THE HISTORY OF RICHMOND FRIENDS MEETING
1795--1962
by
Mary Fran Hughes
Richmond, Virginia
1979
Since joining Richmond Friends Meeting in 1976, I have
wondered about the history of my new spiritual family. A
sense of our history might give us an appreciation for who
we are and can become. Realizing that hardly any of the
present active members had been in the Meeting prior to
1960 left me wondering about the danger of our being cut off
from our heritage -- no one even seemed to know how long it
stretched back. (Photo 2003)
My interest was encouraged by Jay Worrall, official historian
for Virginia Friends, who generously opened his card files on
Virginia Friends’, history. Patricia Hickin, a historian who
has worked with the Virginia State Library, likewise shared
her historical resources and her enthusiasm for the project. Eda Martin whose interest in family
history led to study of Quaker ancestors in Richmond Friends Meeting brought forth notes,
books, watercolor portraits, a pilgrimage to Friends’ graves in Hollywood Cemetery, and a deep
concern for historical accuracy. The occasion for the history-writing was James Smylie’s
American Religious History course at Union Theological Seminary. His insistence that I learn
about the broader contexts of Virginia, Richmond, national, and American religious history
added depth and occasional discoveries about the topic itself. These persons and William
McIntyre read the following history and offered editorial suggestions.
Discovering a history which went hack all the way to 1795 and which was passed down through
a single family for about 150 years was breath-taking. With the Meeting’s current Friends
General Conference (more Hicksite) orientation, we have a long heritage of Orthodoxy through
the lifetime of the Crenshaw family in the Meeting. Our testimonies on peace and reform of the
social order have been faithfully lived out as Friends have met silently to wait upon the Lord.
From worship came fresh strength and perspective.
Since no systematic history of Richmond Friends Meeting has been previously written, I feel a
responsibility to choose themes and to organize them in a way which grows out of the history
itself. The hope is that contemporary and future Richmond Friends may gain insight through
what has been lived out before. Yet, the focus is on issues alive today. With the current efforts to
revive the draft, I have focused on our pacifist history which responded to each war or rumor of
war with a peace-making stand. The Meeting’s recent sponsorship of eleven Cambodian refugees
is in harmony with Friends testimony on race relations and the abolition of slavery. As we
wrestle with our ministry in the prisons and in opposition to capital punishment, we look to our
predecessors who did likewise.
May our history move us to “walk cheerfully over the world, looking for that of God in every
person.”
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Introduction: Worship as Waiting Upon the Lord
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
II. Historical Overview: Richmond Friends from 1795 to 1962
“...I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to
you.” John 15:15b
A. Early Days
B. The Crenshaw Family
C. Emmet Frazer
III. Living Out Friends’ Testimonies
“You are my friends if you do what I command you.” John 15:14
A. Peace Testimony
B. Testimony on Slavery and Race Relations
C. Testimony on Prisons and Capital Punishment
IV. Conclusion: Implications for Our Time
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the
poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at
liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:18-19
Footnotes
Bibliography
Appendix: Locations of Richmond Friends Meetinghouses
I. Introduction: Worship as Waiting Upon the Lord
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
On the first day of each week, Friends have gathered in silence for meeting for worship. The
conviction that we can communicate directly with the Spirit of God through silent waiting is the
foundation of our worship. The presence of God is deeper than words.
Belief in the Inner Light is at the center of Friends’ faith and worship. Since we are created in the
image of God, there is an element of God’s own Spirit and divine energy in each person -- an
“Inner Light.” Worship seeks to nourish and cultivate “that of God in every person.’
As worshippers sit in silent openness, anyone present may feel rising in his or her consciousness
a message which seems meant for others also. The God-sent spoken word can help to center
worship, gathering the meeting into group awareness of the divine presence.
Worship quickens moral responsibility. In the undistracted silence, Friends become painfully
aware of the discrepancies between Christ’s teachings and the realities of the world we live in.
For the sensitive individual, responsibilities emerge clearly. True worship is offering oneself to
God to do as God directs.
The history of Richmond Friends Meeting is grounded in this worship experience. Waiting on
the Lord in silence has resulted in continued Christian witness on some cutting-edge social
issues: peace testimony in time of war, racial reconciliation in times of slavery and prejudice,
and human dignity in prisons. From worship has sprung a lively desire for the good of
humankind.
II. Historical Overview: Richmond Friends from l795 to 1962
“...I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made
known to you.” John 15:15b
For Richmond Friends to learn our history is particularly important because Friends have been
practically left out of the Virginia history books. Friends have been “quiet rebels”1 not often in
the community spotlight. The following historical overview is .a context for understanding the
thesis of this paper: Silent worship has given continual focusing to concerns for the social order,
so that testimonies for peace, racial reconciliation, and penal reform were lived out in each era of
Richmond Friends Meeting’s life.
A. Early Days
Founded by George Fox in England in 1652, the Religious Society of Friends was first brought
to Virginia by Elizabeth Harris in 1656.2 In l660 Quakers, who worshipped and married without
a priest, were banished or fined.3 After persecution died down, Friends Meetings flourished in
the mid-eighteenth century. In close proximity to Richmond were Cedar Creek Meeting north of
Richmond in Hanover County, and White Oak Swamp Meeting east of Richmond in Henrico
County.4 Difficult times came again around the American Revolution when Friends refused to
fight, and when Virginia Yearly Meeting made owning slaves grounds for disownment from the
Society of Friends in l784.5 As membership dwindled through disownments and migrations to
slave-free states to the west, nearby meetings were ”laid down” (discontinued), but Richmond
Meeting continued, often as a remnant, down to the present day.
In 1795 Richmond was permitted to have an Indulged Meeting (without elders and overseers)
under White Oak Swamp Monthly Meeting.6 In 1797 a lot was purchased beside Shockoe Creek
(today at Nineteenth and Cary Streets) and a brick building forty feet square was completed in
1799.7 In 1800 overseers were appointed.8
Way was opened for the new Meeting partially through visits of traveling ministers who held
Friends meetings for worship in 1785, 1792, and 1795 in Richmond.9 Furthermore, the new
government of the Commonwealth of Virginia established its capital in the City in 1780 so that
more people moved there.10 To form the new Richmond Indulged Meeting, Friends from nearby
Meetings attended, and were soon joined by Friends moving from Meetings in western Virginia
and Ireland.11
Samuel Mordecai, early Richmond historian, describes the distinctive simple dress of Mr.
