| BIRTH & BAPTISM | Robert was born in 1577/8 in Rolvenden, Kent, England and baptized there on 9 February 1577/8; with his record reading "The ix daye of the same month of february was baptized Robert Cutchman the sone of Thomas Cutchman"[5,6]. |
| DEATH | He returned to England on the Fortune in December of 1621[5], leaving Thomas in the care of Governor Bradford. He died in England in 1625 while still on this trip for the Pilgrim colony; he was 48. "(On his return from England early in 1626 Myles Standish 'brought them notice of the death of their ancient friend Mr. Cushman, whom the Lord took away also this year'.)[12,13 |
| OCCUPATIONS |
Robert changed careers more than the average 17th century man.
In 1603, Robert was an indentured servant to the grocer George Masters in Canterbury, co. Kent, England. He remained a grocer as long as he was in England. However, once he moved to Holland, he turned to the more practical (for survival of colony) occupation of woolcomber[11] -- as explained in Bradford's History: "...They [the Pilgrims] removed [from Amsterdam] to Leyden, a fair & bewtifull citie, and of a sweete situation, but made more famous by ye universitie wherwith it is adorned, in which of late had been so many learned men. But wanting that traffike by sea which Amsterdam injoyes, it was not so beneficiall for their outward means of living & estats. But being now hear pitchet they fell to such trads & imployments as they best could; valewing peace & their spirituall comforte above any other riches whatsoever. And at lenght they came to raise a competente & comforteable living, but with hard hard and continuall labor.[20]" Thus, he changed careers from grocer to a branch of the clothing trade -- an industry for which Kent was well known. Thus, he was variously called a Woolcarder or Woolcomber, and was listed as a "wool-carder" on the manifest of the Fortune. However, in Leiden, Holland, Robert became the agent of the Leiden Pilgrims in England[5,6,11]. He was quickly named agent of the American colony and he remained busy in the affairs of the colony until his death in 1625. |
| EDUCATION | Anderson describes Cushman's educational status well: "Several literate and businesslike letters written by Cushman to John Carver, Edward Southworth, William Bradford and to the Leiden congregation are evidence of a well-educated man[8]." |
| CHURCH MEMBERSHIP & FERVOR | As evidenced by this court appearance, Robert was such an ardent Puritan that he was hauled into court over the issue. On 14 November 1603, "Robert Cushman, servant to George Maisters" was presented by the churchwardens of St. Andrew's Parish "for the like as the common fame goeth [i.e. 'for that he doth say he will not come to his parish church because he cannot be edified and saith he can and will defend it by the word of God']." He refused to do the assigned penance of acknowledging his offense "...in the parish church of St. Andrew, Canterbury on son Sunday in the time of service, according to the schedule [not given], and then to certify the Court afterwards..." (imposed upon him by the ecclesiastical court) and was excommunicated on 12 November 1604. However, on 28 June 1605, he appeared before the court and asked for absolution. Said absolution was granted to him on 7 July 1605 and he was again received into the church[4,9]. |
| FREEMANSHIP | In 1605, he became a Freeman by apprenticeship (as a "grosser") to George Masters[4,10]. |
| MIGRATION |
Cushman had planned to make the voyage across the Atlantic in 1620, but when the Speedwell
had to be abandoned he was one of those who remained behind[16]. This original
intention of Cushman's and his many other services in behalf of the Pilgrims are undoubtedly
the justification for the assignment to Cushman in 1623 of land in Plymouth as if he had been a
passenger on the Mayflower.
Instead, Robert emigrated from England to America on the Fortune, Thomas Barton, master. She left London in August of 1621 and arrived at Cape Cod on 9 November 1621. The ship is believed to have had 35 passengers, but only 32 are known by name. They all came from London or its suburbs and all settled at Plymouth, Plymouth co., MA. Robert brought son Thomas arrived with him. He returned to England on the Fortune in December of 1621[5], leaving Thomas in the care of Governor Bradford. He died on this trip. |
| FROM THE DUTCH RECORDS AT LEIDEN |
Soon after Thomas' baptism in 1607, the Cushman family disappears from the Canterbury records. At this time, it is
surmised that Robert and his family joined The Reverend John Robinson's Puritan colony in Leiden, Holland[20].
