Smyrna United Presbyterian Church:
Preaching began in the schoolhouse in Smyrna.
1840 - Neighbors built a stone church for use of the Rev. Wm. Easton of the Octorara United Presbyterian Church.
1843 - Appears on Scott’s map of Lancaster County as a Reformed Presbyterian Meetinghouse. Also appears on the 1864 and 1875 maps.
1874 - Property conveyed by trustees of United Association Presbyterian Congregation of Octorara to Rev. Easton.
1878 - Rev. Easton died and property deeded to Smyrna Hall Company in 1880. Services were discontinued.
1892 - Property was conveyed to private owner and in 1981 the building was used as a township road shed.
Source: Churches and Cemeteries of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, A. Hunter Rineer, 1993, page 384, LancasterHistory.

  Rev. Dr. William Easton (1804 - 1879) was the founding father of this Presbyterian church. He lived on a small farm a few doors away, and was pastor here for decades. His primary pastorate was at the nearby Octorara Covenanter Presbyterian Church.
Rev. Easton was born in Ancrum, Scotland. In 1827 he was installed as pastor of the Pennsylvania congregations of Oxford, Octorara, and Muddy Run. He became a fearless anti-slavery activist in this community. Local newspapers describe his fight against slavery:

 “He was a pioneer in the anti-slavery cause, bearing his testimony from the pulpit against the heresy of slavery being ‘a Bible institution,’ when to do so we exceedingly unpopular.” Quote: The Semi-Weekly New Era, May 26, 1877, page 6.

 “He was the first man we ever heard denounce slavery from the pulpit…”

  — “He was the first man we ever heard denounce slavery from the pulpit, and then a large number of his members were pro-slavery in their feelings.” Quote: Obituary, The Semi-Weekly New Era, June 21, 1879.

—- “At that period the prevailing sentiment was decidedly pro-slavery. One Sunday Dr. Easton created quite a sensation by preaching what his critics denounced as an abolition lecture; It was, however, a vindication of the Bible against those who claimed that it justified slavery, which he indignantly repudiated. He lived to see the public sentiment of the nation reversed on the slavery question, from what he found it when he came to Pennsylvania fifty years before.” Quote: Biographical Annals of Lancaster County, Beers, 1903, pages 19-20.

—- “Rev. Lindley C. Rutter, long the beloved pastor of Chestnut Level Presbyterian Church, was one of the most fearless and outspoken of the local Abolitionists. Likewise “Father” William Easton, of the Octoraro United Presbyterian Church.” Quote: The Christiana Riot, W. U. Hensel, 1911, page 15.

Above: Abolitionist John Brown was hanged by the state of Virginia on December 2, 1859, after his anti-slavery raid on Harpers Ferry. His death inspired abolitionists to conduct “John Brown meetings” throughout the Northeast to discuss opposition to slavery. Rev. Easton held a John Brown meeting in this building on the day of John Brown’s execution.

—- “Wharton speaks of the Presbyterians as having been generally strongly anti-abolitionist. When the pastor of the Chestnut Level Presbyterian Church in Drumore [Rev. Lindley Rutter] spoke out against slavery, he met the usual malediction and contempt of a large portion of the community even including some of his own congregation. A Presbyterian abolitionist citizen of Sadsbury went to a John Brown meeting at the Smyrna United Presbyterian Church and found only two fellow members of his church while the rest of the 60-odd people attending the meeting were Quakers.” Quote: The Idealist as Opportunist…, Andrew Robertson, LancasterHistory.

  “One of the earliest recollections of the boyhood of the writer [R. J. Houston] was a sermon preached by Dr. Easton on the ‘Sins of Slavery,’ in which he contended for the equality of all men before the law, as they were equal before their Creator, for he made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.  This was seventy years ago [1830s] thirty years before the ‘sin’ he portrayed had brought its inevitable retribution upon the country that had tolerated and fostered it.”
     “Dr. Easton was far in advance of the sentiment of the neighborhood on the slavery question… and his anti-slavery discourse created quite a sensation. We recollect a conversation between two old members of the church on their way home, in which they declared if Dr. Easton preached any more  ‘abolition’ sermons they would not sit under him! But he had the courage of his convictions, and some of those who were angered at his utterances lived to see his views vindicated, when Lincoln proclaimed the quality of men before the law.” Quote: Lancaster New Era, April 28, 1902.

 Above: This stuccoed-stone farmhouse was the home of Rev. William Easton and wife Margaret Easton. The house is marked on the historic maps on this page. The farm is located a short walk from Rev. Easton’s Smyrna church building. Today an Amish family, the Fisher family, has been farming here for several generations, beginning in 1967. Most of the farms in this area are now owned by the Amish.

 Rev. Easton’s Meetinghouse and Farmhouse
on an 1875 Map:

 “United Presbyterian Meetinghouse, Quaker Church Road, southeast corner of Route 372; pre-1864; one and one-half story, three bay stuccoed stone meetinghouse (storage); gable roof; central entry on gable end has been converted to a window; alteration to east elevation,” Our Present Past, page 302, Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County.

 Rev. Easton’s Tombstone
Adjoining the Covenanter Church.
"Bold in Speech, Firm in Convictions,
…A Champion to His Friends”

Tombstone inscription: In Memory of The Rev. Wm. Easton D. D. who fell asleep in Jesus June 12, 1879 Age 75 yrs. Awaiting in the midst of His people the glorious resurrection of His saints. A child of Scotland - A Citizen of the U.S. Pastor 52 years over the people among whom he sleeps. In the relations of his life tender, sympathetic, courteous, beloved of all. In the ministry of his life bold in speech, firm in convictions, uncompromising in truth, a terror to his foes, a champion to his friends. A character mingled of Johns and Elijahs. First pure, then peaceable, without hypocrisy. Also his wife Margaret Easton who died Dec. 6, 1876 aged 71 yrs. Source: Findagrave.com

These quiet, little meetinghouses of southern Lancaster County are timeless symbols of Rev. Easton’s message of freedom and justice.