Nathaniel Lane (1809-1875) played a large roll in Paterson politics and served his community through a variety of roles during his life. He served as 1st Lieutenant and Chief Engineer at the Paterson Fire Department and as Passaic County Sheriff, who presided over the infamous Goffle Road Murders in 1850. It was reported in The Paterson Call newspaper (May 9, 1887) that Lane worked with others such as Darius Wells and Henry Low in Paterson’s Underground Railroad activities, including secretly harboring “passengers” in his home and moving them to other nearby safe houses. These men also were active in the temperance movement and held regular meetings on “Temperance Island” downstream from the Great Falls near the West Broadway Bridge.
Like his colleague Horatio Moses, Lane was also a notorious coppersmith, machinist and inventor at his Van Houten Street shop where he worked copper, brass and tin into many parts needed for fire fighting equipment, locomotives and machinery.
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