It wasn’t until late in his career that Orrin Vanderhoven (1825-1906) provided testimony to the public of his observations and support of the Underground Railroad work in Paterson and as a newspaper editor, he is likely to have contributed to the obituaries of participants that outlined their participation in the Underground Railroad. Vanderhoven, a native of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, moved to Paterson in the early 1850s to work at, and own The Guardian, a local paper that supported the Union and “peace at any cost” in the years before the outbreak of Civil War. Vanderhoven held strong anti-slavery views personally, but publicly, his writings for the paper included editorials “denouncing the abolitionists and foretelling the woes they would bring upon the country” to cover his tracks.
On February 10, 1900, now aged 75 years and the editor of The Evening News, he published a column call “Editor Van’s Stories.” He talked about the motivating forces for providing assistance to freedom seekers that not only included the demands of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 but also the impact of the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision, “Heretofore the liberty loving people of the free states believed that the moment a man stepped upon free soil he was free.” From his perspective, this decision contributed to the local perspective, in Paterson, that assisting was a more dangerous activity, both for the helpers and for the freedom seekers. The narrative of this article was framed around the stories associated with a small ditch, recalled as Dublin spring creek, that was used as a vehicle to discuss Underground Railroad work in Paterson. The stream’s course was fouled with all sorts of garbage but was used as a back path between Underground Railroad stations in this part of the cit.
In the article, Vandenhoven described a meeting of Underground Railroad operatives on Van Houten Street in the tin shop of former sheriff, Nathaniel Lane that included an unnamed man, the freedom seeker. The activities at this tin shop, in Vanderhoven’s opinion included the regular bringing of food to the tin shop, must have been suspicious and noticed because after checking in to the Franklin House, three strangers, US Detectives, were seen outside the tin shop. A colleague interrupted the meeting in progress to notify the assembled group of their presence and the freedom seeker was immediately hustled out, taken along the creek bank to the rear of William Langwith’s “saloon” on Broadway and into the rear cellar and safety. This event, Vandenhoven noted was the first time that William Langwith helped a freedom seeker by sheltering on his premises. Vandenhoven then listed other Underground Railroad associates, and in addition to William Langwith, Darius Wells, and Henry M. Low he included: former Sheriff Nathaniel Lane, L.R. Stelle, William Pennington, Henry A. Williams, H.B. Crosby, John J. Brown, D.G. Scott, Charles Danforth, A.B. Woodruff, S. Tuttle, William Cooke, and Aaron Prall.”
Some fifty years prior to this account, Vanderhoven was among this group in Paterson, writing and publishing The Guardian out of a three-story brick building located at 119-121 Main Street, commonly known as the “Old Bank,” which is an interesting circumstance that is also significant to Paterson’s UGRR activities. On April 14th, 1851, an election was held under the new charter establishing the City of Paterson to elect the first City Council President and various city officers. The newly established government included John Avison to serve as Overseer of the Poor, and Josiah P. Huntoon Surveyor of Highways. Council meetings were held regularly in various temporary locations until May 1,1855 when the Council began meeting in the Old Bank building where The Guardian was also being published by Vanderhoven. The above photo is of the Old Bank building at 122 Main Street, where the address is clearly seen next to the lettering “NEW CITY HALL” prominently painted on the awning frame over the corner entrance. Above this sign, an oval sign affixed high up on the third-floor level is for the office of The Guardian. The early seat of City of Paterson was situated here for fifteen years between 1855-1870, when it was permanently moved to the former residence of Aaron S. Pennington on Washington Street. This location is just half a block away from where today’s 1894 City Hall stands.
According to an article published on August 2, 1900 in the Paterson Evening News upon the occasion of George Low’s death, a long tribute was given including a description of Paterson’s UGRR network of which his father, Henry Low, played an important part:
“The father was . . . one of the anti-slavery men who made Paterson famous as one of the stations of the underground railroad for the safety and freedom of the black men and women who came this way on their runaway search for freedom. He and half a dozen others made up the crowd that in spite of courts and in spite of laws, formed themselves, formed themselves into an organization, which meant to help humanity- black humanity then. They used to meet in an old bank building in one of the rooms occupied by the town clerk, and there Nat Lane, Darius Wells, Peter V.H. Van Riper, the bobbin maker, Isaac Van Blarcom, the brick man who lived up in Marshal Street, next door to Phil Rafferty, Denny Miller, the candy man, John Avison, who was a Prospect street Justice of the Peace, and A. Gibbs Campbell, who was a bookkeeper for the Ivanhoe Paper Mill- were accustomed to gather twice a week and discuss what could be done to advance freedom and the rights of man.”
The reference in the article to the men meeting in “an old bank building in one of the rooms occupied by the town clerk” could very well indicate the very same location as where the city government was meeting, in the building at 151 Main Street, corner of Van Houten Street, known commonly as the Bank Building. Given that several of the men noted in the article were part of city government during that period and that Vanderhoven was also in the building on the third floor, after-hours access to a city clerk’s office would have been plausible.