Lowndes, “a fine type of Quaker... with his broad brimmed hat, drab suit, the coat of plainest cut
without a superfluous button, waistcoat in the same style...knee breeches, gray stockings, and
silver knee- and shoe-buckles.” 12 Richmond Friend Mrs. Whitlock is recorded as having dressed
in the Quakerhabit 13 --probably her Quaker bonnet and long grey dress.
Early Richmond Friends offered moral leadership through owning no slaves, testifying for
religious freedom, and making the prison system more humane. There were also problems,
including three law suits among members, and several persons disowned for not adhering to
Friends’ disciplines.14 Resorting to law is contrary to Friends disciplines. In 1805 Micajah Davis
was disowned for consenting to his daughter’s marriage “out of unity,” or with a non-Friend.15
Several persons were disowned for marrying out of unity16 In addition the Hicksite-Orthodox
split affected Richmond Meeting, as it did all of the Society of Friends. Hicksites tended to
emphasize the mystical side of Quakerism, the listening to the Inner Light. Orthodox Friends
emphasized the responsibility of the elders to guard doctrine and behavior and tended to be more
evangelical.17 In 1829, Henry Clark of Richmond Friends Meeting asked to marry Mary Maule,
a Philadelphia Friend. When the Clearness Committee found out that she was a member of the
Separatist (Hicksite) Meeting, Richmond Meeting refused clearness for the marriage and
disowned Henry Clark for marrying her.18
Correspondence reflects both happy and difficult times. In 1810 traveling minister Mildred
Ratcliff reports that she held a meeting in Richmond “to a good degree of satisfaction.”19 In
1824 Deborah Stables wrote to Benjamin Hallowell, “Benjamind [sic], Friends do not thrive in
Richmond.”20 Also in 1824 Stephen Grellett wrote during his travels in ministry, visiting
Richmond for the third time, “I had several times before now, apprehended that there are in this
place, among much of what is evil, some well-disposed, pious persons; to these the Lord gave
me to minister, for their encouragement in the way of righteousness and holiness.”21
The War of 1812, which lasted through 1815, several times threatened Richmond. Friends
attracted two new members because of their pacifist stance during this war.23
B. The Crenshaw Family
These two new members, Nathaniel Crenshaw and his son John Bacon Crenshaw, became
outstanding Friends. Moreover, this family was a continuous thread in a transient Meeting from
Nathaniel Crenshaw’s joining through the death of his great-grandson James Hoge Ricks in
1958, and his great-granddaughter Katherine Ricks in 1969. Richmond Friends almost lost the
Crenshaws when John Bacon considered moving west to slave-free states, as were numerous
Friends families,24 but he decided to stay in Virginia “because of his affection for father.”25
As will be developed later, Nathaniel Crenshaw freed his own slaves and aided in the liberation
of three hundred more.26 Quite active in the American Colonization Society, he favored sending
ex-slaves to Liberia, or would aid them in traveling north to free states if they preferred.27 In
1843 he was recorded as a minister in the Society of Friends, and in that spirit held open house
for Friends traveling in the ministry.28
Recommended in 1854, John Bacon Crenshaw was a minister for Richmond Friends during the
War Between the States.29 During the War the Meetinghouse was taken over by the Confederate
Army and used as a hospital.30 John Crenshaw visited the sick and the prisoners, from North and
South. He worked for the release of conscientious objectors from the Confederate Army -notably Friends, Mennonites, and Dunkards.31 During battles on his own farmland at Rocouncy
five miles north of Richmond, Crenshaw provided for hungry troops and nursed the wounded.32
John was often accompanied by his father Nathaniel, who died in 1866.33 During this period, the
minutes of Richmond Friends meetings reflect little of the war, and are more interested in the
trips of the Crenshaws as traveling ministers to North Carolina Yearly Meeting, with whom they
were affiliated due to being cut off from northern Friends during the war.34 After the War, John
Bacon Crenshaw served as City Engineer, delegate from Richmond to the General Assembly (he
was permitted to affirm rather than swear), a founder of the Friends’ Orphan Asylum for Colored
Children, and initiator of a bill to establish Central Lunatic Asylum (for Negroes).35
Equally faithful to her Inner Light was John Bacon Crenshaw’s daughter Margaret (1849-1940).
When attendance had dwindled to only a few, Friends continued to meet faithfully with Margaret
Crenshaw as a “guiding spirit in the Society in and around Richmond’36 Working for the causes
of peace, justice, and Christianity, she was a member of the Women’s Christian Temperance
Union, and taught Bible School at the State Penitentiary and City Jail. Also, she was diligent in
her efforts to help Negro children and American Indians.37
Outstanding Friends of the next generation were her niece and nephews Arnold, Hoge, and
Katherine Ricks. Arnold used his business ability in service of the Meeting, and Katherine her
ability as a librarian at Friends’ Guilford College.38 James Hoge Ricks was judge of the Juvenile
and Domestic Relations Court of Richmond for forty years, and authored much of the first
Children’s Code of Virginia.39 Hoge Ricks was a judge, but many persons thought of him as a
minister. As an elder in Richmond Friends Meeting, he lived a personal ministry where he knew
and cared about individuals.40
Today Richmond Friends Meeting looks back on a heritage of peacemaking and social reform
partially carried on through the Crenshaw family, of whom no members are currently active in
the Meeting.
C. Emmet Frazer
The third of Richmond Friends’ recorded ministers was Emmet Frazer, graduate of William Penn
College in Iowa. In 1929 the American Friends Service Committee recommended that he take a
job as professor of English and Religious Studies at Virginia Union University which had mostly
black students. In l949 he resigned that position to become Director of the Interdenominational
Religious Work Foundation where he served to 1955. In this capacity he was Chaplain at the
State Penitentiary, as well as being responsible for religious activities at all of the Virginia penal
institutions, mental institutions, and tubercular sanatoria. Typically he conducted five worship
services each first day, since he felt led to offer religious services where there would otherwise
be none for institutionalized persons. At his death in 1962, Emmet Frazer was Recording Clerk
of Baltimore Yearly Meeting at Homewood and Clerk of Richmond Monthly Meeting.41
1962 marks the end of an era in the life of Richmond Friends Meeting. After the OrthodoxHicksite split among Friends in the late 1820's Richmond Meeting was an Orthodox meeting.
