Letter from Tom & Dee Birch dated Feb 25, 1990, states: "Dorothy confirmed again that Eliza Valentine was the person who was half-Indian and from Mass. At least that was what she was told." Other descendants of William Cushman also remember being told that Eliza was part Native American. (This Native American connection has never been confirmed.) Her death certificate lists her "Color" as "W."
Doris Carter recalls being told that Eliza had 10 children, one of whom was institutionalized.
Claire Johnson reports in one of her Christmas letters that "great great grandma Eliza Valentine received $25 regularly from the public guardian." The 1850 census indicates that at least a few of her children were then living with other families.
Children were:
i. Maria
CUSHMAN(192)
(194) was born on 11 May 1824 in New Bedford, Bristol Co., MA. Her
obituary indicates that she was born in nearby Acushnet, MA. She died in Oct
1908 in Lexington, MA. (From obituary furnish by Bonnie Hubbard.) She was buried
on 18 Oct 1908 in Lexington, MA. An undated obituary clipping which apparently
came from the "Lexington Minute-Man" and provided by Bonnie Hubbard
(Mar 1999) reads as follows: "Mrs. Maria Cushman, widow of Allan Sherman,
passed away on the 15th inst., at the home of her only surviving daughter, Mrs.
Eliza V. Sherman-Sherman, on Lincoln street, Lexington. She was 84 years old
the 11th of last May, at which time she was in most excellent health, but the
next day, when driving with members of the family, she and they were victims
of a serious carriage accident which at her great age very materially weakened
her physical strength. A few weeks ago Madam Sherman's hip gave away and since
then she has steadily failed and she died of general debility. The deceased
was born in Acushnet, but resided for many years at Mattapoisett when, six years
ago, she came to Lexington to live with her daughter, who is the wife of Comrade
Chas. H. Sherman of George G. Meade Post 119, G.A.R. Her husband and two other
children died some years ago. ... The funeral took place on Sunday, Oct. 18th,
at her home on Lincoln street. ... The services were full of comfort and bright
assurance of the future state and were conducted by Mrs. Helen Temple Brigham,
pastor of the Spiritual Ethical Society of New York, and a long time and dear
friend of the deceased; also, by Rev. J.M. Wilson, pa-tor (sic) of the Unitarian
church of Lexington."
ii.
Sylvia Ann CUSHMAN(192)
(194) was born on 19 Nov 1825 in New Bedford, Bristol Co., MA. Married
Gideon Taber.
iii.
Eliza CUSHMAN was born on 21 Oct 1827.
iv.
Lysander Valentine CUSHMAN(195)
(14)(192)
(194)
(81) was born on 22 Oct 1829 in New Bedford, Bristol Co., MA. He died
on 1 Feb 1921 in (probably) Oakland, CA. He was also known as "Uncle LV".
[Some family information and old newspaper clippings erroneously refer to him
as "L. B. Cushman.] He was buried in Newville Cemetery, Glenn Co., CA.
The 1850 census, City of New Bedford, MA, indicates that the 21 year old Lysander
was living with his older sister Maria and her husband Allen Sherman. At that
time Lysander was listed as a blacksmith. (Hubbard)
After the Civil War, came from MA to CA to homestead leaving wife (a refined lady). He settled in Chrome, CA. His wife came later, coming up the river to Tehama, there being picked up in a spring wagon. His brother, William, and his wife followed later. (Doris Carter)
Judy Goldblum's data indicates that his wife's name was Hetty Booth. 1870 census indicates they had then 4 sons: Lucien, age 10; Charles M., age 8; Fred W., age 6; and James, age 4. The article quoted below indicates that Fred was "fourth in a family of five sons." A descendant of Fred Cushman, Tim Cushman of Sandia, NM, reports that there were five sons; the first born, Cassius Marcus Clay Cushman, died at the age of 3 in 1856.
From material written about his son Frederick Nesmith, "The genealogy is traced to New England, where his father, Lysander Valentine Cushman, was born at North Fairhaven, Mass., October 22, 1829, and where as a youth he served an apprenticeship to the blacksmith's trade. Coming via Panama to California in 1853, he followed his trade in San Francisco, but later worked in the mines at Forbestown. While Glenn county was still part of Colusa county and very sparsely inhabited he came to this section of the state, and in 1858 started a blacksmith's shop in Newville. A few years later he abandoned work at his trade in order to embark in agricultural pursuits and purchased one hundred and sixty acres two miles south-east of Newville, where he made a specialty of raising stock. For some time he profitably engaged in the sheep industry, in addition to raising wheat and hay. Upon his retirement from the active supervision of his estate, in 1898, he removed to San Francisco, and now makes his home at No. 2223 Market street, Oakland, where surrounded by all the comforts of life he quietly passes his declining years. In his early eastern home he met Miss Hetty Cummings Booth who was born at Dartmouth, Mass., September 8, 1829, and died in Glenn county, Cal., March 11, 1896, leaving her husband to mourn the loss of one who had ever been a faithful helpmate and wise counselor." (Prof. Guinn) The 1878 - Appeal Directory for Colusa Co. listed him as a farmer with 1,992 acres in the Newville area.
v. Emily
CUSHMAN was born on 1 May 1832.
