Born in Dutchess County, NY, Henry M. Low (1813-1865) made his fortune in the manufacture of cotton yarn, a product that relied on the southern slave labor economy to produce the raw materials. No writings of Henry Low have been uncovered to know what his thoughts were on this subject, but he does appear in post-Civil War remembrances of supporters and operators of the Underground Railroad network in Paterson. A prominent politician and given credit for helping to form the Republican Party in pre-Civil War Paterson and in the wider landscape of New Jersey, it is likely that his wife, Mary Beardsley Low (1820-1887) was also a reliable source of support when he was away from Paterson. The 1850 Census notes 36-year-old Henry Low as a cotton manufacturer with real estate valued at $3200. His wife, Mary and two children, Mahitabell, age 7 and George, age 5 were in the house along with his mother, Charity Low and his mother-in-law, Mahitabell Beardsley. The 1860 census listed Henry M Low, age 47 as a cotton manufacturer with real estate valued at $20,000 and personal estate valued at $30,000. His wife, Mary is listed at age 36 and four children were in the household, Hetty age 17, George, age 15, William age 7 and Frank, age 2. There was a 13-year-old African American girl in the household, Jane Post, who was listed as a servant, along with 28-year-old Augusta Newman, an immigrant from Germany. Of the six Low children, three did not survive past childhood. The survivors included the eldest, Hetty, who stayed in Paterson, married and had a family, older son George was a state politician, and the younger surviving son, William, went west and became a wheat farmer in North Dakota.
Henry Low had other interests as well. He was active in local politics and held the political office of city treasurer in 1854-55 and was involved with the development of the Republican Party in New Jersey. He served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1860.21 He was active in the local abolitionist and temperance groups. Henry Low died in on July 11,1865 at the age of 52. He wrote his will on June 30, 1865, leaving his entire estate to his wife, Mary. One of the three witnesses was Josiah Huntoon. His obituary was not detailed and was a notice of his death. His wife, Mary Beardsley Low, continued to be in charge of his business holdings.
Confirmation of his participation in the Underground Railroad were discussed in an article about his son, George Low’s background22, and in obituaries of other participants and family members. The first of these to be published was the obituary of Mary Beardsley Low. The column-long story of her life was divided into two themes, her family, including the courtship with her husband and the deaths of young children, and participation in the Underground Railroad.
“. . . colored men and women escaping from cruel southern slavery … arrived here in covered vehicles in the night, and were closely concealed till they were sent up country to the next station … The houses to which they were taken here were the homes of Henry M. Low, Darius Wells, and ex-sheriff Lane. These houses were finally suspected, as was also the house of Isaac Van Blarcom in Marshall Street, and it was often necessary to hide the negroes away in garret or cellar for a week at a time. Mr. Low lived in Mulberry street, … next in Broadway, … and subsequently he moved to the house over the raceway where the Adams silk mill is now located, and where he died. In each of these houses the colored fugitive found safe refuge. … Mrs. Low was true to her husband and his principles of philanthropy and helped to hide and feed the fugitives from slavery until it was no longer safe to keep them in the houses of suspected underground railroad agents.”
Henry Low’s son George followed his father into politics and newspaper articles about the son always mentioned the father and his connection to the Underground Railroad. George Low died on August 2, 1900 and in a long tribute in the Paterson Evening News the next day, included a description of the Paterson Underground Railroad network and Henry Low was a 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.”