Teachings about the Bible, Christ, and the Christian life were central. Sinners were counseled
and encouraged to change their ways through acceptance of Christ. After Frazer’s death, Friends
from other localities and religious backgrounds joined the Meeting, which took on an
increasingly Hicksite (in today’s language, Friends General Conference) leaning. Today few
persons remain who know of Richmond Friends’ rich Orthodox heritage prior to 1962. The
following stories of our spiritual ancestors may offer perspective on how today’s Richmond
Friends can live out our Christian testimonies.
III. Living Out Friends’ Testimonies
“You are my friends if you do what I command you.” John 15:l4
As Friends have met silently to wait upon the Lord, thus drawing fresh strength and perspective
from the worship, they have left the Meetinghouse to do what they were commanded. For this
paper, Friends’ response to Christian commandments on peace, race relations, and prison
ministry will be traced as representative of Friends’ testimonies.
A. Peace Testimony
Friends affirm a Biblical basis for the peace testimony. A Prince of Peace was prophesied who
would bring in a Peaceable Kingdom. (Isaiah 9:6-7; 11:4-9) “Thou shalt not kill” is one of the
Ten Commandments. Jesus taught and lived peacemaking and love of enemy. (Matthew 5:38-41,
43-46) George Fox similarly counseled his followers” to live in the life and power which does
away with the occasion for war.”
Early Richmond Friends were firm pacifists; disowning from membership those who bore
arms.42 Doubtless knowing Friends from Cedar Creek Meeting who had firmly refused to fight
during the Revolutionary War,43 Friends in Richmond affirmed a pacifist stand in the War of
1812. Friends suffered payment of muster fines, rather than fight.44 As part of Virginia Yearly
Meeting, they concurred with the following statement:
While we view with sorrow the awful progress of war spreading
desolation and Misery in the human family, let us endeavor to guard
our Minds from mixing in the politics of the times, which will insensibly
leven into the spirit, and will lead if not to the practice at least to the
promotion of that distructive [sic] evil.”45
During the War Between the States, some Richmond Friends chose to fight, and some were
conscientious objectors. Cedar Creek Monthly Meeting (of which Richmond Friends became a
part in l841 when former White Oak Swamp Monthly Meeting was laid down) accepted the
resignation of three persons who chose to fight, but “earnestly hopes that the day is not distant
when those with many others aroused by the a juncture of war now presented to our view may be
enabled to renounce principles which lead to such results and come and enlist under the banner
of the Prince of Peace.”46
John Bacon Crenshaw worked tirelessly to have conscientious objectors released from
Confederate prisons and conscription requirements. He visited the Confederate Congress in
behalf of them and published in his newspaper Southern Friend the law excusing conscientious
objectors.47 As a minister, Crenshaw himself was exempt from military service.48
In the period from l9l4-1920 the Peace Committee of Richmond Friends Meeting (now
Richmond Monthly Meeting with Cedar Creek Monthly Meeting laid down in 1875) was
particularly active working for peace and reconciliation in the period of the Great War. Peace
literature was distributed in the schools, and prizes were offered in 1916 for the best essays on
“Why We Do Not Need a Large Increase in our Army & Navy”: $15 first prize to a boys’ school,
$10 first prize to a girls’ school.49 Money was donated for Belgian relief in 1914, for English and
Armenian relief in 1916, for French orphans in 1917, and for feeding the German children in
1920.50 Letters were sent to Senators and Representatives by Hoge Ricks in 1916 urging
opposition to the so-called “preparedness” for war.51 The Friends Peace Committee of Richmond
ran two advertisements in the newspapers, including the following:
PEACE OR WAR?
To our fellow—citizens:
In this time of crisis when our country’s highest good is the common aim
of all, we voice this deep conviction of patriotic duty.
The causes for which men fight -- liberty, justice, and peace -- are noble
and Christian causes. But war itself violates law, justice, liberty, and
peace, the very eng for which alone its tragic cost might be justified....52
In World War II, Friends were again active in peace-making. Hoge Ricks met athomes1 with
young Friends to think through their stands on the peace testimony in anticipation of their being
faced with conscription.53 After the war opposition to conscription continued, with visits to
Congressional Representatives, and a firm stand against the Selective Service Act of l948.54
A change in Friends’ custom of disowning those who bear arms is evident in l943. A member
wrote saying that he had joined the Armed Forces as a result of personal conviction, and that he
doubted the Meeting wanted his membership. The Meeting decided to stay in touch with him,
since “to encourage him would do more to ostracize him.”55
Friends were proud of having several members who were conscientious objectors serving in
Civilian Public Service Camps. Their peace testimony was affirmed.56
Thus, Richmond Friends stood consistently against war, and dealt in increasingly lenient ways
with Friends who chose to fight.
B. Testimony on Slavery and Race Relations
When Richmond Friends Meeting came into being in 1795, it was part of Virginia Yearly
Meeting which had earnestly recommended since 1773 that Friends free their slaves.57 In 1788 it
was inserted in the Virginia Yearly Meeting discipline that “none amongst us be concerned in
importing, buying, selling, holding or overseeing slaves, and that all bear a faithful testimony
against the practice.58 Those who had slaves were disowned, including thirteen from Cedar Creek
Meeting.59
That Richmond Friends were free of slave-holding is implied by the fact that the unsuccessful
slave rebellion of 1800 in Richmond planned to spare Quakers. Gabriel, slave of Thomas Prosser
on Brook Road, had enlisted hundreds of slaves in a plot to kill slaveholders and free slaves. At
the last minute, the plot was betrayed by house slaves, and a great storm interfered with the
attack.60
Also, White Oak Swamp Monthly Meeting, of which Richmond Meeting was a part, ran
Gravelly Hill School for black children. It was the first school for black children in Virginia.61
After Friends freed their slaves, many had economic difficulty in a slave-based economy. Also,
slave-holding neighbors tended to be suspicious of Friends, particularly after the Nat Turner
rebellion In Southhampton County and after being frightened by propaganda from Northern
abolitionists. Consequently, many Friends moved to free states in the midwest. From White Oak
Swamp Monthly Meeting, twelve families moved to Ohio between 1811 and 1836.62
The Crenshaws chose to stay in Virginia, and Nathaniel Crenshaw worked for the emancipation
through legal means of over three hundred slaves.63 In 1837 he bought 1000 copies of a mild
Address from the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting on the evils of slavery. Evidently he was indicted
for stirring up trouble and imprisoned. However the grand jury ignored the bill and Crenshaw
was freed.64 Quite active in the American Colonization Society, Nathaniel Crenshaw aided many
ex-slaves in going to Liberia and was never disillusioned with this approach.65 In 1827 he had
taken sixty-five Negroes freed by himself and a deceased uncle to Philadelphia, following his
joining Friends Meeting.66 In addition, he pursued legal battles with children of Friends who
refused to liberate hundreds of slaves freed by their parents’ will.67 During the 1841 financial
depression in Virginia, Nathaniel Crenshaw wrote to Northern abolitionist Gerrit Smith
unsuccessfully asking for money to buy freedom of slaves.68
His son John Bacon Crenshaw in one instance personally loaned a Negro $3500 with which to
buy his five grandchildren. The freed persons hired themselves out, using most of their wages to
pay back the borrowed money. However, with the Emancipation Proclamation they no longer
felt under obligation to repay the loan.69
After the war, John Bacon Crenshaw was instrumental in starting the Friends’ Asylum for
Colored Orphans. Receiving contributions from the Freedman’s Bureau, Philadelphia Friends,
Negro citizens of Richmond. and others, Friends Established a home and school, and after three
years turned it over to the ”colored ministers” of the city, with the following invitation:
Friends: Deeply impressed, at the close of the late unhappy contest with
the necessity for such an Institution -- Your friends the Quakers with
considerable labor collected the necessary funds and erected what is now
known as the Orphan House for Colored Children.... Trusting that you will
appreciate the great importance of such an Institution, where the helpless
orphans may be received and sheltered from the cold charities and cruel
temptations of a heartless world till opportunity offers to place them in
suitable homes, where they may receive the sympathy, care, and training,
their sorrowful lot so much needs....70
This institution was a continual place of involvement for Richmond Friends who served on the
Executive Board even after it became a Community Fund enterprise in l941.71
In 1929 Emmet Frazér came to Richmond to serve as Professor of English and Religious Studies
at predominantly black Virginia Union University until 1945 when black professors were
available.72 That year Richmond Friends cooperated with plans for a city-wide, inter-faith, interracial worship called “Fellowship of Worship.”73 Also, the meeting concurred with the Council
of Church Women and wrote letters to City Council on the need to improve the situation for
Negroes. Suggestions were hiring of Negro police, probation officers, social workers, and
allowing Negro physicians to attend their patients after hospital admission.74
After this point in the minutes there is less mention of attempts toward racial reconciliation,
leaving one to wonder if continued efforts went on individually.
In conclusion, Friends’ testimony that there is that of God in each person led Friends to free their
own slaves and work for liberation of those owned by others. Attempts to live out concerns for
black persons continued through the difficult years of Reconstruction and the white backlash
lasting to our own day.
C. Testimony on Prisons and Capital Punishment
Friends have more frequently been involved as individuals than as official representatives of the
Meeting in visiting prisoners and pressing for reform of the prison system. In 1807 two members
of Richmond Friends Meeting, James Lownes and Thomas Ladd visited the Richmond City Jail
and Penitentiary House on Spring Street and made an official report to the Virginia Legislature.
The former system of “punishment by blood” under the British had been replaced by a new
system of laws and punishment conforming to the new nation’s constitution. For example in
1788 of sixty-six criminals tried, twenty-five were convicted and executed, three imprisoned, one
burnt in the hand, and thirty-seven discharged. In 1796, Virginia had reformed its penal laws “so
that no crime whatsoever committed by any free person should be punished with death, except
murder in the first degree.” In 1799, Virginia abolished capital punishment and replaced it with
one to ten years in the penitentiary, “fearing that some unfortunate victim might be deprived of
life, contrary to those (humanitarian) principles.” In 1802 capital punishment was reinstated for
treason. Lownes and Ladd regretted not making a deeper study of capital punishment and thus
refrained from making a recommendation about it to the legislature. They did recommend such
reforms as judges attending more to the circumstances of the crime and character of the convict,
guards being less abusive, building of a garden for prisoners to work in, teaching of reading and
math, Sabbath visits by ministers, and classification separating “those of the abandoned
description from those of whom there is some hope, from those for whom high hopes are
entertained.”75
Traveling Friends ministers visited the penitentiary. Mildred Rateliff in 1810 commented,
In the afternoon we paid the poor prisoners a visit at the penitentiary, and
had there a memorable time. The Truth in some of their hearts was
reached, I doubt not, and they convinced that it was the love God, and
not curiosity had brought us there.76
In 1872 traveling Friend Eliza Yates inquired whether there was a. home for fallen women in
Richmond, and as a result the Women’s Meeting started a Magdalene Association on Spring
Street.77
In addition to his Meeting-approved visits of military prisoners during the War Between the
States, John Bacon Crenshaw was firmly opposed to capital punishment. He wrote to the
Governor of Virginia and to President Cleveland asking for a stay of execution for a notorious
murderer. Using documentation from Michigan where murders decreased after capital
punishment was abolished, Crenshaw stated,
...we have in the history of hanging an accumulation of evidence showing
that so far from being a protection, the example of the state taking
vengeance on the murderer by hanging educates the citizens in a like
spirit, one towards the other, and causes an increase of murders. Let us
all unite in abolishing it, and leave it Him who hath said, ‘Vengeance is
mine I will repay.’’78
Crenshaw’s daughter Margaret was to conduct a Bible School in the City Jail and State
Penitentiary after his death.79
James Hoge Ricks, Virginia’s first juvenile court judge, labored as judge forty years for the idea
that the law could prevent adult crime by creating a court for the protection and treatment of
juvenile offenders.80 Frazer’s work as Chaplain at the State Penitentiary and preacher at road
camps likewise kept the Meeting informed about prisoners’ needs.81 Friends thus maintained a
consistent presence in Virginia’s prisons with support of the Meeting.
IV. Conclusion: Implications for Our Time
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news
to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the
blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the
Lord.” Luke 4:18-19
Luke gives us a vivid image of Jesus’ mission to the world, and of ours. We are challenged to a
special concern for the poor, the captives, the oppressed. As Richmond Friends have worshipped
in silent waiting since, 1795, they have been moved by the Spirit to live out Christian concerns.