After Sarah's death in 1616, Robert is listed in the records as follows: "Robert Cushman, woolcomber, from Canterbury in England, widower of Sarah Cushman, dwelling in a little alley of the Nunsgate, accompanieed by John Keble his friend, with Mary Shingleton from Sandwich in England, widow of Thomas Shingleton, accompanied by Catherine Carver her friend..."[11] Anderson further explains Cushman's movement through the records: "...Beginning in 1617, and continuing right up until the time of his death, Robert Cushman spent much time in London and vicinity negotiating on behalf of the Leiden congregation and later on behalf also of the settlers in Plymouth. He, John Carver and William Brewster labored constantly in their dealings with a number of London merchants, arranging for the shipping and provisions for the Mayflower and the Speedwell in 1620. The details of these negotiations constitute a large portion of the story told by Bradford in his history of these years. In autumn 1617, Robert & John Carver were chosen by their companions to go to England and negotiate with the Council for Virginia about a patent within the grant of the Virginia Company. His connection with the transfer of a part of the Leyden congregation to Plymouth in New England is known from the writings of Bradford, and the story need not be repeated here.[20] On 12 December 1621, during his brief sojourn at Plymouth, Cushman preached a sermon whose principal intent was to convince the Pilgrims to accept the terms offered by the London merchants, and was therefore more of an economic than a theological nature. This sermon, accompanied by some additional notes by Cushman, was published in London in 1622..."[11,14,15]. In the 1623 Plymouth division of land "Robert Cochman" received one acre as an "honorary" passenger of the Mayflower[13,21]. On 2 November 1636 "William Hodgekins & Sara Cushman" were married at Plymouth[17]. Some have held that this was another child of Robert Cushman, but this remains only a surmise[18,19]..." |
| MARRIAGE #1 |
On 31 July 1606 when Robert was 29, he first married Sarah REDER, in St. Alphage, Canterbury, Plymouth,
England[13,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32]. Their marriage record reads "Robert Cushman vnto Sara Reder
dwelling with in Pr'cinct's of Christchurche" [the Cathedral] They were married before Andries Hasperson
van Vesanevelt and Jacob Paedts, Sheriggs, this fifth of June 1617". Sarah lived in the precincts of the Cathedral
at Canterbury and died in 1616 in Leyden, Holland and was buried on 11 October 1616 in St. Peter's, Leiden,
Holland[13,33,34].
The entries...show that the banns were published three times, on 20 and 27 May, and on 3 June, 1617[4]. |
| CHILDREN | 12. | i. | Thomas CUSHMAN | Please see his own page. |
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13. | ii. | [unknown child] CUSHMAN |
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14. | iii. | [unknown child] CUSHMAN |
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| MARRIAGE #2 | On 5 June 1617 when Robert was 40, he second married Mary CLARK, in Leiden, Holland[13,35,36,23,37,27,38,39]. She is listed on her marriage record as "Mary Shingelton from Sandwich in England, widow of Thomas Shingelton". Mary died before 1621 in Leiden, Holland[13]. Anderson claims that she was "apparently dead" before this time since there is no evidence that she came to Plymouth with her husband and stepson. |
| GENERATION | Great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great (G10) Grandfather |
| FAMILY NUMBER | 7652 |
| SOURCES |
1. New England Historic and Genealogical Register. Vols. 1+,
(Boston: New England Historic and Genealogical Society, 1845+),
[NEHGR or Reg.], 68:327-8.
