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Matthew Cushing, born in 1588, the year of the Spanish Armada, son ofPeter Cushing of Norfolk, whose grandfather had possessed largeestates in Lombard street, London, married 5 August 1613 NazarethPitcher, daughter of Henry Pitcher, of the famous family of AdmiralPitcher of England. For the first fifty years of his life he lived inHardingham and Hingham, Norfolk County, England, and had, as byregister of old Hingham: Daniel, baptized 20 April 1619; Jeremiah, 1January 1621; Matthew, 5 April 1623; Deborah, 17 February 1625; andJohn, whose baptism is, I believe, omitted and I have heard, that itwas in a neighboring parish. With his wife and five children, and hiswife's sister (Widow Francis Riecroft, who died a few weeks aftertheir arrival), he embarked in the ship -Diligent- of Ipswich, 350tons, John Martin, master, which sailed from Gravesend, 26 April 1638,with 133 passengers, among whom was Robert Peck, M.A., Rector of theparish of Hingham, England. The immediate occasion of their departureseemsto have been trouble in ecclesiastical matters. Their rector,doubtless with the sympathy and aid of most of those constituting theemigrating party, had pulled down the rails of chancel and altar, andleveled the latter a foot below the church, as it remains to this day.Being prosecuted by Bishop Wren, he left the Kingdom, together withhis friends - who sold their estates at half their real value. Theparty, having landed at Boston Massachusetts, 10 August 1638,immediately proceeded to their destination, Hingham Massachusetts, sonamed after the name of the former home of the Cushing family inEngland. At a town meetingheld in 1638, a house lot of five acres,first below Pear Tree Hill, on Bachelor (Main) St., was given toMatthew Cushing, and it continued in the possessionof the family until1887. He was early engaged in the public affairs of the town, became adeacon in Reverend Hobart's church, and was the progenitor ofmanyeminent descendants. It is now a pretty well established factthat, with the exception of a few families who have come to thiscountry during the past century, all the persons bearing the surnameof Cushing in the United States and Canada are his direct linealdescendants. His will, which was a verbal one, was written after hisdecease by his children, who, under date of 15 November 1660, praythat Daniel Cushing, Esq., their oldest brother, may be appointedadministrator of their father's estate. In his will all the childrenexcept Deborah, who married May 1648, Matthew Briggs, are named asliving; and the share to this son-in-law was large. His widow died1681, aged 95. Upon the lot now occupied by Dr. Robbins at the foot of Pear-treeHill, a few rods north of his residence, Matthew Cushing, who died in1660 at seventy-one years of age, the progenitor, probably, of all thefamilies of that name in the United States, had established the homewhich remained uninterruptedly in the family until 1887; and herestill lived his wife, who died subsequently to the war, agedninety-six, his son Daniel, then and until his death town clerk, andone of the wealthy men of the period, and Matthew a grandson,afterwards lieutenant and captain. Not far away Matthew Cushingsenior's daughter Deborah lived with her husband, Matthias Briggs,while on the opposite side of the street, at what is now the Keeshanplace, Daniel the younger, a weaver by trade, established a home andreared a large family. The Cushings were shopkeepers in addition totheir other occupations,and probably the little end shop built ontothe dwelling on either side of thestreet contained articles of saleand barter,--produce and pelts and West India goods and ammunition. Wemay suppose that these small centres of trade, together with thetannery in the immediate vicinity, gave quite a little air of businessto the neighborhood,--forming indeed the primitive exchange of theperiod.
Karl-Heinz
Böttcher
