Belmont 150th - Cushing

Cushing

John Perkins Cushing was a wealthy China trader "connected" by family or business to a veritable Who's Who of Boston society. He vigorously supported the incorporation effort for the town of Belmont and subsequently, the new town was named for his mansion "Bellmont."

The man whose foresight and home enriched Belmont was born in Boston on April 22, 1787 to Robert and Ann (Perkins) Cushing. John's mother died of smallpox and his uncle, Colonel Thomas Handasyd Perkins, the leader of Boston's mercantile community, raised him. Thomas and James Perkins, owned sizable shares in seven trading vessels. By the 1830's, the business controlled as much as half of the total U.S. trade with Canton.

Like Cushing, John Bennet, Thomas Tunno and John Murray Forbes were Perkins' nephews. Samuel Cabot was a Perkins' son-in-law. Nancy Cushing, John's sister, married Henry Higginson. In addition to Forbes and Higginson and Cabot, Wentworths, Appletons and Lowells recur in the business and family ties enjoyed by John Perkins Cushing.

John, himself, became a clerk in his uncle's counting house and sailed for China when only sixteen years old to learn the business there. The head of the firm in China, Mr. Bumstead, soon died and Cushing managed the affairs of the firm so well that he was taken into partnership. In 1806, Perkins & Company was formally established in Canton. The Perkins firm and that of Bryant & Sturgis were frequently called "the Boston Concern." William Sturgis was also a Perkins nephew.

In 1818 Cushing announced that a portion of the Perkins & Company business would be handled by a newly organized firm, James P. Sturgis & Company. By the 1820's, Cushing was the most influential of all the foreigners in Canton. The Chinese knew him as Ku-Shing. Russell & Company was founded in 1824 with Cushing's encouragement. Later, Perkins & Co. would merge with Russell & Co. further strengthening the Boston Concern's interests in China. A close relationship between Cushing and the important hong merchant Houqua had developed over these years.

Cushing was most successful in his China ventures, which included importing rice during a famine in China, loaning money out at 18% during the War of 1812 and diversifying into opium when trade in fur and specie, foundations of Boston's China trade, paled. The first Perkins & Company cargo of Turkish opium, on board the brigantine Monkey, arrived in China in 1816; when the transaction proved profitable, the firm set up an opium buying operation in Leghorn, Italy. It was the beginning of a thriving if illicit commerce for both Perkins & Co. and for a number of other Boston fortunes.

He returned to Boston in 1830, with over seven million dollars, a princely sum for the time. He married Mary Louisa, the only daughter of the Rev. John Sylvester Gardiner rector of Trinity Church, Boston, and built himself a handsome white stone mansion on Summer Street at the corner of Hawley Street. The house was surrounded by "an inscrutable wall of Chinese porcelain" and was staffed by Chinese in oriental dress.

"Jack" Cushing bought land on Eastern Point (Gloucester) in 1833 and had a heavy stone wall built between his new property and that to the north, three quarters of a mile from shore to shore. It marked the boundary between the Point and the rest of East Gloucester.

Cushing planned to make the property his summer estate, but for some reason, his wife's health or a possible disagreement concerning the assessment and taxation of the property, he abandoned the project. It is difficult to believe that a disagreement of that nature occurred because it is recorded that when he relocated to Watertown Cushing volunteered to pay the entire tax bill for the town.

The same year, 1833, Mr. Cushing had the keel for a seventy-ton sixty-foot schooner laid at the Whitmore and Holbrook yard up the Mystic River at Medford. His cousin, Robert Bennet "Black Ben" Forbes, supervised the construction. The Sylph, as the yacht was named, won the first recorded American yacht race in 1835. After it ran aground, the angered Cushing sold it to Black Ben for far less that it was worth.

After abandoning the Eastern Point project, Cushing acquired from different owners (Messrs. Preble and Stone among them) some 200 acres in Watertown on which he had built the fifty-room mansion, Bellmont. The site was "the first hill of any size as one goes west of Boston," thus prompting the name. Work began on the project and on Friday, August 29, 1834, the Cushings moved first to the Preble house and then to "the cottage" on the property. The mansion house, Bellmont, was under construction for nine years and cost over $115,000 when completed in 1849.

