JOHN PAINE CUSHMAN
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Born March 8, 1784 Plainfield, Windham County, Connecticut John P.Cushman is descendant of the sixth generation, from Robert Cushman, one of the founders of the Plymouth Colony.
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Cushman attended the common schools and Plainfield Academy, and graduated from Yale College in 1807. Then he studied law at the Litchfield Law School, was admitted to the bar in 1809, and commenced practice in Troy, New York.
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In 1817, Cushman was elected as a Federalist to the 15th United States Congress with 54.98% of the popular vote.
He was a regent of the University of the State of New York from April 1830 until April 1834, when he resigned. He was a trustee of Union College from 1833 until his death. He was Recorder of Troy from 1834 to 1838, and Judge of the Third Circuit from 1838 to 1844. Cushman also owned a lot of properties around town. He was one of the founders of Troy's renown fenced-off Washington Park, one of the state's only two privately owned and maintained residential parks (Gramercy Park in Manhattan being the other).
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While in law school he met and married Maria Jones Tallmadge (1790–1878), the daughter of Benjamin Tallmadge, a Revolutionary War officer who was the leader of the Culper Ring, who later became a U.S. Representative. John and Maria had six children. After his death on September 16, 1848, he was buried at the Oakwood Cemetery in Troy, New York.
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ABOUT THE CUSHMAN MANSION
MARIA JONES TALLMADGE​
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Maria Tallmadge Cushman, daughter of Benjamin and Maria Floyd Tallmadge of Litchfield, Connecticut, was born March 25, 1790. Benjamin, a 1772 graduate of Yale College, had his daughter study at the Litchfield Female Academy in her hometown. In 1812 Maria wed John Paine Cushman, a lawyer from Troy, New York, who had attended the Litchfield Law School in 1808.
Maria's father, Colonel Benjamin Tallmadge was a land speculator, merchant, bank president, the an army officer, chief intelligence officer, and organizer of the Culper spy ring during the Revolutionary War, Tallmadge became a businessman and U.S. Representative from Connecticut in Congress after the war.
Maria's maternal grandfather General William Floyd served was a member of the Continental Congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence.
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John P. Cushman and La Fayette in Troy, NY
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"The year after the opening of the great Erie canal another memorable event occurred in Troy- the reception tendered the - great French patriot, Marquis de La Fayette, September 18, 1824. The committee in whose charge his entertainment was left comprised Colonel A. Pawling, Colonel D. Lane, Ephraim Morgan, Benjamin Smith, Stephen Warren, Gurdon Corning, James Mallory, George Tibbits, John D. Dickinson, Joseph Russell and John P. Cushman. The Marquis arrived at Gibbonsville (West Troy) on the packet boat Schenectady in the company of the Albany entertainment committee and military escort. The packet was towed from that point to the foot of Ferry street, where he was welcomed to the city by the Hon. George Tibbits in behalf of the populace. In his reply to the greeting he received the gallant Frenchman marvelled at the great changes which had taken place in Troy since his previous visit to the village forty years before. The speech-- making was followed by a grande parade in which the Albany and Troy military companies, a Masonic delegation and other representatives of the city participated. In the parlors of the Troy house Recorder Thomas Clowes, in the absence of the Mayor, formally welcomed the Marquis, after which the party proceeded to St. John's hall, the Masonic headquarters, where the distinguished guest of the city was once more welcomed by the Hon. David Buel, jr. After dinner the party visited Mrs. Emma Willard at the Troy Female Seminary, and soon afterward the Marquis left the city amid the most enthusiastic plaudits of thousands of persons who had gathered upon the banks of the river."
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History of Troy, New York
FROM LANDMARKS OF RENSSELAER COUNTY
BY: GEORGE BAKER ANDERSON
PUBLISHED BY D. MASON & CO. PUBLISHERS, SYRACUSE, NY 1897
