editor and manager, conducting that paper until September, 1892. The following year he went to Casper, where he was manager and editor of the Derrick for three months, and from 1807 until 1903 he was employed in the shops of the Union Pacific Railroad Company. At the latter date he was chosen for the office of city marshal at Rawlins and continued to act in that capacity until 1907. In 1908 he was elected justice of the peace and with the exception of two years spent in travel he has since served as presiding judge over the justice court, in which he has rendered decisions strictly fair and impartial, "winning him golden opinions from all sorts of people." He has also engaged in the insurance business since 1912 and writes a considerable amount of insurance each year, thus adding materially to his income.
    On the 7^th of August, 1882, in Evanston, Wyoming, Judge Friend was united in marriage to Miss Leah Welch, a native of Ogden, Utah, and a daughter of Charles and Elizabeth (Newey) Weleh. who were of a pioneer family of Utah. Mrs. Friend passed away in Rawlins, February 4, 1894, at the age of thirty-three years. By her marriage she had become the mother of five children, four of whom are living. The eldest, Claude Edward, who was born in Rawlins, passed away in St. Louis, Missouri, where he was then residing. The others are: Margaret Elizabeth, the wife of J. H. Jacobucci, manager of the Rawlins electric light plant and a dealer in automobile supplies; Mabel Grace, the wife of Harley Williams, an automobile dealer residing at Big Timber, Montana; Fred Cleveland, who is connected with the Union Pacific at Rawlins; and James Eugene, who is general foreman for the Texas & Pacific Railroad and resides at Baird, Texas.
    Fraternally Judge Friend is connected with Custer Post, No. 1, G. A. R., at Laramie, and also belongs to the Knights of Pythias, being for many years the representative of the local lodge in the grand lodge. As an honored veteran of the Civil war. he is widely known and even more widely as one of the pioneers of Wyoming. For fifty-five years he has resided in this state. It seemed that the work of progress and development had scarcely been begun at the time of his arrival. In fact, he came to subdue the Indians, who were a menace to all life and property on the western frontier at that time. He has witnessed all of the changes which have occurred and the work that has been done toward reclaiming this region for purposes of civilization. A marked transformation has been wrought and in the development of the county Judge Friend has taken an active and helpful part. Those who know him esteem him highly and he has a very extensive circle of friends. No history of Wyoming would be complete without reference to him because of the important part which he has played in promoting the development and upbuilding of Wyoming.