The Cushings had five children, four boys and a girl; John Gardiner b. 1834, Robert Maynard b. 1836, Thomas Forbes b. 1838, William Howard b. 1840 d.1851 and Mary Louisa b.1846.

Cushing's sons used to spend their weekdays in Boston with their grandmother, Mrs. Gardiner, in order to be near school. "On Saturdays the large Cushing carriage (a barouche) came to take the boys home to Bellmont," wrote Mrs. R. B. Forbes (she was a Perkins) in one of her letters. It was lined with what was known as Cushing plaid in red, black and white straw. "Cox, the coachman, was a big bearded man, as much a part of the establishment as if he had been built with it."

Mrs. Forbes also speaks of the wonderful parties given by Mr. Cushing at Bellmont, "to which the boys and girls of Boston looked forward with joy." There were haystacks to play in, ponies for the children to ride, music, volleys of Chinese firecrackers, fire-balloons, dancing on the lawn and a procession of the children, often dressed in Chinese finery, to the supper table. Copley once said that one of these parties was the prettiest scene he had ever witnessed.

There were also sleighing parties, musicals and assorted gatherings for adults. (Longfellow attended a musical in 1842 and Dr. Webster enjoyed one on November 18, 1849, the day after he murdered Dr. Parkman.) Mr. Cushing purchased an Audubon folio of birds from Dr. Parkman. Agassiz and Audubon visited Bellmont. Mr. Chickering tuned the piano.

Mr. Cushing took an active part in public enterprises, and was one of the most benevolent and respected citizens of the State. His bequests were liberal yet unostentatious, often made anonymously. Massachusetts General Hospital, Perkins Institute for the Blind and the Boston Athenaeum were among the beneficiaries of his charity.

He was considered "of a very retiring disposition" and it is believed that there is no picture of him in existence. It would be nice to know what the man who so enthusiastically advocated the incorporation of Belmont looked like. He was the largest taxpayer of the proposed town and gave generously and openly to the incorporation expenses. It is suspected that Mr. Hittinger, one of Cushing's neighbors and an ardent separatist, proposed the idea that the new town be named for Bellmont minus an "L".

John Perkins Cushing died on April 12, 1862 and was buried at Mt. Auburn Cemetery. His wife died three months later. An inventory of the estate made after his death placed the value at nearly 2 1/2 million dollars. The house and estate were sold in 1866 to Samuel R. Payson who further added to its grandeur.



