Adric Philmore Rukkila was born July 7th, 1849, in Fallsington, Pennsylvania to Roy and Elyse Rukkila. The Rukkilas, staunch Quakers, first arrived in America on the Charles, sailing from London in 1685. Early on, they established themselves in the quaker community as prominent carpenters.

The Rukkila family's carpentry tradition lasted until around 1860, when Roy Rukkila, Adric's father, was introduced to the art of brewing. His wife Elyse, an elementary school teacher, strongly disapproved, but Roy continued pursuing his hobby. Eventually, his admiration and eventual adoption of a lifestyle of spirits caused widespread controversy in the local Quaker community, which had steadily been growing more sympathetic to the temperance movement.

This controversy eventually led to a schism in the Rukkila family, with Roy, his wife and two children, and various members of the "Vi" family tree heading West to "follow God's will," leaving more conservative members of the family behind. Very few records still remain of their journey (Roy's diary was lost in a fire in 1901) but records kept in Fort Kerney, Nebraska list one Zeke Hart, presumably Adric's cousin, as deceased due to tuberculosis, implying a rough and dreary trip.

On or around, March 3rd, 1861, the Rukkila family arrived in Colorado City, where they were met by the local Quaker community. Unfortunately, 1861 proved a harsh year for the Rukkila clan. John Rukkila, Roy's brother, joined the Union as a naval officer. The mining supply trade that had been the lifeblood of the town steadily dried up as new railroads were opened in the south. Roy, who had recently opened a tavern--The Saint Patrick--found the loss of business crippling, and closed the following year.

It was the tavern's closing that proved to be the final straw between Adric and his increasingly strained relationship with his family. A strong temperance advocate later in life, he had clearly not supported the move to Colorado, and according to one  letter considered the tavern an "unholy blight upon the family." Shortly after the closing, Adric, then 13, left Colorado Springs to find work elsewhere.

Records of this portion of his life consist mainly of letters written to home and abroad. He attempted to cash in on the gold rush, and worked for a time as a farmhand, then a page. Eventually, promise of work in the leather trade led him to Montrose, Colorado, where on January 23rd, 1873, Adric met Alfred Packer and twenty-one others who had set out from Provo, Utah.

In a letter to the family, Adric described Alfred as a "surprisingly personable fellow", and promised to return "with gold galore" the following summer. Sadly, that is the last communication the family ever received from Adric. At Alfred Packard's trial, other party members reported seeing Adric "wander off into the snow," but this was refuted by his family. According to them, it is far more likely that Adric became a victim of cannibalism, and met his fate at the hands of Shannon Wilson Bell while the party was lost in the Rocky Mountains.

Adric P. Rukkila has since entered into Rukkila family lore, and his story is still told by his descendants today.