2. Ibid. 68:327. 3. Ibid. 68:328. 4. Ibid. 68:329. 5. Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633., (Boston: Great Migration Study Project, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995), [GreatMig1620-1633], I:502. 6. [NEHGR or Reg.], 68:181, 328. 7. Ibid. 68:330. 8. Bradford, William, Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647, Samuel Eliot Morison, ed., (New York 1952), [Bradford], 45,54,107,125,128,355,361,365,373. 9. From the Visitation Books of the Archdeacon of Canterbury, volume for 1598-1608, part 2, folio 31. 10. From the Roll of the Freemen of the City of Canterbury, printed in Cowper's Freemen of Canterbury, column 183. 11. This translation is reprinted from The Mayflower Descendant, vol 10, p. 193, where may be found also a printed copy and a facsimilie of the original Dutch record, which is entered in the Leyden records. Echt Book B. fo. 64. The record is preceded by words which in the English translation read: "Entered on 19 May, 1617". 12. [Bradford], 180. 13. [GreatMig1620-1633], I:503. 14. Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers of the Colony of Plymouth..., Alexander Young, ed., (Boston 1844; rpt. Baltimore 1974), [YoungsPilgrimFathers], 255-68. 15. [GreatMig1620-1633], I:502-503. 16. [Bradford], 54. 17. Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, 12 volumes in 10, Nathaniel B. Shurtleff and David Pulsifer, ed., (Boston 1855-1861), [PCR], 1:45. 18. Underhill, Lora Altine, Descendants of Edward Small of New England, and the Allied Families, (Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1910), [Small], 688-93. 19. [GreatMig1620-1633], I:503-4. 20. [NEHGR or Reg.], 68:331. 21. [PCR], 12:4. 22. [NEHGR or Reg.], 68:183. 23. Torrey, Charles, New England Marriages Prior to 1700., (Boston: New England Historic and Genealogical Society), [Torrey]. 24. [Riggs, Henry Earle-prob.], The American Ancestors of Margaret Esther Bouton Thom and John Thom, ( [Ann Arbor, MI: Edwards Bros., Inc., 1944]), [ThomAncChart], Chart 4. 25. Johnson, Alvin Page, Franklin D. Roosevelt's Colonial Ancestors; Their Part in Making American History, (Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., ca. 1933), [RooseveltAnc], 108+. 26. Underhill, Lora Altine, Descendants of Edward Small of New England, and the allied Families, (rev. ed., Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1934), [Small (ed. 2)], 670. 27. Jacobus, Donald Lines, The Waterman Family, 3 vols., (New Haven: E.F. Waterman, 1939-54), [Waterman (1939)], 1:646. 28. Caldwell, Charles T., A Branch of the Caldwell Family Tree: Being a Record of Thompson Baxter Caldwell and His Wife, Mary Ann (Ames) Caldwell of West Bridgewater, Mass., Their Ancestors and Descendants, (Washington, D.C.: The Olympia, 1906), [CaldwellAnc], 12. 29. [NEHGR or Reg.], 68:184-5; 72:11. 30. The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, vols. 1+, (New York: New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, 1870+), [NYGBR], 43:294; 47:110. 31. Lineage Books of National Society Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America, ([Washington], D.C., 1910), [LBDF&P], 4:167. 32. The Parish Register of St. Alphege, Canterbury, Kent, England. Printed in Cowper's Registers of St. Alphange, p. 113. 33. [Small], 671. 34. Dexter, Henry Martyn and Morton Dexter, The England and Holland of the Pilgrims, (London 1906; rpt. Baltimore 1978), [Dexter], 611. 35. [NEHGR or Reg.], 68:183; 15:30,169; 72:12. 36. The Mayflower Descendant, vols. 1-34, Bowman, George Ernest, ed., (Boston: Mayflower Society, 1899-1937), [MD], 10:193. 37. Savage, James A., A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, 1860-1862., (Boston 1860-1862; rpt Baltimore 1955), [Sv or Savage], 1:492. 38. Briggs, Mary Balch, We and Our Kinsfolk. Ephraim and Rebekah Waterman Briggs, their Descendants and Ancestors. With a few Collateral Branches, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1887), [BriggsAnc], 101. 39. [Small (ed. 2)], 672. 40. Plymouth County Probate, [PlymProb]. 41. [NEHGR or Reg.], 68:183, 329. 42. From the Parish Register of St. Andrew, Canterbury, Kent, England. This is the only Cushman entry in the registers of the parish of St. Andrew, Canterbury, from 1575 to 1618, inclusive. 43. [PCR], 1:4,21. 44. Ibid. 12:5. 45. Ibid. 12:12. 46. [GreatMig1620-1633], I:503; I:37. 47. [MD], 4:37-42. 48. Cushman, Henry Wyles, A Historical and Biographical Genealogy of the Cushmans, the Descendants of Robert Cushman the Puritan from the Year 1617 to 1855, (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1855), [Cushman], 85. 49. Farwell, John Dennis, Jane Harter Abbott, and Lillian M. Wilson, The Farwell Family, A History of Henry Farwell and His Wife Olive (Welby) Farwell of Boston, England, and of Concord and Chelmsford, Mass., 1605 to 1927, with Twelve Generations of Their Descendants; Also Many Lineages of Allied Families, 2 vols., (Rutland, Vt.: F.H. Farwell, 1929), [Farwell(1929)], 472. 50. Snow, Nora Emma, The Snow-Estes Ancestry, 2 vols., (Hillburn, N.Y.: privately printed, 1939), [Snow-Estes], 1:494. 51. [NYGBR], 43:294. 52. [Riggs, Henry Earle-prob.], The American Ancestors of Margaret Esther Bouton Thom and John Thom, ([Ann Arbor, MI: Edwards Bros., Inc., 1944]), [ThomAncChart], 136, Chart 4. 53. Sumner, Edith Bartlett, Descendants of Thomas Farr of Harpswell, Maine and Ninety Allied Families, (Los Angeles: American Offset Printers, 1959), [Farr Anc.], 12. 54. [Sv or Savage], 1:38,494. 55. [MD], 16:62,63. 56. [NEHGR or Reg.], 1:50; 4:254; 8:270; 68:185; 72:12; 103:220. 57. The Genealogical Advertiser, vols., 1-4, (1898-1901, reprint 4 in 1, Baltimore: Genealogical Publ. Co., 1974), [GenAdv], 2:106. 58. Holman, Mary Lovering, The Scott Genealogy, (Boston, MA: 1919), [Scott (1919)], 90. 59. Pope, Charles Henry, The Pioneers of Maine and New Hampshire, 1623 to 1660, (Boston: C.H. Pope, 1908), [PopesPioneersofMEandNH], 16. 60. Perley, Sidney, The History of Salem, Massachusetts, 3 vols., (Salem: Sidney Perley, 1924), [Salem], 1:233. 61. [BriggsAnc], 102,110. 62. Allerton, Walter Scott, A History of the Allerton Family, (Chicago: S. W. Allerton, 1900), [Allerton (1900)], 30. 63. [RooseveltAnc], 110,115. 64. [Small (ed. 2)], 697,714. 65. Jones, Emma C.(Brewster), Brewster Genealogy, 1566-1907, a Record of the Descendants of William Brewster of the "Mayflower", Ruling Elder, Pilgrim Church, which Founded Plymouth Colony in 1620, 2 vols., (New York: The Grafton Press, 1908), [Brewster], 24. 66. Clarke, Mary (Bosworth), Bosworth Genealogy; a History of the Descendants of Edward Bosworth who arrived in America in the Year 1634; with an Appendix containing other Lines of American Bosworths, (San Francisco, 1926), [Bosworth], 382. 67. [GreatMig1620-1633], I:37. 68. [MD], 6:63. 69. [Bradford], 448. 70. [Small], 688. 71. Families of The Pilgrims, (Boston: MA Society of Mayflower Descendants), [FamPil]. 72. Jameson, Ephriam Orcutt, The Cogswells in America, ([Boston: A. Mudge & Son], 1884), [Cogswell], 50. 73. [NEHGR or Reg.], 69:156; 72:12; 96:359. 74. [MD], 4:39; 17:224,228. 75. Lewis, Alonzo, & James Newhall, History of Lynn, Essex County, Mass., including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1890, (Lynn: at the bookstore of George C. Herbert, [1890]), [LynnHist (1890)], 121. 76. [Farwell(1929)], 437. 77. [Small], 2:356,678. 78. Tingley, Raymon Meyers, Some Ancestral Lines; Being a Record of Some of the Ancestors of Guilford: Solon Tingley and His Wife, Martha Pamelia Meyers, Collected by Their Son, Raymon Meyers Tingley, (Rutland, Vt.: The Tuttle Publishing Co., 1935), [Tingley-Meyers], 235. 79. [Farr Anc.], 200. 80. [ThomAncChart], 133. 81. [Cushman]. 82. Lynn, Essex co., MA Vital Records, [LynnVR], II:174. 83. Smith, Ethel Farrington, comp., Adam Hawkes of Saugus, Mass. 1605-1672., (Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1980), [Hawkes (1980)]. 84. [LynnVR], II:499. 85. [Hawkes (1980)], 31. 86. Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts, 1636-1686, 9 volumes., (Salem 1911-1975), [EQC], I-VIII. 87. [Hawkes (1980)], 33-34. 88. Lewis, Alonzo, The History of Lynn, Including Nahant, (Boston: Samuel N. Dickinson, second edition, 1844), [LynnHist (1844)], 65. 89. The Probate Records of Essex County, [EssexProb or EPR], #12920 & #12911. 90. [Hawkes (1980)], 46-48. 91. Bodge, George Madison, Soldiers in King Philip's War, (1896), [Bodge], 406. 92. [Hawkes (1980)], 34. 93. [EssexProb or EPR], II:426. 94. Essex Institute Historical Collections, vol. 1+, (Salem, Mass., 1859+), [EIHC], 56:279. 95. [Hawkes (1980)], 37. 96. Ibid. 34-35. 97. Ibid. 36. 98. Ipswich Quarterly Court Records, [IQCR], 24d:7m:1678. 99. [Hawkes (1980)], 36-37. 100. Ibid. 33. 101. Ibid. 32-33. 102. [LynnHist (1844)], 120-121. 103. Ibid. 121. 104. Ibid. 123-124. 105. Ibid. 124-125. 106. Ibid. 127-129. 107. Ibid. 130-131. 108. Ibid. 138-139. 109. Ibid. 148-149. 110. Ibid. 154. 111. [Hawkes (1980)], 41. 112. [LynnHist (1844)], 167. 113. [Hawkes (1980)], 38. 114. Ibid. 38-45. |
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