Elias Benford

Elias Benford was born in Stark County, Ohio, on January 13, 1819, and died November 27, 1888, at the age of 69.

In 1868, he came to Washington from Somerset County, Pennsylvania.  Soon after arriving, he purchased the Sherman House, a large hotel located on the northeast side of the square.  Benford ran the hotel until his death.  Photo of the hotel below from 1873:

The Washington News said this upon his death:

Father Benford was honest and upright, charitable in his judgment of other’s conduct, speaking ill of none and prone to excuse the faults of the erring.  In disposition he was quiet—a man of few words—retiring and unobtrusive.  He was a member of the St. Mark's Lutheran church, of Washington, since its organization.  For many terms he served as a member of the church council and was always an active, consistent and devoted Christian.  His presence was familiar in the sanctuary and prayer meetings as was his readiness to give and make sacrifices for the cause of his Master.  Meer in spirit and gentle in manner, there was nothing about his religious character of the bombastic or dogmatic.  He impressed you as one who had a firm and abiding faith in his religion, where he had anchored his life, steadfast, confident, and unshaken amid the tumult of the world.