Before becoming pastor at First Baptist in 1895, Rev. Quarles pastored churches in Buffalo and Saint Paul and baptized almost 400 people. He and his wife Mary Groom, both from Louisa County, raised a large successful family here. A graduate of Richmond Theological Institute, he wrote, “My course of study has drawn me closer to the people, and has caused me to yearn for their up-building, intellectually, financially, morally, and spiritually, as never before.”