Hon. Colonel Ezekiel Cushing (1698 – 1765)
Ezekiel was born in Scituate Plymouth Colony on Monday April 28, 1698. He was the fourth child of Reverend Jeremiah Cushing and Hannah Loring, the daughter of Thomas Loring and Hannah Jacob of Hingham. His first wife was Hannah Doane of Plymouth, born on December 1, 1703 in Provincetown.
They married in Truro on November 5, 1719.
Ezekiel and Hannah had the following children, all born in Provincetown:
Loring, born 10 August 1721, who graduated at Harvard College, 1741,
Ezekiel, born 3 June 1724;
Jeremiah, born 7 October 1729;
Hannah, born 9 February 1732;
Lucia, born 13 July 1734, died in infancy;
Lucia, 27 December 1735;
Phebe, 15 April 1738;
Nicolas, born in 1740 and died in 1745.
Ezekiel was coroner in 1727 and 1729. After 1738 the family moved to Cape Elizabeth (then Falmouth), Maine and occupied Cushing’s Point which has ever since bourne his name, and where a portion of his house remains. He owned Cushing’s Island in Portland Harbor, and sold it to Joshua Bangs on 14 September 1760, by whose name it was known until 1859, when it was purchased by Lemuel Cushing, of Montreal, Canada, who gave it its present name.
He also owned the greater part of Long Island (Maine) with Marsh and Overset Islands in Portland Harbor, and he bequeathed them in his will to his children. He was a merchant, and about 1719 went to Provincetown with his brother Jeremiah where they engaged in the fishing and whaling industry, as well as the West India trade, owning many schooners and sloops. His large mercantile establishment was on the point bearing his name, a few rods east of the breakwater and at the western extremity of the sandy cove west of Fort Preble.
It is authoritatively stated that during his time, there was more commercial business carried on in Simonton’s Cove and on the Cape Elizabeth shore, than on the Falmouth side. He was active and prominent in the affairs of the settlement and became one of the most respected as well as distinguished men in Portland neighborhood.
Ezekiel was Commander of the County Regiment at that time, the highest office in Maine, and in 1757 was able to furnish 50 men from his regiment to defend the inhabitants against the Indians, and one hundred to protect the Commissioners while there were arranging the terms of peace.
He was Selectman of the town for nine years, and Justice of the Peace in 1756, 1760 and 1761; Justice of the Court of Common Pleas 1760 to 1763, and filled other important offices.
Governor Shirley dined at Colonel Cushing’s on 23 July 1754. He took a prominent part in the religious dissensions which broke out in the Church there, and in 1756 was a leader of the opposition to the installation of the Rev. Ephraim Clark over the Church. After the installation he was set off to the first parish where he afterwards attended, though just previous to his death he petitioned the General Court and was restored to his own precinct.
His wife, Hannah Doane, passed away on June the 7th, 1743 at the age of just 38.
On April 1, 1746 he married the widow of Jacob Parker of Boston, Mary Ann Jordan, a daughter of Dominicus Jordan and Elizabeth Joy of Cape Elizabeth. Ezekiel and Mary Ann had three children, John, Thomas Nicolls, and Nathaniel. Mary Ann had four children by her first husband, one of whom, Mary Parker, married Loring Cushing. His daughter Lucia, married James Otis of Scituate, and Hannah married Charles Robinson. His descendants are numerous both in the male and female lines. He was one of the most distinguished men in our neighborhood, and lived in high style.
In those early days island property was considered especially valuable on account of the protection afforded from the Indians. Col. Cushing owned the whole of Long Island and the island afterwards known as Bang’s Island, now called Cushing’s Island, upon which nature has bestowed so much beauty and grandeur- one of the most famous on the Maine coast. Col Cushing was also owner of the Cushing’s Point, Cape Elizabeth, and at his death was buried on the Cape in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, near his little son, who met with a tragic death. The people of the household were attending church. The Cushing lad and a little boy found a horse pistol, and were playing with it when it was discharged and young Cushing was killed.
Ezekiel’s will was made 11 April 1765. He died in 1765, aged sixty-seven.
His will was printed in the Daily Eastern Argus, Portland, Maine. Saturday morning, June 17, 1911.
It was executed in 1766 by Colonel Ezekiel Cushing.
The Will
In the name of God, Ezekiel Cushing of Falmouth, in the county of Cumberland and province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, being of disordered in body, but sound of mind and memory , blessed be God, calling to mind that it is appointed to all men once to die, do this the 11th day of April in the fifth year of the reign of George the third, King of Great Britain, etc, and in the year of our Lord, 1765, make and publish this my last will and testament in manner and form following, that is to say imprimis. I commend my soul into the hands of Almighty God who gave it me, and my body to the earth from whence it came, in hopes of a joyful resurrection through the merits of my Saviour Jesus Christ, and as for that worldly estate where with it hath pleased God to bless me I dispose thereof as follows.
