Robert Cushman and Sarah Reder
Robert Cushman and Sarah Reder
Arriving on the Fortune along with his son Thomas, Roberts was the first among many Cushman families to arrive in this country. He was born in Roveden, Kent, England, about 1577,
and died at the age of 48 in London, England on 16 Feb. 1625.
He became one of the leaders of the Separatist community in Leyden,
Holland. Although his occupation was that of a grocer in Canterbury
and a woolcomber in Leiden, he also preached in Plymouth upon his
arrival on the Fortune in 1621.
Originally, Cushman and his family embarked on the Speedwell which
accompanied the Mayflower until the leaky ship was forced to turn back.
Due to his ill health, Cushman chose to return back to Leiden with the ship.
The next year, in 1621 he returned with his son Thomas aboard the
Fortune.
Thomas stayed in Plymouth with the family of William Bradford while his father
returned to England aboard the Fortune to act as Chief Agent for the Pilgrims, a
job he acquired in 1617 in which he was responsible for securing the patents
for the land in America and obtaining the financial backing of the Merchant
Adventurers amidst criticism.
On 31 July 1606 Robert married SARA REDER, born abt 1580 in Netherlands,
daughter of Samuel Rider, M (abt 1554-Bet 1573 - 1644), in Canterbury, Kent,
England. On 11 Oct 1616, Sara died in St. Peters, Leyden, Netherlands at the age of 36.
They had the following children:
i. Thomas, (1608-1691)
ii. Child (Died as Child), (-1616)
iii. Child (Died as Child), (1614-1616)
iv. Sarah, (1615 -1638)
On 5 Jun 1617 when Robert was 40, he married his second wife MARY (CLARKE)
SHINGELTON, in Sandwich, England, born on 9 Feb 1577 in Canterbury, Kent,
England. Mary (Clarke) died in 1625 at the age of 47 in Plymouth, Mass.
Transcribed from H.W. Cushman, The Descendants of Robert Cushman
In order to understand correctly the principles, character and acts of the
men who made the first settlement in New England, at Plymouth, which
subsequently have had such a predominating and controlling influence in
the civilization of the whole world, it is necessary
to glance at the political and theological position of England for one or
two centuries previous to that event.
About the year. 1534, the reformation of the Roman Catholic religion, by
Calvin and Luther and their colleagues, having extensively prevailed in England,
the Protestants gradually divided into two olasses One of these united with,
the English government, � contended for hereditary prerogative and monarchical
rights ; � claimed that the civil
government, per se, was the head of the Church; that the Church, of right,
owed obedience and subserviency to the crown; and thus Church and State
were united, constituting the established Church of England, which has
continued to this day.
Cushman Genealogy
On the other hand, another body of men, strong in intellect and of deep religious feeling, advocated the entire separation of Church and State. They bad seen and felt the corruption and tyranny of Papacy, and they were deeply grieved to see the Church, which they had venerated and loved, taking any of the forms or symbols of �the old dragon of Rome.�
Protestants in religion, they were also deeply tinctured with republican views of government; and thus, while opposing the established Church, they imbibed hatred to the crown which sus tained that Church. Such was the state of things generally during the reign of Elizabeth, one of the ablest and wisest of the English sovereigns. In the early part of the sixteenth century, the dread of a com mon enemy, the Papal Church, kept these two parties of Protestants from any open rupture. But during the latter part of that century, the breach between them was widened. There was no external force to keep them together. A separation very natural and inevitable � was the consequence,1. and persecution on the part of the civil government and the hierarchy confirmed them more fully in their opinions, and made them more determined in their acts. Says Macaulay, � It found them a sect � it made them a faction.�
As the controversy increased, the persecutions became more violent. Stripes, fines, imprisonment, death even, were often suffered by these men for the faith that was in them. At first they were called seceders, non-conformists, dissenters, and afterwards Brownists and Puritans. And it is a singular and quite a suggestive fact that the name of Puritan, which in later periods became so popular and renowned, was first given them as a term of reproach and disrespect.2.
1 The settlement of New England was a result of the Reformation: not of the contempt between the new opinions and the authority of Rome, but of implacable differences between Protestant dissenters and the established Anglican Chuch.��Bancroft's History of U. S.
