Paulison-Christie House
8 Homestead Pl.
Map / Directions to the Paulison-Christie House
This house is a private residence.
Please respect the privacy and property of the owners.
This house was built circa 1775 by John Paulison. Paulison was a Tory during the Revolutionary War, and was known to have sold cattle from his farm here to the British army. (Tories were Americans who were loyal to the British during the Revolutionary War).
On July 11, 1777, the New Jersey Council of Safety issued a list of forty-eight "disaffected persons," including Paulison, who were to be arrested for their suspected Tory sympathies. Paulison was arrested and spent months confined at the jail on the Green in Morristown, until he was part of a prisoner exchange which released him to British-occupied New York City. He was later permitted to return to his home and farm in Cresskill.
In 1779, the farm was raided and plundered by British troops, who often made no distinction between patriot and Tory in such instances.
John Paulison lived at this house until his death in 1826. His son Paul, who had been a child at the time of his father's arrest and the British raid, inherited the house. [1]
1. ^ Information was drawn from:
• Minutes of the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey (Jersey City: John H. Lyon, 1872) Pages 83, 147, 159, 161, 168, 203, and 239 Available to be read at the Internet Archive here
▸ Note that throughout these documents, "Paulison" is spelled in a variety of ways. Inconsistent spellings of surnames are not uncommon when reading documents from the time period.
▸ One of the prisoners exchanged by the British for their side of the arrangement was Isaac Blanch, whose house is located eleven miles from here in Harrington Park.
• Letter from Mr. Peter Dubois in New York, to Mrs. Dubois at Second River, Friday, May 28, 1779, reprinted in:
William Nelson, Editor, Documents Relating to the Revolutionary History of the State of New Jersey, Second Series, Vol. III (Trenton: John L. Murphy Publishing Company, 1906) pages 426–428
Available to be read at the Internet Archive here• Reginald McMahon, "History of the Paulison-Christie House Ridgefield Park, NJ," in George Fosdick, editor, Ridgefield Park 1685-1985 (Ridgefield Park: The History Book Committee, 1985) Page 9 - 12
Available to be read here• Adrian C. Leiby, Revolutionary War in the Hackensack Valley, The Jersey Dutch and the Neutral Ground, 1775 - 1783 (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press) Pages 108, 123, 124, and 214
The ultimate field guide to New Jersey's Revolutionary War historic sites!
Ridgefield Park New Jersey Revolutionary War Sites • Ridgefield Park New Jersey Historic Sites
English Neighborhood Reformed Church • Paulison-Christie HouseWebsite Researched, Written, Photographed and Designed by Al Frazza
This website, its text and photographs are © 2009 - 2024 AL Frazza. All rights reserved.