Capt. Theophilus Cushing · Hingham Lives

Theophilus Cushing was born in Hingham on the 7th of June, 1657, and died there on the 7th of January, 1717-18, in his sixty-first year. He was the third of his name in the town: grandson of the immigrant Matthew Cushing, who came from Hingham in England and settled here in the autumn of 1638, and son of Daniel Cushing, the town clerk who kept Hingham’s records from 1669 until his death in 1700. Theophilus did not follow his father into the clerk’s chair, nor his elder brother Jeremiah into the pulpit. The 1893 History gives the plainer word for him: “Farmer.”

His farm lay on Main Street in South Hingham, the stretch of road, now Route 228, that the cemetery faces. From there he took his turns at the town’s business. He was chosen selectman in 1697, 1707, and 1715, and sent to the General Court as Hingham’s representative in 1702, 1703, 1704, 1707, and 1713. The title that clung to him was military, not clerical: he was Capt. Theophilus Cushing.

He married Mary Thaxter, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Jacob) Thaxter, on the 28th of November, 1688. They had eleven children, all born in Hingham, and the family knew early grief: the two daughters named Mary, and the infant Rachel, all died before their father. His will, dated the 3rd of January, 1717-18, just days before his death, parcels out the farm and outlying lots near Planters’ Hill, Wakely’s Marsh, and Page’s Bridge to his sons, with a portion to his daughter Deborah, and leaves Mary the use of the estate while she remained a widow. She did not remain one long by the customs of the day, marrying Capt. Joseph Herrick of Beverly in 1722.

One correction the records insist on: Find a Grave names him “Rev.” He was not a minister. The 1893 History calls him farmer and captain, and his offices were civil and military. The clerical title belongs to his brother, Rev. Jeremiah Cushing, the Harvard graduate ordained at Scituate in 1691. The wall label here should read Captain, and Farmer, and selectman, the offices the town actually gave him.

Family as recorded on Find a Grave

Daniel Cushing1619–1700✓Lydia Gilman Cushing1619–1689✓

Capt. Theophilus Cushingm.Mary Thaxter Cushing1667–1737✓also here

Capt Nehemiah Cushing1689–1774Mary Cushing1691–1699also hereAdam Cushing1692–1752David Cushing1694–1723also hereCaptain Abel Cushing1696–1750also hereRachel Cushing1698–1699also hereMary Cushing1701–1716also hereReverend Theophilus Cushing Jr1703–1779also hereSeth Cushing I1705–1761Lydia Cushing Herrick1709–1736

Relationships are as recorded on Find a Grave. A ✓ marks a tie the 1893 History of Hingham independently confirms.

What we don't yet know

Find a Grave styles him "Rev Theophilus Cushing," but neither the 1893 History nor the cited Cushing entries make him a minister; both give "Farmer" and "Captain." The clerical vocation belongs to his elder brother, Rev. Jeremiah Cushing, who graduated Harvard in 1676 and was ordained minister at Scituate on 27 May 1691 (1893 History; corroborated by the Pane-Joyce / "Old Folks" genealogy). The "Rev" appears to have migrated onto the subject by shared surname. I do not assert his son Theophilus (1703–1779) was a minister; the 1893 History calls the son a farmer, mill-owner, constable, and selectman.
Daughter Lydia (b. 13 Feb 1709-10) is a direct source disagreement. The 1893 History states she "d. before her fa.," which would make her a child at death (before January 1718). Find a Grave instead records her as "Lydia Cushing Herrick, 1709–1736," surviving to adulthood and marriage. I follow neither silently; the 1893 reading is given primacy here as the older Hingham record, but the conflict is unresolved and should be checked against the vital records. For this reason she is not listed among the confirmed early deaths.
His death is given in Old Style as 7 January 1717-18, that is, January 1718 by modern reckoning. The 1893 History quotes his age as "aet. 61st yr.," meaning he died in his sixty-first year, i.e. at age 60; this is consistent with a June 1657 birth and with the "age 60" given on Find a Grave.
Find a Grave records a cemetery-level coordinate, not the grave itself; the exact location of his burial within High Street Cemetery is not confirmed, and the visible marker is a later family tomb rather than a dated 1718 headstone.