First, I give and devise to my two sons, Loring Cushing, and Jeremiah Cushing, and to the heirs of their bodies lawfully begotten, 200 acres of land on Long Island with the house and buildings thereon, bounded as follows. Begining at Birch Point thence running along on the north side of said island till it comes within about 30 rods to the southwest of the house that my brother Ignatius Cushing lately lived in, thence running back into the island towards the south side, till it completes the said 200 acres to be equally divided between them, and also two acres of marsh at the head of the salt marsh of said island. I give to them and to the heirs of their bodies lawfully begotten as aforesaid, to be equally divided between them.
2nd Item— I give and devise to my son Thomas Nicholls Cushing and to the heirs of his body lawfully begotten, my homestead where I now dwell, that is all the land below the road that leads from the ferry to the house where Robert Gorden lastely lived, excepting the house, barn and two acres of land where my said son Loring now lives, and also excepting two acres of meadow at the head of my mowing ground near the great birch tree, with the proviso, and on this condition, namely, that my said son Thomas Nicholls shall maintain and support this mother, my beloved wife Mary, in a proper decent manner, with all necessaries of life during the remainder of her natural life, and I also give my third son Thomas Nicholls my old desk standing in my bedroom.
3rd Item— I give and devise to my son Ezekiel Cushing and to the heirs of this body lawfully begotten 120 acres of land on said Long Island to be bounded as follows. Beginning at the northeast side of Long Cove and running northeast end of said Long Ilsland and so leads towards the south side of said island until it completes the said 120 acres, reserving one acre of land at the head of Long Cove together with the said beaches round the said island to be and belong to my children equally among them and their heirs forever.
4th Item — I give and devise to my two sons Nathaniel and John, and to the heirs of their bodies lawfully begotten, 150 acres of land on said Long Island at the southeast end thereof with the houses and buildings there on, being the place where Jedediah Soul now lives.
5th Item — I give and devise to my three sons Thomas Nicholls, Nathaniel and John and to their heirs of their bodies lawfully begotten 150 acres of land on said Long Island to be bounded as follows. Beginning on the south side of Harbor Grace, returning running straight to the bridge that was built by Solomon Sawyer and others, and from thence running a straight course across the island toward Sandy Cove till it comes to the beach line of the said 200 acres already given to my sons Loring, and Jeremiah, aforesaid, about 30 rods to the northeast of the said house my said, brother Ignatius Cushing lived in, thence by that beach line southwesterly as far as that a straight line over to the south side of said island from the first two lines from said Harbor Grace shall make the compliment of said 150 acres with the building thereon.
6th Item — I give and bequeth to my said wife Mary the bed my said wife and myself common lay on with the bedstead and bedding and curtains thereto belonging, warming pan close horse, stove and looking glass and trunks, and in the room where we usually lay, and the Negro girl Dinah, about 4 years old, during her natural life, and a silver tankard.
7th Item — I give to my daughter Lucy Otis and her heirs 100 acres of land on Long Island adjoining the said 150 acres already given to my said two sons Nathaniel and John and also silver can.
8th Item — I give and bequeath to my two daughters Hannah Robinson and Phoebe Cushing the house and land I purchased of Jacob Sawyer, and others, to be divided equally between them, to them and their heirs forever.
9th Item — I give and bequeath to my said daughter Phoebe the use and improvements of the easterly chamber in the house where I now dwell, while she remains single, and unmarried the bequest of my said son Thomas Nicholls, not withstanding. I also give her a privilege to the kitchen while she remains unmarried.
10th Item — I give and bequeath to my said daughter Hannah Robinson one cow.
11th Item — I give and devise to my said son Loring Cushing, and to his heirs one half of the house and barn where he now lives with half two acres of land adjoining, also one half of the two acres of meadow land near said great birch tree, together with one half the land lying opposite said house over the way on the south easterly side of the road between Jacob Sawyers land the Woodbury land, to him and his heirs forever. The other half of the said house and barn and two acres of land adjoining and two acres near said birch tree and said piece of land opposite to said house on the southern side of the road between said Sawyers and Woodburys . I give and bequeath to my said sons Nathaniel and John to them and their heirs, forever reserving to all my children the privilege of making use of the spring of water on the said piece of land lying between said Sawyer and Woodburys land to them and their heirs forever.
12th — I give and devise to my said son Thomas Nicholls and to his heirs the small island called Overset lying on the southeasterly end of said Long Ilsand, containing six acres more or less, and my will is that all the land on said Long Island not already disposed of in my will be sold by my executors hereafter named as soon as they conveniently can to pay my just debts.
Lastly, I hereby make and ordain and constitute my said son Thomas Nicholls Cushing, my good friend Joseph Mariner of said Falmouth, Yeomen, my executors of my last will.
In witness where of I the said Ezekiel Cushing, have, to this my last will and testament set my hand and seal one day and year above written.
From the Mists of Time 