As contemporary Friends face the likelihood of a new military conscription act, the renewal of
capital punishment, the difficulty of prison ministry, and evidences of racism in our society-we
can gain perspective from efforts of Richmond Friends who have gone before us. Our history can
help us discern who we are and what we are to do. Recalling the abolition of slavery, we know
that change for the better can come; there is hope. Looking at the continuing presence of war and
capital punishment, we may see that we are to continue the struggle without expecting easy,
recognizable results.
Friends’ hunger to live morally responsible lives grows out of the conviction that there is that of
God in all people. Friends are frequently moved to offer assistance to the oppressed, and to speak
to that of God in the oppressor. Our Inner Light can direct us.
Finally, Friends may draw courage from the fact that worship sustains the person who lives out
moral responsibility. Social reformers are often in danger of “burning out” -- of overextending to
the point of tiredness or cynicism. Worship is a continual refresher which can give new energy
and hope.
FOOTNOTES
1. The phrase is the title of a history of Friends in America: Margaret Hope Bacon, The Quiet
Rebels.
2. Ibid., p. 38. See the Act for Suppressing Quakers, 1660.
3. J. P. Bell, Our Quaker Friends of Ye Olden Time p. 176.
4. Douglas Summers Brown and Helen L. Smith, “A Map of Virginia 1656-1941 Showing all
Quaker Meetings that are or ever were Established In this Ancient Commonwealth,” frontpiece
of William Wade Hinshaw, editor, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, vol. 6
5. Discipline of Virginia Yearly Meeting, 1784, cited in Stephen B. Weeks, Southern Quakers
and Slavery pp. 211-212. cf. Patricia P. Hickin, “Anti-Slavery in Virginia, 1831-1861," p. 449.
6. White Oak Swamp Monthly Meeting, Minutes and Register 1780-1818, 5-20-1795.
7. Ibid., 11-4-1797, 6-2-1799. A watercolor of this meeting-house is in the background of a
portrait of Hannah Clark, a member of Richmond Friends Meeting. This portrait is owned by Dr.
and Mrs. Wi1liam W. Martin, Jr. of Richmond, Virginia. (See description in appendix.)
8. White Oak Swamp Monthly Meeting, end of 8th month 1800, 7-11-1801.
9. In 1785 “a numerous and respectable meeting of Quakers assembled at the Capitol” and “two
eminent female speakers from Boston held forth.” Early unnamed source quoted in Mary
Newton Stanard, Richmond: Its People and Its Story, p. 53.
Thomas Scattergood writes in 1792, “Returned to Richmond and attended a meeting at the
capitol....The meeting was not large at first, and many of those who had gathered were uneasy
with silence. I felt willing, after a time, to get up and gently reprove them, and commend the few
who kept their seats, and also invite them to come together in the afternoon, and bring their
neighbors, thinking that would be all that would be required of me to say. But when I began to
speak, the people crowded into the house in such a manner as caused me to pause and consider,
whether it would not be best to sit down and recover strength to labor amongst them in the line
of the ministry; but concluded it safest to endeavor to continue speaking, and through favor I was
in some degree enable to relieve my mind, and it was thought Truth arose and spread into some
dominion.” Journal of the Life and Religious Labors of Thomas Scattergood ,p. 90.
William Savery, through whose ministry Elizabeth Fry of Newgate Prison ministry was
convinced, visited Richmond in 1795.
Samuel Janney, History of the Religious Society of Friends to 1828, p. 97.
10. Stanard, p. 37.
11. Early Richmond Friends from nearby Friends’ Meeting cited in the minutes included James
and Joseph Lownes from Fairfax Monthly Meeting, George Winston from Cedar Creek Monthly
Meeting, Ebenezer Maule from Charles City Monthly Meeting, Thomas Ladd from Cedar Creek
Meeting, Nathan Bell from Swamp Meeting, Samuel Parsons from Cedar Creek Meeting, Mary
Davis from South River Meeting, and Sarah Parsons from Cedar Creek Meeting. White Oak
Swamp Monthly Meeting, Minutes 1-10-1796, 4-2-l797, 8-2-1800. The Meetings from which
they were received are given alphabetically by name of the person in Hinshaw pp. 157, 171, 194,
197, 198, 201, 202, 217. Persons from White Oak Swamp Meeting assigned to confer with
Richmond Friends were Robert Pleasants, James Ladd, John Crew, Robert Crew, and Samuel
Hargrave. White Oak Swamp Meeting, Minute 6-4-1796.
Joseph and Rhoda Anthony transferred from South River Monthly Meeting in Virginia in 1796.
John and Hannah Clark with their six children, originally from Lisbun Monthly Meeting in
Ireland, joined in 1802. Hinshaw, p. 163. William Sinton was received from the Cork, Ireland
Monthly Meeting in 1810. Hinshaw, p.212.
Rebecca Alley was received on certificate from New York Monthly Meeting in 1810. Hinshaw,
p. 153.
12. Samuel Mordecai, Richmond in By-Gone Days, quoted in Stanard, p.72.
13. Mary Wingfield Scott, Old Richrnond Neighborhoods, p 36.
14. Joseph Anthony in 1800, a member of Anthony and Ladd Co. of Richmond, Virginia was
accused of mismanaging the business by two other members, Samuel Parsons and Thomas Ladd.
He refused to take the advice of his Monthly Meeting and resorted to law, which is against the
discipline of the Meeting. Anthony appealed higher to Quarterly Meeting, and then Virginia
Yearly Meeting, so that the case dragged on two years. He was disowned. Hinshaw, p. 153.
In 1817 Henry Clark brought suit against the trustees of Richmond Preparative Meeting, but
withdrew, and had the case against him dismissed. Hinshaw, p. 163.
In 1821 James Lownes was sued by James Winston, both in Richmond Preparative Meeting.
Hinshaw, p. 197.
15. Hinshaw, p. 171.
16. For example, James Lownes was disowned for marrying a “niece of affinity” but was
reinstated after a period of probation. Hinshaw, p. 197.
17. Howard Brinton, Friends for 300 Years, p. 188.
18. Hinshaw, p. 163.
19. Memoranda and Correspondence of Mildred Ratcliff, 5-24-1810, p.86.
20. Autobiography of Benjamin Hallowell, p. 93.
21. Memoirs of the Life and Gospel Letters of Stephen Grellet, edited by Benjamin Seebohn, pp.
61, 147, 630.
