Thomas Cushman, the eldest child of the Elder Thomas Cushman and Mary Allerton, was born on Wednesday, September 16, 1637 in Kingston, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. He married Ruth Howland on Monday, November 17, 1664. Ruth Howland was the daughter of John Howland, ‘one of the old comers,’ to the Colony and Elizabeth Tilley who, with her father, John Tilley, were also passengers on the MAYFLOWER. Ruth died between 1672 and 1678 and in 1679 Thomas married Abigail Fuller. Thomas died on Friday, August 23, 1726 and was interred in the Centre Burying Ground in Plympton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. ‘The Plymouth Colony Records, Court Orders, Volume 4, page 90, under the date of Friday, March 7, 1664/5 contains a circumstance respecting him.
In his early days, ‘before marriage but after contract,’ as the record says, he made a mistake, that was not uncommon in the early history of this country, for which he was ‘centenced to pay a fine of five pounds according to law.’ The rule of perfect chastity was oftener violated by our fathers in the 17th and 18th centuries than at later periods. The common practice in vogue then of ”courting” by young men and maides, and the uniform fashion of ‘keeping company till the small hours of the night,’ was one that did not tend to promote a high degree of virtuous intercourse. In that particular the civilization of this day is in advance of our ancestors. But the subject of this article did not suffer materially in his reputation by an error which he soon remedied by marriage, and was, during a long life, a worthy member of the Congregational Church at Plympton, of which his brother, Isaac, was the Pastor. ‘Quote from Henry Wyles Cushman.’ By Timothy Scott Jarman
More About Thomas CUSHMAN: Date born 2: Sep 1637, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA.767, 768, 769 Died 2: 23 Aug 1726, Plymouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA.770, 771, 772
More About Thomas CUSHMAN and Ruth HOWLAND: Marriage: 07 Nov 1664
Thomas CUSHMAN (b. 1637, d. 1726)
Notes for Thomas CUSHMAN: