The Rev. John Preston Clarke (1831-1915), a free black man, and his Madagascar-born wife, Lucy Ann Renibe Winston, were raised in a Quaker community of free blacks in Montpelier. Ordained a minister in 1867, Clarke helped foster black institutions through individual enterprise and spiritual leadership. He is associated with eight central Virginia Baptist churches: Abner, Bethany, Ebenezer, Fifth Baptist, Greenwood, Mount Olive, St. James, and Shiloh, all of which remain active. Clarke and his wife are buried on land they owned and farmed west of Ashland in an area known as Winston Estates.