#52 Ancestors 2020 Week 4 Close to Home: Friendship, the Scriveners' Home Town

The Scrivener family in Maryland stayed pretty close to home for several hundred years, from their arrival in the early 1700's to the mid-1900's.  And home was the small village of Friendship, in southern Anne Arundel County, right up against the Calvert County border and along a major north-south road (now Rt. 2) and  a main route from the Chesapeake Bay west to the Patuxent River. (See the red square on the map below. )


The Scriveners were in Friendship before the town even existed.  Richard Scrivener's three sons--John, William, and Richard--are recorded in the Register of St. James Parish, which encompassed the area that would become the town of Friendship, in 1709, 1711 and 1713 respectively.

John Scrivener purchased two tracts in the area--Trent and Gowry Banks--in 1746, the earliest record of Scrivener land holdings. As the modern map shows, the properties abut the current town of Friendship.

John's son Francis purchased several more tracts in the area including almost 600 acres of Carter Bennett  (See Plat). In 1811, Francis's son John Scrivener purchased even more of the tract, which bordered on Herring Bay about a mile east of Friendship, from the estate of William Wood.

In 1856, John's son William Boswell Scrivener purchased Holly Hill, just outside the village (marked on the map above) and raised his twelve children there. This 1856 sale of John Scrivener's property mentions Friendship and also the adjoining property of John's sons Samuel and William Scrivener.

The village of Friendship was officially founded in 1804.  According to an account by Isaac Simmons, the founder of the town, in the late 18th century, the area was used for public sporting events and had no buildings.  Simmons attributes the founding of the town to religious fervor.  About 1785 David Weems collected money to build a gathering place called "Weems Preaching House." In 1804, Isaac Simmons purchased property near the Preaching House and built some small cottages, adding to      his holdings in the next two years. As Simmons noted, "the place bid fair to prosper," and "much ado was made in naming this fair place."

Simmons continues that many names were nominated but "the Lord did not approbate to them."  Then in 1806 the Methodist district conference sent minister Eli Towne to the care of this circuit.  In 1807, Simmons says, "came Eli to this place as a day in course for preaching; though weak in body, warned a goodly number of precious souls to improve their lives. " Towne was so weak after his efforts that he was unable to make it to his appointed lodgings and the kindly people of the area pressed him to stay the night with them.  He was thus the first regular minister to stay overnight in the town.  In the morning, feeling much better, he called the place "Friendship,"  and that is the name that the town officially adopted, praying that "the friend of all mankind bless it and ever sway his scepter in it."  The Friendship Post Office officially opened 3 March 1807 with Samuel Gott as Post Master.

In 1890, Robert S.D. Jones (grandson of the founder Isaac Simmons) wrote an account of his years in Friendship, spanning the years from 1825 to 1862.  Jones came from Baltimore via packet boat (the only available transportation)  to work in his uncle George Simmons' store.  He describes a lively village with a number of residences and stores, a blacksmith shop, a wheelwright, tailor, shoemaker, saddler and harness maker.

Fearing insurrection after the Nat Turner Rebellion in 1831, Friendship organized a militia captained by Cephas Simmons.  In 1832, the town formed a Temperance Society, of which John Scrivener was a member of the board of managers. The Temperance Society was apparently very strict: unlike most other such groups, their pledge of abstinence included wine and cider as well as distilled liquor.  By 1833, the town decided to build a new brick church to replace the old frame building using clay from the site.  That 1835 building is still in use today.

Friendship today covers about 1.79 square miles and has a population of 447.  No Scriveners live there any more (although many live in Anne Arundel County), but the Scriveners are remembered by a road opposite the town named Scrivener Drive.

Anne Arundel County has recently recognized Friendship's significance as an early community gathering place with a new historic marker.

Historic Friendship Crossroads . Est. ca 1800

This commercial cross roads in southern Anne Arundel County has been an important gathering place since the late 17th century. It is located near to the fleeting 17th century port of "Herrington", and near one of the County's most significant historic homes and plantations, Holly Hill. 

Friendship was well-established by the 18th century, populated mostly by those of the Quaker faith, whereby the town got its name.  Quakers were referred to as "Friends."  By the Civil War, the town was a thriving commercial hub. Though quieter today, as the main Route 2 thoroughfare bypassed the town in the 1970s, the charming town still boasts many historic homes, and several commercial and religious buildings. One of the oldest is the Friendship parsonage, built ca 1804 and now lovingly restored to house a local antique shop.