22. Stanard, pp. 109-113.
23. Nathaniel Crenshaw and his son John Bacon Crenshaw joined Friends Meeting in 1826.
Nathaniel Crenshaw had been a soldier in the War of 1812, but was convinced of the principles
of peace and therefore joined Friends. Margaret Crenshaw, “John Bacon Crenshaw in Quaker
Biographies, Series 2, Vol. 3, p. 167.
24. Bell, p. 274.
25. Crenshaw, p. 171.
26. Ibid., p. 168.
27. Ibid., p. 167.
28. Hinshaw, p. 237. “Religious Chaos Forced Quakers to Seek Home Here Richmond TimesDispatch, October 10, 1920 (p.1).
29. Hinshaw, p. 237.
30. Letter signed by John Bacon Crenshaw et al. from Cedar Creek Monthly Meeting of Friends,
Richmond, Virginia, 1-27-1875 to Friends requesting funds for rebuilding the meetinghouse
since “the old meetinghouse, situated betwixt Castle Thunder and Castle Libby (prisons for
Confederate and Federal prisoners respectively) was forcibly taken possession of by the
Confederate soldiery, and friends, after suffering much annoyance, found shelter for a while in a
private house, and afterwards in a rented room.” cf. Bell, p. 270.
31. Diary of John Bacon Crenshaw, quoted in Fernando G. Cart land, Southern Heroes or The
Friends in War Time pp. 268-277.
32. Crenshaw, pp. 166-168.
33. Crenshaw, p. 174. Hinshaw, p. 237.
34. “No meeting held in consequence of the battle preventing friends attending,” Cedar Creek
Monthly Meeting, Minutes 1854-1868, 11-5-64, p. 221. Bell, p. 267. cf. Cartland, p. 267.
35. Crenshaw, pp. 194, 199, 200.
36. Hinshaw, p. 237. Richmond Monthly Meeting, Minutes 1935- 19249, “Memorial to Margaret
Elizabeth Crenshaw’ 8-7-19140, p. 73.
37. “Memorial to Margaret Elizabeth Crenshaw,” p. 74.
38. Richmond Monthly Meeting Minutes, 1949-1958, “Memorial to Richard Arnold Ricks,”
following minute of 8-8-1956.
39 “Grace from a Judge,” Virginian Pilot March 13, 1958.
40. Richmond Monthly Meeting, Minutes 1949-1958, “Memorial to James Hoge Ricks,”
following minute of 5-14-1958.
41. Jessie Ava Frazer Hartley, private interview, Richmond, Virginia, April 8, 1979.
42. For example, William Sinton was disowned in 1817, partially for performing military
services. Hinshaw, p. 212.
43. Friends from Cedar Creek were taken by Colonel George Washington’s army to Winchester
in hopes they would fight in the French and Indian War, but they were finally released without
having to bear arms. Most Cedar Creek Friends refused to fight In the American Revolution.
Hinshaw, p. 225.
44. Virginia Society of Friends Yearly Meeting, Minutes 1702-1844, Vol 6 of Transcripts of
Quaker Records, 5-23-1814, p. 235.
45. Ibid.
46. Cedar Creek Monthly Meeting, Minutes 1835-1845, 14-1-1863, p. 272. cf. 7-10-1861, p.
208.
47. On 11-3-1864 Governor Worth of North Carolina wrote to John Bacon Crenshaw in order to
intercede for distressed Quakers He requested copies of the conscientious objectors exemption
law printed in Crenshaw’s publication, Southern Friend. Edward Needles Wright, Conscientious
Objectors in the Civil War, p. 147.
48. The letter from Confederate Secretary of War Campbell exempting Crenshaw from military
service is quoted verbatim in Crenshaw, p. 175.
49. Richmond Monthly Meeting, Archives, “Report of the Peace Committee,” 1916.
50. Richmond Monthly Meeting, Archives, “Expenditures of Richmond Friends Meeting 19141918.” Richmond Monthly Meeting, Minutes 1893-1935, 12-8-1916, pp. 162, 165, 167.
51. Ibid.
52. “Peace or War?” Advertisement, Richmond Times-Dispatch, 1916. (The date is not noted on
the clipping.)
53. Richmond Monthly Meeting, Minutes 1935-1949, 9-11-1940, p. 78.
54. Ibid., 8-1-1948, p. 275. Friends recorded their position on the Selective Service Act of 1948
as follows:
1) Support Young Friends and others who oppose conscription by non-registration, or
registering as conscientious objectors.
2) Avoid engaging in any trade, business, or profession directly contributing to the military
system.
3) Avoid purchase of government war bonds or stock certificates in war industries.
4) Ask Quaker schools and colleges to refuse to accept military training units or contracts,
and advise Young Friends not to accept military training in other institutions.
55. Ibid., 5-2-1943, p. 139.
56. Richmond Monthly Meeting, Archives, Ministry and Counsel Committee, Minutes 19291949, 9-30-1945, p. 57.
57. Stephen B. Weeks, Southern Quakers and Slavery, pp. 210-211.
58. Virginia Yearly Meeting Discipline, quoted in Weeks, p. 211.
59. Weeks, p. 213.
60. Stanard, pp. 82-85.
61. William C. Dunlap, Quaker Education in Baltimore and Virginia Yearly Meetings, p. 173.
62. Bell, p. 274.
63. Crenshaw, p. 168.
64. John Gurney, A Journey in North America, pp. 75-76, quoted in Patricia Hickin, p. 469.
65. Nathaniel Crenshaw Correspondence 1836-1853, quoted in Hickin, pp. 477-478.
66. Hickin, p. 477, citing Earle, Life of Lundy, p. 213, which cites Genius of Universal
Emancipation, July 4, 1827.
67. Letter, Nathaniel Crenshaw to Gerrit Smith, February 23, 1842.
68. Letters, Nathaniel Crenshaw to Gerrit Smith, December 21, 1841, January 31, 1842,
February 23, 1842.
69. Crenshaw, p. 170.
70. Cedar Creek Monthly Meeting, Minutes 1868-1893, 1-4-1871, pp. 52-53.
71. Arthur William Rich, “A Survey of the Small Religious Groups of Richmond, Virginia,” p.
15.