2 And to cast contempt the more on the sincere servants of God, they opprobriously and most injuriously gave unto a imposed upon them. that name of Puritans." � Bradford. �In the year 1564, their lorships began to show their authority, by urging the clergy of their several dioceses to subscribe the liturgy, ceremonies and discipline of the Church, when those that refused were first called Puritans a name of reproach, derived from the Cathari or Puritani of the third century after Christ. A Puritan was, therefore, a man of severe morals, a Calvinist in doctrine, and a non-conformist to the doctrines and ceremonies of tho Church, though they did not totally separate from it.�� Neal's History of the Puritans.
Towards the close of the sirxteenth and the early part of the seventeenth centuries, the persecution of those who dissented from the established Church of England was carried to the greatest extent They were treated as criminals, and were subjected to all sorts of indignities and punishment. �I will have one doctrine and one discipline, one religion in substance and ceremony,� said King James, in 16041
In order to show the manifest injustice of tIIt course pursued by the English government
and the Anglican Church towards the Puritans, we insert here, a concise statement of
the doctrines maintained and the principles held by these men. The Puritan doctrines
were:
�1st, That private judgment ought to be formed upon esami nation, and that religion is a
free and unforced thing.
2d, They hold and maintain the absolute perfection of the Holy Scriptures, both as to faith
and worship.
3d, That every congregation or assembly of men, ordinarily joining together in the worship
of God, is a true, visible worship of Christ.
4th, That all such churches are equal and independent.�2
�But the severities against the Puritans, instead of reconciling them to the Church, drove
them further from it; for men do not come to be beat from their principles by the artillery of
canons, injunction and penal laws, � nor can they be in love with a Church that uses such
methods of conversion.�
As a natural result, therefore, of the persecutions of the Crown, Church anti Government of England, these men became more thoroughly convinced of the errors of the established Church and of the truth, soundness and importance of their own religious
�The era of the English Puritans properly begins in 1550 when Hooper for a time refused to be consecrated to the ecclesiastical habits. An old writer quoted by Prince, says; �They are called Puritans who would have the Church radically reformed: that is, purged from all those inventions which have been brought into it since the age of the Apostles, and reduced entirely to the scripture purity." - Young's Chronicles 1 For some were taken and clapped up in prisons, others had their houses watched night and day, and hardly escaped their hands; and the most were fain to fly and leave their houses and habitations and the means of their livelihood.� Bradford in Young. 2 Neale�s History of the Puritans.
views and worship. They were men such as have been found in all ages of the world, of radical minds and deep religious feelings, who place the will of God as they understand it, before everything else in the world, and who will sacrifice office, property and the dearest relations of life, and will even suffer death in the most cruel forms, rather than disobey the �higher law� of conscience and of God. Such men are seldom found among courtiers, officers of government, or men of great wealth or power, but in the middling walks of life. The main body of them camp from the small freeholders in the country and the shopkeepers. and mechanics in the towns.1
In the north of England, in the rural districts, and particularly in the counties of Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, men of such organizations were more generally found. A common sympathy made them acquaintances and associates, and suflering in a common cause, united their hearts and. hands in a common organization for the purpose of religious worship. They manfully resolved, �whatever it should cost them, to enjoy liberty of conscience."
Two churches were therefore formed in the north-eastern part of England, composed of members, we may suppose, widely separated, uniting at some central point for religious worship, in such a manner as they thought was right. Of one of these churches, Mr. John Smith, �a man of able gifts, and a good preacher,� became pastor. The members of this church emigrated to Holland; but �adopting some errors in the low countries,� they finally disbanded and it became extinct.
Of the other church, the Rev. Richard Clifton, �a man of grave deportment and a successful preacher,� had the pastoral care.
To this church belonged the Rev. John Robinson, afterwards its pastor, Elder Brewster, Guy. Carver, Gov. Bradford, Mr. Rebert Cushman, Isaac Allerton and others, who made the first settlement at Plymouth. This church commenced holding it meetings at the house of Elder Brewster, in the town of Scrooby, about the year 1602; and as a consequence, the power of the hierarchy, that controlled the government, was brought more directly and severely upon them.
1 History of England.
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