Pound House

The Pounds were prominent settlers. John Pound Jr. inherited the property that the house would later be built on. He owned an inn, and served in several Piscataway town positions including Constable, Overseer of Highways, and Freeholder. He built a homestead on the property and died in 1752. John’s son Elijah Pound I occupied the property. He became a Quaker in May 1757, and held several positions in municipal government including Overseer of Roads and Overseer of the Poor.  

Quaker records indicate that Elijah Pound I sat on a committee for the relief of sufferers under laws against non-combatants during the Revolutionary War. He was “permitted to resign after being compelled to affirm his allegiance to the Continental Congress.” Elijah Pound Jr. inherited his father’s property upon Elijah Pound I’s death in 1780. Elijah Jr. was also a Quaker, and his house frequently served as a meeting place. He also received traveling Quakers looking for a place to spend the night. In 1793, Elijah Jr. was a founding member of the New Jersey Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. Elijah Jr. sold all his Piscataway holdings in February 1802 and moved to Plainfield. Seven years later, he moved to Seneca County New York, where he led a Quaker meeting from 1808 to 1830. Elijah Jr. sold the house to Reune FitzRandolph. Reune’s son David FitzRandolph likely occupied the house as early as 1805.  

The FitzRandolphs were prominent English landowners. Their ancestry can be traced to a group of Normans that traveled with William the Conqueror to England in 1066. David FitzRandolph’s grandfather, Edward, arrived in Massachusetts around 1630. Edward left Massachusetts for Piscataway in 1669 with his wife and children.  

David FitzRandolph was a Freeholder of Piscataway in 1749, and once served as Overseer of Roads, among other titles. David renovated the house in 1824. He died in 1825, and an inventory of his estate identified four unnamed slaves. His extended family lived on the property until 1848, when Sarah FitzRandolph, Mr. and Mrs. Nehemiah Moorse, and Isaac FitzRandolph and his wife sold the home to Vanderveer Giles. In 1857 Randolph Martin purchased the property from Giles. The Giles family bought the home again in 1865, and it remained in their possession until the 1890s.  

Jacob Giles died in 1894 and left his estate to all his children except his son Nelson, who he did not trust with assets. Nelson’s wife Louisa and her children inherited the Pound house. Two years later, the family was forced to auction the property to pay Nelson’s debt of $78.  

Bernard Meyer was the highest bidder and purchased the house for $248. Meyer sold it in 1898 to Michael Reidy. The Reidy family held the property until 1940. They sold it to Fred Bascom to pay delinquent taxes owed totaling $4,613.81. The last recorded residents of the house were Mr. and Mrs. Wilber Duryea until 1976. On July 4, 1978, the Garibaldi Realty Corporation donated the original portion of the house to the East Jersey Old Town Village. The Pound House is a rare example of an early Raritan Valley colonial homestead.