72. “Memorial to Emmet Manly Frazer’ Richmond Monthly Meeting, Minutes 1958-1962, 7-11962, p. 282.
73. Richmond Monthly Meeting, Minutes 1935-1959, 3-4-1945 p.198.
74 Ibid., p. 200.
75. Honorable Creed Taylor, James Lownes, and Thomas Ladd, “Extracts from the Proceedings
of a Quarterly Meeting of the Visitors at the Jail and Penitentiary House on 15th December
1807,” pp. 2, 4, 5, 6, 13-15.
76. Ratcliff, pp. 86-87.
77. Richmond Monthly Meeting, Archives, “The Magdalene Association.”
78. Letter, John Bacon Crenshaw to Governor Lee, 1-10-1887, quoted in Crenshaw, pp. 203-204.
79. Richmond Monthly Meeting, Minutes 1935-1949, 4-4-1943, p. 134. cf. Richmond Monthly
Meeting, Minutes 1893-1935, 10-11-1913, p. 142.
80. “Grace from a Judge,” Virginian Pilot, March 13, 1958 (p. 4).
81. “Memorial to Emmet Manly Frazer,” p. 28-A.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bacon, Margaret Hope. The Quiet Rebels: The Story of the Quakers in America. New York:
Basic Books, 1969.
Bell, James Pinkney, editor. Our Quaker Friends of Ye Olden Time. Lynchburg: J.P. Bell
Company, 1905.
Brinton, Howard. Friends for 300 Years. Philadelphia: Pendle Hill, 1964.
Cartland, Fernando G. Southern Heroes or The Friends in War Time Cambridge: Riverside
Press, 1895.
Cedar Creek, Hanover County and Richmond City Monthly Meetings. Minutes 1868-1893.
Virginia State Library, Archives.
Cedar Creek Monthly Meeting. Minutes 1835-1845, 1854-1868. Virginia State Library,
Archives.
Crenshaw, Margaret Elizabeth. “John Bacon Crenshaw.” Quaker Biographies Series II, Vol. III,
pp. 165-208. Philadelphia: Friends’ Book Store, n.d.
Dunlap, William C. Quaker Education in Baltimore and Virginia Yearly Meetings. Philadelphia:
Science Press, 1936.
Hallowell, Benjamin. Autobiography of Benjamin Hallowell Philadelphia: Friends’Book Store,
1884.
Hickin, Patricia P. “Anti-Slavery in Virginia, 1831-1861.” University of Virginia Ph.D.
Dissertation. Charlottesville, 1968.
Hinshaw, William Wade, editor. Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy Vol. VI. Ann
Arbor: Edwards Brothers, Inc., 1950.
Janney, Samuel M. History of the Religious Society of Friends to 1828 Philadelphia: Friends’
Book Store, 1861.
Mordecai, Samuel. Richmond in By-Gone Days Richmond: George M. West, 1856.
Ratcliff, Mildred. Memoranda and Correspondence of Mildred Ratcliff Philadelphia: Friends’
Book Store, 1890.
Rich, Arthur William. “A Survey of the Small R Groups of Richmond, Virginia.” Unpublished
B. D. Thesis. Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, 1941.
Richmond Monthly Meeting. Archives. “Expenditures of Richmond Friends Meeting 19141918."
_________. Archives. Letter from Cedar Creek Monthly Meeting. 1-27-1875.
_________. Archives. “The Magdalene Association.”
_________. Archives. “Report of the Peace Committee.” 1916.
_________. Archives. Ministry and Council Committee. Minutes 1929-49 To be placed in
Friends Historical Society, Archives.
_________. Minutes 1893-1935. Virginia State Library, Archives.
_________. Minutes 1935-1949. To be placed in Friends Historical Society, Archives.
_________. Minutes 1949-1958 To be placed in Friends Historical Society, Archives.
_________. Minutes 1958-1962. To be placed in Friends Historical Society, Archives.
Richmond Times-Dispatch “Peace or War?” Advertisement. 1916.
_________. “Religious Chaos Forced Quakers to Seek Home Here.” October 10, 1920.
Scattergood, Thomas. Journal of the Life and Religious Labors of Thomas Scattergood
Philadelphia: Friends’ Book Store, n.d.
Scott, Mary Wingfield. Old Richmond Neighborhoods. Richmond: Whittet & Shepperson, 1950.
Seebohm, Benjamin, editor. Memoirs of the Life and Gospel Labors of Stephen Grellet
Philadelphia: Friends’ Book Store, n.d.
Stanard, Mary Newton. Richmond: Its People and Its Story Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott
Company, 1923.
Syracuse University Library. Archives. Gerrit Smith Papers.
Taylor, Honorable Creed, James Lownes, and Thomas Ladd. “Extracts from the Proceedings of a
Quarterly Meeting of the Visitors at the Jail and Penitentiary House on 15th December 1807.”
Report to the Virginia State Legislature. Virginia State Library. Archives.
Virginia Society of Friends Yearly Meeting. Minutes 1702-1844 Vol. VI of Transcripts of
Quaker Records. Copied for Edward Pleasants Valentine. Richmond: Valentine Museum, 19061907.
Virginian Pilot “Grace from a Judge.” March 13, 1958 (p.4).
Weeks, Stephen B. Southern Quakers and Slavery Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1896.
White Oak Swamp Monthly Meeting. Minutes and Register 1780-1818. Vol. V of Transcripts of
Quaker Records Copied for Edward Pleasants Valentine. Richmond: Valentine Museum, 19061907.
Wright, Edward Needles. Conscientious Objectors in the Civil War. Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 1931.
