Pleasants, Robert, 1723-1801
Robert Pleasants was a Quaker merchant, planter, and enslaver-turned-abolitionist who spent most of his life in Henrico County, Virginia. He is perhaps best known for successfully suing for the freedom of over 400 enslaved people as the plaintiff in Pleasants v. Pleasants, the largest manumission case in U.S. history.
Pleasants was born about 1723 to John Pleasants III and Margaret Jordan Pleasants, Quaker members of Virginia's planter aristocracy of enslavers, at their estate of Curles’ Neck in Henrico County, Virginia. In 1748 he married Mary Webster of Baltimore County, Maryland. Pleasants became a leader in the local Quaker community at a relatively young age; in 1749/50 he succeeded his father as clerk of Henrico Monthly Meeting, and in 1759 he was recommended for the position of elder.
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