Undoubtedly no person’ in the city of New York had a better right to be called a self-made man than Mr. Paulison  who was was born November 19, 1822, the son of Paul Paulison and Mary Cleveland Mr. Paulison. As a youth he was well informed, active, and of quick perception. These qualities and an aptitude for business procured for him, when only 12 years of age, a clerkship in the mercantile house of Henry B. Greenwood in New York. In 1848 he was called to a position in the office of the Atlantic Mutual Marine Insurance Company of New York. In time, he was appointed accountant of the company, serving until 1852, when, in consideration of his abilities, he was elected secretary of the company. In 1855 he was promoted to a vice-presidency of that company. Declining the office, however, he accepted the vice-presidency of the Astor Mutual Marine Insurance Co., and served until 1856.

Then he went into business on his own account as an average adjuster, insurance broker, notary, agent and under-writer for a number of insurance companies out of the state. In 1867 he was elected vice-president of the Sun Mutual Marine Insurance Company of New York, of which the late Hon. Moses H. Grinnell was then president, and accepted the office. Mr. Grinnell, having been appointed by President Grant, in 1869, collector for the port of New York, Mr. Paulison was then elected president of the Sun Insurance Co. and continuously held that office until the company discontinued business in 1886. He was appointed, July 26, 1879, receiver for the Sun Insurance Co., and was also receiver for the Columbian Marine Insurance Co. of N. Y., and wound up the affairs of these institutions.

Mr. Paulison was for many years a member of the Board of Marine Underwriters of N. Y., and was for some time its vice-president and acting president, and also vice-president of the American Shipmasters’ Association ; a member of the Association of Average Adjusters of the U. S., of which he acted as chairman during 1888-9. Was a member of the New York Chamber of Commerce from Nov. 7, 1878, of the Maritime Association of the Port of New York, of the American Geographical Society, of the Holland Society of New York, of the St. Nicholas Society of New York, of the New York Historical Society, an old member of the Seventh New York Regiment, formerly the Twenty- seventh, having joined 1841, and afterward was a member of the Veteran Corps.

In 1873 Mr. Paulison moved into his new and elegant residence at Tenafly, New Jersey, about 40 miles north of New York City. Always a student of the sciences, and a great lover of astronomy, he built, many years ago, on his grounds at Tenafly, an astronomical observatory containing a powerful telescope and other accessories for the examination and study of the heavenly bodies. In the construction of this observatory he invented and put into operation appliances which are great improvements on former methods.

Mr. Paulison has always taken the deepest interest in the welfare and progress of our country, voting for whom he considered the most worthy candidate for public office. During the political overturning in 1884 he was from Sept. 23d a member of the Independent Republican New York State Committee.

From an editorial notice in The United States Insurance Gazette and Magazine, Edited by G. E. Currie, May, 1869, XXIX : 33 — The acceptance of the position of Collector of Customs by Mr. Grinnell rendered his resignation as president of the Sun Mutual Ins. Co. an imperative necessity, — a position he has occupied since the death of A. B. Neilson. Upon the resignation of Mr. Grinnell, the trustees, at a meeting Apr. 12, 1869, elected John P. Paulison, Esq., vice-president, to fill the vacancy. With regard to the newly-elected president, John P. Paulison, Esq., whom we have personally known for the last sixteen years, we can affirm, without the slightest hesitation or mental reservation, that he is a thoroughbred practical underwriter, having been educated and trained up under the immediate instruction of the late celebrated Walter R. Jones, and for a time held an important position in the world renowned Atlantic Mutual Ins. Co. of Wall street. As an average adjuster of marine losses, and his familiar acquaintance with the customs and laws which regulate marine contracts, he is second to none in the UnitedStates.

There are few men in the business who have made marine insurance so long and so ardent a study, and who have gathered around them so large and so valuable a library on the subject, or who take greater delight in mastering the mysteries or technicalities of their profession as John P. Paulison. That he is a worker, as well as a thinker, is manifest from the success which has attended his management since he became officially connected with the company.

As a private gentleman, he is free from ostentation, arrogance, or pride, possessing a generous and agreeable disposition, and always having a kind word to say of his business associates, with a cheerful smile and courteous greeting to all his business patrons ; as a necessary sequence he enjoys their confidence and friendship. In a word, he makes a genuine, popular president.