APPENDIX
Locations of Richmond Friends Meetinghouses
1795 -- “At a Monthly Meeting held at White Oak Swamp. 2nd day, 7th month, 1795. The
members of Swamp Meeting were joined to Richmond Meeting which is to be held on First and
Fourth days of the week, and to begin on the First Day the 15th of this month.” (Valentine
Museum typescript, 1795)
1796 -- Minutes mention Friends in Richmond meeting in “the present room.” (Valentine
typescript, 10th of 1 month, 1796)
-- “At a Monthly Meeting held at White Oak Swamp 4th of the 6th mo. 1796. The Friends of
Richmond through the channel of the Preparative Meeting requests the approbation of this
Meeting to build a Meeting House there.” (Valentine type script, p. 254)
1797 -- “11-4-1797 -- The Committee appointed by last Meeting to consult with Friends of
Richmond in respect to getting a more suitable lot there for the purpose of building a Meeting
House, reported that they had attended to the service and fixed on one the lower side of Shockoe
Creek which is procured for that purpose instead of the other one proposed; and the size of the
house extended to forty feet square, which is in considerable forwardness, the completion
whereof is left to the Committee appointed for that purpose.” (White Oak Swamp Monthly
Meeting minute, summarized from Valentine typescript)
1798 -- “At a Monthly Meeting at White Oak Swamp on 5th day of the 5th month 1798: Queries
to Meeting -- One new Meeting House built in Richmond.” (Summary of Valentine typescript, p.
281)
1810 -- The location of the meetinghouse is shown on the northeast corner of Cary and 19th
Streets. (“Richmond Virginia in Old Prints,” Johnson Publishing Co., 1932,) p. 32.)
1819 -- The Samuel Parsons House at 601 Spring Street was built from 1817 to 1819. The
Parsons were members of the Richmond Meeting which met at 19th and East Cary Streets.
Samuel Parsons was superintendent of the nearby Penitentiary during the 1820’s. The building
later became Spring Street Home for Unwed Mothers, then harbored pensioners, then the
Welfare Department. (M.W. Scott, p. 212)
1836 -- “In 1836, the meeting house was so badly damaged by fire that it was necessary to
appoint a committee to consider the matter of rebuilding.... It would seem from the records that
$250 was received toward the rebuilding of the new meeting house. We suppose this amount was
in addition to what was raised from the sale of the church property. At any rate, a new meeting
house of frame, surrounded by a high brick wall, was built at the corner of 19th and Cary Streets,
date not given.” (“Richmond Friends” by Matthew F. Woodard, 1929)
1853 -- Description of the first meetinghouse: “Their earliest meetinghouse was of brick, with a
graveyard just north of it....In 1853 a writer in the Dispatch described the rude building with its
unpainted interior set in a graveyard without stones but covered with eglantine -- an oasis in the
desert of factories and warehouses.” (Scott, p. 67, citing the Richmond Times Dispatch June
15th, 1853.)
1862 -- During the War between the States, the meetinghouse was forcibly occupied by
Confederate troops. It was located between Castle Thunder (prison for Southerners) and Castle
Libby (prison for Federal soldiers). It may have been used as a hospital, according to oral
tradition. (Letter from Cedar Creek Monthly Meeting, 1st mo., 27th 1875, quoted below)
-- The deed for the lot on 19th and Cary St. was sold, except the graveyard, in 1862. Three lots in
Hollywood Cemetery numbered 121, 122, and 123 in Section L were purchased for $173 n 1863.
(Cedar Creek Monthly Meeting Minutes, 1862, p. 218. Richmond Monthly Meeting Minutes, 9th
month, 12th, 1894 p. 17)
1867 -- “One building of a public character that survives is Springfield Hall...which was erected
at 16th and M around 1850. Just after the Civil War the Society of Friends used this as its
meetinghouse.” (Scott, p. 24. Picture is on p. 22.)
l868c.-- Location of the meetinghouse built after the Civil War was on the south side of Clay
Street, west of First. In 1955 it was still standing and used as the Moses Memorial Baptist
Church. (Richmond Times-Dispatch July 17th 1955) Pictures of this meetinghouse's interior are
to be placed in the Quaker Collection, Haverford College.)
1871 -- Management of Friends Orphan House for Colored Children built by Friends after the
Civil War ended was officially offered to the colored churches of Richmond and Manchester.
1875 -- “Cedar Creek Monthly Meeting of Friends, Richmond, Va. 1st Month, 25th, 1875. Dear
Friends: Friends of the above Monthly Meeting earnestly solicit thy favorable consideration and
pecuniary assistance in liquidating the liability incurred by the building of their new meetinghouse. During the war the old meeting-house, situated betwixt Castle Thunder and Castle Libby,
was forcibly taken possession of by the Confederate soldiery, and friends, after suffering much
annoyance, found shelter for a while in a private house, and afterwards in a rented room. Before
the close of the war the old meeting-house was sold for Confederate money, and the proceeds
invested in railroad bonds, from which loss was sustained.. . .“ (Letter signed on behalf of Cedar
Creek Monthly Meeting by John B. Crenshaw, et al)
1909 -- The property on Clay street was sold, and meetings were held, for the most part, in the
YMCA Building, second floor. (Woodard, p. 1)
1929 -- Friends purchased a building “constructed of plain white stucco. It is quite attractive,
because of its simplicity and beauty. The location is good being opposite a small park and in the
midst of a very good residential section.” (Woodard, p. 1) This meetinghouse was located at the
north east corner of Park and Meadow. (Ulrich Troubetzkoy, “The Society of Friends in
Richmond,” Richmond Times Dispatch, 1955)
1943 -- Friends met at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church during the winter due to war—time
fuel shortages. (Richmond Monthly Meeting Minutes, February 15, 1953)
1945 Sale of the Meetinghouse at 1804 Park Avenue at the north east corner of Park Avenue and
Meadow Street, to Calvary Pentecostal Tabernacle of the Assemblies of God for $16,750 cash.
Friends felt it unadvisable to buy another meeting house on the current market. (Richmond
Monthly Meeting Minutes, 5-13-45, pp. 205, 208)
-- Friends met In an annex on the east side of Tabernacle Baptist Church ‘ 115 c-rove Avenue, or
In the YMCA from l9 through 1953. (Richmond Monthly Meeting Minutes, February 15, 1953)
1953 -- Friends met at 2702 Grove Avenue in a converted residence. (Richmond Monthly
Meeting Minutes, December 7, 1952) This was sold because it did not meet fire regulations.
(Jessie Frazer Hartley interview, April 8, 1979)
1957 -- The current meetinghouse at 4500 Kensington Avenue was purchased from Colonial
Place Christian Church. “The Meeting approves the minute that the Trustees of the Meeting be
authorized to negotiate a real estate transaction for the sale of 2702 Grove Avenue at $16,500
and the subsequent purchase of 4500 Kensington Avenue at $l7,500, or otherwise, the
transaction to be at any differential of $1000.” (Richmond Monthly Meeting Minutes, February
14, 1957)