Placer
County
Biographies
JOHN H. CUSHING
From the far off Pine Tree state Mr.
Cushing came to identify his interests with those of California, and through
forty-one years he has been a resident of this state, his home being now in
Penryn, Placer County. He was born in
Blue Hill, Maine, on the 23rd of March, 1838, and represents a
family that was founded in New England in colonial days by English
ancestors. His grandfather and his
father, the latter being the name of John Cushing, were both born on the old
family homestead in Maine which the great-grandfather had located. John Cushing was born in 1800 and was reared
and educated in the place of his birth.
He married Miss Eliza Hinkley, a native of
Blue Hill and a representative of an old and honored family there. They had three sons and a daughter. The father was a sea captain and in 1849 he
came to California as the master of the ship Governor Stevens. He died at his home in Blue Hill, in the
fifty-second year of his age, leaving a widow and four children. In 1873 the mother came to California,
spending her last days in the home of her son John, her death occurring in
1894, at the ripe old age of eighty-four years.
She was a member of the Baptist Church and an excellent woman who
carefully reared her family.
When the father of our subject died
the latter was a young sailor. He went
to sea when only fourteen years of age and sailed until his twenty-first
year. In 1859 he came to California, by
way of the Isthmus route, landing in San Francisco. In the early years of his residence in this
state he engaged in mining and farming and followed other pursuits which would
yield him an honest living. In 1862 he
returned to the east, around Cape Horn as a sailor on a clipper ship; after
which he settled in Boston and resided there till 1867, when he returned to
California by way of the Isthmus route, locating in the Livermore Valley in
Alameda County, where he engaged in farming for a time. Subsequently he removed to Arizona, where he
followed placer mining and also engaged in copper mining and in prospecting to
a considerable extent. He found valuable
claims, but no transportation facilities were near and they are still undeveloped. Mr. Cushing then returned to San Francisco,
where he was engaged in the manufacture of syrup of figs, and in 1886 he came
to Penryn, Placer County, where he has since engaged in fruit raising. His orchards and residence are in the town,
only a short distance from the railway station, and he is now conducting a
large and profitable business.
In 1881 Mr. Cushing was happily
married to Mrs. Emily J. Brown, a daughter of John Brenan. She came to California in 1854 and for a
number of years resided in Sacramento and San Francisco. Since 1872 Mr. Cushing has been a member of
the Masonic fraternity and he and his wife are charter members of the Eastern
Star lodge in Penryn, in which he is serving as worthy patron, while his wife
is conductress. His political support is
given the Republican Party. They are
highly esteemed people of the community and their extensive circle of friends
is an indication of their sterling worth.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 684-685. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.