Richmond (VA) Friends Meeting

R. Arnold Ricks III Obituary

by WebPost | Sep 15, 2019 | History - Quaker, History - RFM

R. Arnold Ricks III, 94, on February 24, 2018, at home in Bennington, Vt. Arnold was born on August 23, 1923, in Richmond, Va., to Anne Elizabeth Ryland and James Hoge Ricks. His father, a member of Richmond (Va.) Meeting, was from a long-established Quaker family and served as a pioneering judge of the Richmond Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court for forty years, and his mother was from a Baptist family associated with the development of University of Richmond. A life-long Quaker, Arnold served in the Civilian Public Service as a conscientious objector, in 1941–1943 firefighting and doing reforestation in Oregon’s wilderness region and being an subjecting himself to experiments with hepatitis, which he contracted. In 1945 he joined the British-American relief team in rebuilding Cologne, Germany, where he helped to build a children’s center.

Originally a member of the Haverford College class of 1945, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in philosophy in 1948.. After earning a master’s in European history from Harvard University in 1954, he taught history at Swarthmore College. In 1963, he began teaching at Bennington College, where he also served two years as Dean of Studies. A beloved teacher, he spoke of classes as an “assault on the unknown and the imperfectly known.” In 1972 he married Pat Adams, a painter and colleague at Bennington College, and after a 4-month sabbatical in 1973, traveling through Europe and the Middle-East with his stepsons, Matthew and Jason, they settled in Old Bennington, Vt. Starting in 1974 he served as a trustee of the Village of Old Bennington and as Road Commission, overseeing the design and reconstruction of Monument Avenue, the village road leading to the Bennington Battle Monument, ensuring that the historic road would be in narrow in keeping with its environs, which go back to when the first frame house in Vermont was built in Bennington in 1763--a house still in use.

For decades he made generous contributions to Richmond (Va.) Meeting. He retired from Bennington College in 1992. Three years later, the mayor of Cologne, who as a child had benefited from the British-American Relief team’s work, led a celebration in honor of him and the other surviving team members. When he retired as a trustee of Old Bennington in 2014, the villagers presented him with an inscribed bench on the grass island in front of the Old First Church. As a trustee of the Bennington Museum from 1995 to 2015, he helped initiate a period of growth and revitalization for the museum, for which in 2013 it created the Hiland Hall Award to recognize his service. He lived as George Fox said, “[walking] cheerfully over the world answering that of God in everyone.”

Arnold is survived by his wife, Pat Adams; two stepsons, Matthew A. Longo and Jason R. Longo; a niece, Francie Ricks; three grandsons; and many Ryland cousins in Virginia. His remains rest in Old Bennington Cemetery. Donations to American Friends Service Committee or the Bennington Museum in care of the Hanson Walbridge & Shea Funeral Home, 213 West Main Street, Bennington, VT, are welcome.

The Ancient Mystery of Powhatan Quakers

by WebPost | Sep 26, 2015 | History - Quaker, History - RFM

Few people alive today know that the Powhatan hamlet of Fine Creek was a center of Quaker life in what was once part of Goochland County; then a part of Cumberland County with its formation in 1749; and finally a part of Powhatan County with that county’s formation in 1777. The Fine Creek area was first developed in 1735 by John Pleasants Sr., a member of a prominent and early Virginia Quaker family. He built a gristmill at Lees Landing Road (Rt. 641) and Huguenot Trail (Rt. 711) along the lower falls of Fine Creek.  Within a decade a small rural hamlet emerged next to the gristmill with several stores, a cooper’s shop, a blacksmith shop, a small cheese factory, a postal station, and a ferry that provided access across the James River to the northern part of Goochland County.  Eventually a one room schoolhouse was also built for the area’s children.

We know from the historical Quaker record that White Oak Swamp Monthly Meeting (aka. Henrico Monthly Meeting) allowed a “particular” (or subordinate) Quaker Meeting, Fine Creek Meeting, to be created in the area in 1746.  At that time in Quaker history a new meeting would not have been allowed by the “monthly” (parent) meeting if there were not a good number of Quakers willing to support its ongoing existence.  Quaker discipline was strict then and not the laisser-faire culture of liberal Quakerism today. Quakers were required to attend worship every “First Day” (Sunday) at the local meetinghouse if they were to remain Quakers.  So, we know that a ready-made and active membership would have been available to provide ongoing support for the new meeting.

White Oak Swamp Monthly Meeting had a dozen or so Quaker meetings under its care during the eighteenth century. Fine Creek Meeting was just one of these, along with its “sister” meeting of Richmond Friends Meeting.  Had Fine Creek meeting survived the ravages of history, today it would be 49 years older than Richmond Friends Meeting.

Powhatan County archives do indicate that Fine Creek Quakers were active abolitionists.  James Pleasants of Fine Creek (brother of John Pleasants Sr. who was instrumental in developing the gristmill at Fine Creek) began emancipating his slaves around 1800 along with Fine Creek Quakers John Pleasants Jr. and Jonathan Pleasants, both sons of John Pleasants Sr.  No doubt they were prompted to do so by a unanimous decision by all Virginia Quakers in 1800 to “disown” (the term then used to revoke Quaker membership) any Quaker who refused to emancipate their slaves.  All Virginia Quakers had been asked to begin doing so since the mid 1770’s. County and historical records demonstrate a concerted effort by Fine Creek Quakers to systematically work towards this end.  It wasn’t until 1804, however, that the county finally began providing newly freed blacks their certificates of freedom.

Fine Creek Meeting existed from 1746 until 1780 – some 34 years.  Yet, there is much mystery surrounding the meeting. At that time in Quaker history, once a meeting was in existence for more than a few years, there was pressure as well as support to build a permanent meetinghouse.  Also, Fine Creek meeting was nurtured by the Pleasants family – one of the wealthiest families in Virginia.  So, the circumstantial evidence would suggest that a meetinghouse existed somewhere in the Fine Creek area of Powhatan.

Where exactly was the Fine Creek meetinghouse located? Was it in the hamlet surrounding the gristmill; or, was it in the surrounding countryside? Why was the Fine Creek Meeting “laid down” after existing for 34 years?  One can only hope that as ancient records become more searchable due to digitization, someone will be able to fill in the missing pieces to this local Quaker mystery.

— Howard Brod, Midlothian Friends Meeting