1637-1884; bulk: 1650-1850
Guide to the Collection
Abstract
This collection consists of notes, receipts, letters, wills, inventories, and record books of various members of the Cushing family of Hingham, Mass.
Biographical Sketches
Daniel Cushing (1619-1700), son of Matthew (1589-1660) and Nazareth (Pitcher) Cushing (1586-1682) of Hingham, England, arrived in Hingham, Mass. in 1638. Cushing served as selectman (1665-?), town clerk (1669-1700), and representative to the Massachusetts General Court (1680, 1682, 1695). In 1645, he married Lydia Gilman (d. 1689), and in 1691 Mrs. Elizabeth Jacob Thaxter (1632-1725).
Pyam Cushing (1725-1776), son of Theophilus (1703-1779) and Hannah (Waterman) Cushing (b. 1704), was a farmer, constable (1755), and selectman (1770-1771). He married Hannah Lincoln (1729-1813) in 1751.
Henry Cushing (1764-1809), son of Pyam and Hannah (Lincoln) Cushing, married in 1791 Sarah Whiton (b. 1771), daughter of Elias and Sarah (Blossom) Whiton.
Christiana Cushing (1775-1821), daughter of David (1727-1800) and Mabel (Gardner) Cushing (1739-1798), was the teacher of the female school in South Hingham.
William Gray Cushing (1810-1872), son of Jonathan (1759-1847) and Sarah (Simons) Cushing, was a butcher in Hingham and married Sarah Merritt in 1835.
Sources
History of the Town of Hingham. Cambridge, Mass.: John Wilson and Son, 1893.
Collection Description
This collection consists of notes, receipts, letters, wills, inventories, and record books of various members of the Cushing family of Hingham, Mass. over two centuries. The earliest documents include summonses, written evidence, and affidavits relating to Daniel Cushing's legal duties as a justice of the peace in Hingham, Mass. These include information on relations with Native Americans (the Wampanoag/Niantic), land sales, cases of assault, and a libel suit against Jonah Gross by William Sprague. Daniel Cushing's work as an amateur historian and town clerk is documented in a volume listing settlers from Hingham, England, who settled in Hingham, Mass., and a record of Hingham births, deaths, and marriages, 1693-1700. Another volume contains a detailed record of Hingham town meetings from 1680-1696 and includes data on bounties, churches, highways, land, selectmen and other town officers, and town taxes and disbursements. Seven small notebooks list town, province, county, and poll taxes for 1748, 1755, 1770, 1771, and 1771-1776.
The collection also contains an inventory of the estate of Pyam Cushing, together with miscellaneous business receipts and other papers relating to his service as town constable and selectman; manuscript poetry of Henry Cushing; a list of students who attended Christiana Cushing's female school; and business papers of William Gray Cushing.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Nino Scotti of Providence, R.I., December 1982.
Detailed Description of the Collection
Expand allI. Loose papers, 1637-1884
Arranged chronologically.
Guide to the collection
1637-1700
1741-1795
1817-1884
Undated
Undated (Pyam Cushing)
II. Volumes, 1680-1796
Arranged chronologically.
Daniel Cushing, Hingham town meetings, 1680-1696
Daniel Cushing account book, 1682-1689
Daniel Cushing account book, 1689-1695
Tax book, Hingham, Mass., 1748
Tax book, Hingham, Mass., 1755
Elisha Cushing account book, 1756-1768
Hannah Smith, "her book," June 1760-
Hingham tax book, 1770
Hingham tax book, 1771
Hingham parish treasurer's account book, 1771-1776
Pyam Cushing estate records, 1776-1778
Penmanship and accounts, 1778-1796
Poetry booklets, possibly of Henry Cushing
Preferred Citation
Cushing family papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.
Access Terms
This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.