14 vi.
William Henry CUSHMAN.
vii.
Ruth Ellen CUSHMAN(194) was born
on 8 Feb 1837 in New Bedford, Bristol Co., MA.
viii.
Charles Albert CUSHMAN was born on 24 Apr 1840.
ix.
Arabell "Belle" Valentine CUSHMAN
(14)(194)
(photo) was born on 18 Feb 1842 in New Bedford, Bristol Co., MA. She died
22 Sep ____ in Colrain, MA. She was also known as "Aunt Belle".
(14) She was buried in New Bedford, Bristol
Co., MA. Eight year old Belle was listed in the 1850 census as living with her
sister Maria and her husband, Allen Sherman, in New Bedford, MA. (Hubbard)
Material from a family scrapbook provided in a letter dated 24 Mar 1999 from Bonnie Cushman Hubbard contained the following unidentified newspaper clipping:
"Miss Belle V. Cushman, well-known to the New York trade as the jewelry buyer for R. H. Macy & Co., is gaining considerable recognition in the literary arena. The Religo-Philosophical Journal of recent date contained a poem from her pen, 'The Old Church Bell,' which elicited much admiration from the readers of that publication."
Copies of other published poems by Belle, that were furnished with the above letter, were entitled: Out Of The Body, My Summer - A Retrospect, Pax Vobiscum (Elm Grove, August 19, 1916), Do They Miss Me At Home? (For the Banner of Light), The Seance, Where Is Heaven?, Crumbling Castle Walls (From Light, London), Willie Robbins, and Under the Snow (from Two Worlds).
Also included in this material were some notes from a 1982 telephone conversation with Belle Cushman Tutt which read: "Belle Cushman was a chemist or pharmacist in New York City. She left the bulk of her estate to a church. Somewhere there was some hanky-panky."
"She was the rich one that went to Europe every year." (Doris Carter)
The following is an obituary from an unknown source that was copied in the hand of Ethel Cushman Burrows and furnished by Ethel's daughter Holly Burrows Spurlock: "Miss Belle Valentine Cushman, who had come to Colrain (prob. MA) to make her home with her friend Mrs. Helen Temple Brigham at Elm Grove, was stricken down soon after her arrival there last spring and after a lingering illness passed out the better life September 22. Miss Cushman was a woman of great talents and of strong personality of Colonial ancestry being the daughter of Azariah and Eliza Valentine Cushman of New Bedford and a lineal descendant of Robert and Mary Cushman the English pioneers who came to Plymouth in the Speedwell soon after the landing of the Mayflower.* She was also the great granddaughter of Col. Cleghorn who built the old ship Constitution. She was born in New Bedford February 18, 1842 but when quite a young girl she went to New York. She entered the store of R. H. Macy, who was a relative by marriage, as a clerk and rose from one position to higher one till she became buyer for four departments employing 30 clerks and remarkable for that time she received the same salary as men doing the similar work. She was the founder and organizer of the Macy drug department and was instrumental in many business changes. She held this position for 30 years and on her resignation it took several men to fill the place that she had grown into and made her own. She was greatly interested in social service especially among women workers and she was instrumental in securing the placing of seats behind counters for shop girls. She was the originator and one of the founders of the Spiritual and Ethical Society of New York and was always one of its most faithful members. Through her whole life she worked for others never finding time to seek her own happiness and now that she has passed on her deeds still speak for her. She was a faithful and loyal friend and by her friends will not be soon forgotten. Her funeral was private. Dr. George Full of Greenwhich Village officiated and the burial was in New Bedford. (*Note: She was a descendant of Robert Cushman and his son Thomas who started from England with the Mayflower on the Speedwell. However the Speedwell was found unseaworthy and turned back. Robert and Thomas came to America the following year on the ship Fortune and Thomas married Mary Allerton who had come on the Mayflower.)
x. James
V. CUSHMAN(194) was born on 5 Sep
1845. "He was dead in 1854." (Tim Cushman)
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