Notes for Thomas CUSHMAN: Thomas Cushman known as the Elder was born in England, probably in the village of Scrooby in the County of Kent, in February 1607. He went with his parents to Holland in 1608 or 1609 and to the Plymouth Colony in 1621 in the FORTUNE with his father, Robert. (His mother, Sarah Reeder, had died in Leyden in 1616) When Robert returned to England from Plymouth in December 1621 he left Thomas, then nearing 15, in the home of Governor Bradford.
In 1637 he removed to Jones River, now Kingston, Plymouth County, Massachusetts where he lived and died. On Tuesday, April 6, 1649, he succeeded William Brewster, his father’s colleague of 1619, as the ruling Elder of the Church at Plymouth, an office he held until his death on Tuesday, December 11, 1691 nearly 43 years later. In the hierarchy of the Church government, the ruling Elder was charged with helping the Pastor, or teaching Elder, in teaching, ruling and overseeing the congregation of the Church.
In 1636 he married Mary Allerton who was born in Holland in 1609 and, with her family, came to Plymouth in 1620 in the MAYFLOWER. She died in 1699 at the age of 90 and was the last survivor of the original one hundred who came to Plymouth in that historic vessel. She probably was buried by the side of her husband, Thomas, over whose grave in the Burying Hill Cemetery at Plymouth, the Church erected a monument in 1715.
Mary Allerton, named for her mother, was the third child of Issac Allerton who was born about 1583. Issac Allerton was normally listed fifth in the records of the Colony and, therefore, can be assumed to have been an influential member of the group. In 1626 he succeeded Robert Cushman as the agent of the Colony in England. He, however, made trips to England from Plymouth rather than the reverse as Robert Cushman was required to do during the first years of the Colony. He became estranged from the Colony about 1635 because of the liberality of his views (he was friendly with the Quakers and befriended Roger Williams) and moved first to New Amsterdam and, later, to New Haven where he died about 1659 at the age of 73.
By Timothy Scott Jarman
More About Thomas CUSHMAN: Date born 2: 08 Feb 1608, Canterbury, Kent, England/Canterbury, England.750, 751, 752 Died 2: 11 Dec 1691, Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA.753, 754, 755
Thomas CUSHMAN (b. 1608, d. 1691)
Notes for Thomas CUSHMAN: