Matthew Cushing

     Matthew Cushing was baptized on 2 March 1588/89 at Hardingham, Norfolk, England.¹ He was the son of Peter Cushing and Susan Hawes. Matthew Cushing married Nazareth Pitcher, daughter of Henry Pitcher and Sarah Bond, on 5 August 1613.¹ Matthew Cushing sailed on the ship Diligent from Hingham, England, in 1638. He immigrated on 10 August 1638.² He died on 30 September 1660 at Hingham, Plymouth, Massachusetts, at age 71.¹ He was buried at Old Ship Cemetery, Hingham, Massachusetts. He Matthew Cushing, born in 1588, the year of the Spanish Armada, son of Peter Cushing of Norfolk, whose grandfather had possessed large estates in Lombard street, London, married 5 August 1613 Nazareth Pitcher, daughter of Henry Pitcher, of the famous family of Admiral Pitcher of England. For the first fifty years of his life he lived in Hardingham and Hingham, Norfolk County, England, and had, as by register of old Hingham: Daniel, baptized 20 April 1619; Jeremiah, 1 January 1621; Matthew, 5 April 1623; Deborah, 17 February 1625; and John, whose baptism is, I believe, omitted and I have heard, that it was in a neighboring parish. With his wife and five children, and his wife's sister (Widow Francis Riecroft, who died a few weeks after their arrival), he embarked in the ship 'Diligent' of Ipswich, 350 tons, John Martin, master, which sailed from Gravesend, 26 April 1638, with 133 passengers, among whom was Robert Peck, M.A., Rector of t he parish of Hingham, England. The immediate occasion of their departure seems to have been trouble in ecclesiastical matters. Their rector, doubtless with th e sympathy and aid of most of those constituting the emigrating party, had pulled down the rails of chancel and altar, and leveled the latter a foot below the church, as it remains to this day. Being prosecuted by Bishop Wren, he left the Kingdom, together with his friends - who sold their estates at half their real value. The party, having landed at Boston Massachusetts, 10 August 1638, immediately proceeded to their destination, Hingham Massachusetts, so named after the name of the former home of the Cushing family in England. At a town meeting held in 1638, a house lot of five acres, first below Pear Tree Hill, on Bachelor (Main) St., was given to Matthew Cushing, and it continued in the possession of the family until 1887. He was early engaged in the public affairs of the town, became a deacon in Reverend Hobart's church, and was the progenitor of many eminent descendants. It is now a pretty well established fact that, with the exception of a few families who have come to this country during the past century , all the persons bearing the surname of Cushing in the United States and Canada are his direct lineal descendants. His will, which was a verbal one, was written after his decease by his children, who, under date of 15 November 1660, pray that Daniel Cushing, Esq., their oldest brother, may be appointed administrat or of their father's estate. In his will all the children except Deborah, who married May 1648, Matthew Briggs, are named as living; and the share to this son -in-law was large. His widow died 1681, aged 95. Upon the lot now occupied by Dr. Robbins at the foot of Pear-tree Hill, a few rods north of his residence, Matthew Cushing, who died in 1660 at seventy-one years of age, the progenitor, probably, of all the families of that name in the United States, had established the home which remained uninterruptedly in the family until 1887; and here still lived his wife, who died subsequently to the war, aged ninety-six, his son Daniel, then and until his death town clerk, and one of the wealthy men of the period, and Matthew a grandson, afterwards lieutenant and captain. Not far away Matthew Cushing senior's daughter Deborah lived with her husband, Matthias Briggs, while on the opposite side of the street, at what is now the Keeshan place, Daniel the younger, a weaver by trade, established a home and reared a large family. The Cushings were shopkeepers in addition to their other occupations, and probably the little end shop built onto the dwelling on either side of the street contained articles of sale and barter,--produce and pelts and West India goods and ammunition. We may suppose that these small centres of trade, together with the tannery in the immediate vicinity, gave quite a little air of business to the neighborhood,--forming indeed the primitive exchange of the period. He MATTHEW, with his w. and five ch., came from Hing. in Old Eng. and settled in Hing. in New Eng., in the autumn of 1638. According to a memorandum kept by one of the fam., they came to Boston in the ship 'Diligent,' John Martin, master, arriving on the 10th of Aug. of that yr. Matthew, however, had sev. lots granted him prior to his arrival here. The lot upon which he built his dw.-house, first below Pear Tree Hill, was among those granted for building purposes on Bachelor (Main) St. in 1638, and it continued in the fam. possession until 1887. The history of the Cushing fam. is traceable in Eng. for sev. generations before either Pilgrim or Puritan set sail for America. A Thomas Cushing owned land in Hing. and other parts of Eng., early in the fifteenth century. William, the oldest s. of Thomas, commenced his will of 1492 as foll.: -'In the name of god Amen, The xx Day of the moneth of Septembr, in the yere of o r lord god M'cccclxxxxij, I William Cusshyn of Henghm in my hoel mend And good memory beying, make my testament and my last will Declare in this forme Folloyng;' etc. John, s. of William, made his will in 1522. Thomas, s. of John, d. in 1588. Peter, s. of Thomas, was buried at Hing. Eng., 2 March, 1596; he was the fa. of eight ch., five sons and three dau's. Of the sons of Peter, Theophilus and Matthew emigrated to New Eng. Theophilus came in 1633, in the ship 'Griffin,' and resided sev. yrs. at Haynes farm. He afts. settled in our Hing; was blind during the last twenty-five yrs. of his life, and d. 24 March, 1678-79, æt. nearly 100 yrs. There is no rec. showing that he had a fam. With Matthew, therefore, the genealogical rec. of all the persons bearing the surname Cushing in Hing. and vicinty, and perhaps in the United States, commences. The w. of Matthew, whom he m. in Eng. 1613, was Nazareth Pitcher, a dau. of Henry Pitcher. She d. in Hing. 6 Jan. 1681-82, æt. 96 yrs. Matthew d. 30 Sept. 1660, æt. 71 yrs. He was early engaged in the public affairs of the town; was deacon of the church, and the progenitor of many eminent descendants. His will, which was a verbal one, was written out after his decease by his ch., who, under date of 15 Nov. 1660, pray that Daniel Cushing, Esqr., their oldest bro. may be appointed administrator of their fa.'s est. Resided on Main St., below 'Pear Tree Hill.' The ch., of Matthew and Nazareth, all b. in Eng., were - i. DANIEL, bt. Apr. 20, 1619. ii. JEREMIAH, July 21, 1621. 'Mariner.' Resided at Boston, and was lost at sea. iii. MATTHEW, Apr. 5, 1623. iv. DEBORAH, Feb. 17, 1624-25. m. in Hing. May 9, 1648, Matthias Briggs, and d. 25 Sept. 1700. v. JOHN, 1627.³