The Plymouth Meeting of Smithfield was considered one of the earliest Society of Friends, or Quaker, congregations in Ohio. Jesse Carr, the firstborn son of William and Sarah Carr, was recorded in the Plymouth Meeting records as being born on the "10th of 5th mo." in 1792. All seven children of William and Sarah were born before the name changed from Plymouth Meeting to Smithfield Meeting in 1818. Opposed to slavery, many Quakers served as conductors on the Underground Railroad, and Joseph and Rebecca Cope kept a station for runaway slaves on their farm northwest of Smithfield beside Northern Cemetery on State Route 151.