Cushing
Knox County, Maine
a MEGenWeb town site
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Cushing | |
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History In 1789, a group of small settlements on the west bank of the St. Georges River was incorporated and named after Lt. Gov. Thomas Cushing of Massachusetts. It was not until 1816 that Maine seceded from Massachusetts and 1820 that it was admitted to the Union. Prior to 1789, the area on both sides of the river had been known as the Lower Plantation of St. Georges. The present villages of St. George separated from Cushing in 1803. A 1605 inscription on a rock suggests the date of the first European exploration of the area and was probably left by a crew member of the Captain George Weymouth expedition. 1998 and 1999 excavations have confirmed settlement by an English trader about 1634. He was soon driven out by the French, however, who retained control until 1654. Little is known about settlement until the mid 1700's, when scattered traders, fishermen and farmers began to acccept offers of land. Problems with the Indians and the French made life difficult and slowed developed from what it otherwise might have been. There are said to have been only about 30 settlers in 1743, but by 1820 there were 600 occupying 75 residences. Today, the Town remains almost entirely residential, with a population of about 1300, one K through four school, one fire station and one store. Twenty-three burial sites have been identified and 1163 burials indexed from 1750 to 1996 by the Cushing Historical Society. Features The town lies on a north-south peninsular between Friendship and St. George. It is entered via Wadsworth Street, south off Route One in Thomaston. It is on the west bank of the St. George River and includes Gay's Island and Crotch Island. It contains anchorages in Pleasant Point Harbor, often referred to as "The Gut," and in Maple Juice Cove.
Other features are Broad and Hyler Coves, and McCarthy, Bradford, Bailey and Montgomery Points. Sources
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Reference |
Author |
Owner/Email |
| Cushing, formerly Lower St. George: 'Records of Lower St. George, 1605-1897' | transcribed by Ruth J. Aiken, 1987 | George Hoyt Dick Watts |
| 'Settlers & Soldiers of Cushing, Maine Before 1760 & Their Descendants', surname index | Brad Beckett | Chet Knowles Marlene Groves |
| 'Saltwater Farm' | Luthera Burton Dawson, 1993 | George Hoyt Joe Carr |
| All-Name Cemetery Index to 23 Burial Locations in Cushing | Cushing Historical Society | Chet Knowles Joe Carr |
| 'Rockland Courier Gazette',1897 to present plus an earlier paper from 1861 | Microfilm. Births, Marriages and Deaths | Rockland Public Library, 86 Union St. Rockland ME 04841 SASE + $1. |
| 'Vital Records Published in Rockland, Maine, Prior to 1892', The Rockland Courier Gazette's Births, Marriages and Deaths 1846 to 1892 | Charles Candage | Malcolm Jackson |
| 'Thomaston Recorder, of Thomaston, Me. The newspaper's marriages and deaths from 1837-1846, indexed | Steven Sullivan | Malcolm Jackson |
| 'Maine Families in 1790'Vol. 1-6, one generation back and one forward | ed. by Gray and Anderson | Mary J. Coombs |
| 'Maine and NH Families' | Walter Goodwin Davis | Mary J. Coombs |
Copyright Notice: All files on this site are copyrighted by their creator. They may be linked to but may not be reproduced on another site without specific permission from Holly Timm [ [email protected]] and/or their contributor. Although public information is not in and of itself copyrightable, the format in which they are presented, the notes and comments, etc., are. It is however, quite permissable to print or save the files to a personal computer for personal use ONLY. This page was originally created by Sena Spear Havasy and is adapted here with her permission.
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