Cushing John Perkins Cushing was a wealthy China trader "connected" by family or business to a veritable Who's Who of Boston society. He vigorously supported the incorporation effort for the town of Belmont and subsequently, the new town was named for his mansion "Bellmont." The man whose foresight and home enriched Belmont was born in Boston on April 22, 1787 to Robert and Ann (Perkins) Cushing. John's mother died of smallpox and his uncle, Colonel Thomas Handasyd Perkins, the leader of Boston's mercantile community, raised him. Thomas and James Perkins, owned sizable shares in seven trading vessels. By the 1830's, the business controlled as much as half of the total U.S. trade with Canton. Like Cushing, John Bennet, Thomas Tunno and John Murray Forbes were Perkins' nephews. Samuel Cabot was a Perkins' son-in-law. Nancy Cushing, John's sister, married Henry Higginson. In addition to Forbes and Higginson and Cabot, Wentworths, Appletons and Lowells recur in the business and family ties enjoyed by John Perkins Cushing. John, himself, became a clerk in his uncle's counting house and sailed for China when only sixteen years old to learn the business there. The head of the firm in China, Mr. Bumstead, soon died and Cushing managed the affairs of the firm so well that he was taken into partnership. In 1806, Perkins & Company was formally established in Canton. The Perkins firm and that of Bryant & Sturgis were frequently called "the Boston Concern." William Sturgis was also a Perkins nephew. In 1818 Cushing announced that a portion of the Perkins & Company business would be handled by a newly organized firm, James P. Sturgis & Company. By the 1820's, Cushing was the most influential of all the foreigners in Canton. The Chinese knew him as Ku-Shing. Russell & Company was founded in 1824 with Cushing's encouragement. Later, Perkins & Co. would merge with Russell & Co. further strengthening the Boston Concern's interests in China. A close relationship between Cushing and the important hong merchant Houqua had developed over these years. Cushing was most successful in his China ventures, which included importing rice during a famine in China, loaning money out at 18% during the War of 1812 and diversifying into opium when trade in fur and specie, foundations of Boston's China trade, paled. The first Perkins & Company cargo of Turkish opium, on board the brigantine Monkey, arrived in China in 1816; when the transaction proved profitable, the firm set up an opium buying operation in Leghorn, Italy. It was the beginning of a thriving if illicit commerce for both Perkins & Co. and for a number of other Boston fortunes. He returned to Boston in 1830, with over seven million dollars, a princely sum for the time. He married Mary Louisa, the only daughter of the Rev. John Sylvester Gardiner rector of Trinity Church, Boston, and built himself a handsome white stone mansion on Summer Street at the corner of Hawley Street. The house was surrounded by "an inscrutable wall of Chinese porcelain" and was staffed by Chinese in oriental dress. "Jack" Cushing bought land on Eastern Point (Gloucester) in 1833 and had a heavy stone wall built between his new property and that to the north, three quarters of a mile from shore to shore. It marked the boundary between the Point and the rest of East Gloucester. Cushing planned to make the property his summer estate, but for some reason, his wife's health or a possible disagreement concerning the assessment and taxation of the property, he abandoned the project. It is difficult to believe that a disagreement of that nature occurred because it is recorded that when he relocated to Watertown Cushing volunteered to pay the entire tax bill for the town. The same year, 1833, Mr. Cushing had the keel for a seventy-ton sixty-foot schooner laid at the Whitmore and Holbrook yard up the Mystic River at Medford. His cousin, Robert Bennet "Black Ben" Forbes, supervised the construction. The Sylph, as the yacht was named, won the first recorded American yacht race in 1835. After it ran aground, the angered Cushing sold it to Black Ben for far less that it was worth. After abandoning the Eastern Point project, Cushing acquired from different owners (Messrs. Preble and Stone among them) some 200 acres in Watertown on which he had built the fifty-room mansion, Bellmont. The site was "the first hill of any size as one goes west of Boston," thus prompting the name. Work began on the project and on Friday, August 29, 1834, the Cushings moved first to the Preble house and then to "the cottage" on the property. The mansion house, Bellmont, was under construction for nine years and cost over $115,000 when completed in 1849. The Cushings had five children, four boys and a girl; John Gardiner b. 1834, Robert Maynard b. 1836, Thomas Forbes b. 1838, William Howard b. 1840 d.1851 and Mary Louisa b.1846. Cushing's sons used to spend their weekdays in Boston with their grandmother, Mrs. Gardiner, in order to be near school. "On Saturdays the large Cushing carriage (a barouche) came to take the boys home to Bellmont," wrote Mrs. R. B. Forbes (she was a Perkins) in one of her letters. It was lined with what was known as Cushing plaid in red, black and white straw. "Cox, the coachman, was a big bearded man, as much a part of the establishment as if he had been built with it." Mrs. Forbes also speaks of the wonderful parties given by Mr. Cushing at Bellmont, "to which the boys and girls of Boston looked forward with joy." There were haystacks to play in, ponies for the children to ride, music, volleys of Chinese firecrackers, fire-balloons, dancing on the lawn and a procession of the children, often dressed in Chinese finery, to the supper table. Copley once said that one of these parties was the prettiest scene he had ever witnessed. There were also sleighing parties, musicals and assorted gatherings for adults. (Longfellow attended a musical in 1842 and Dr. Webster enjoyed one on November 18, 1849, the day after he murdered Dr. Parkman.) Mr. Cushing purchased an Audubon folio of birds from Dr. Parkman. Agassiz and Audubon visited Bellmont. Mr. Chickering tuned the piano. Mr. Cushing took an active part in public enterprises, and was one of the most benevolent and respected citizens of the State. His bequests were liberal yet unostentatious, often made anonymously. Massachusetts General Hospital, Perkins Institute for the Blind and the Boston Athenaeum were among the beneficiaries of his charity. He was considered "of a very retiring disposition" and it is believed that there is no picture of him in existence. It would be nice to know what the man who so enthusiastically advocated the incorporation of Belmont looked like. He was the largest taxpayer of the proposed town and gave generously and openly to the incorporation expenses. It is suspected that Mr. Hittinger, one of Cushing's neighbors and an ardent separatist, proposed the idea that the new town be named for Bellmont minus an "L". John Perkins Cushing died on April 12, 1862 and was buried at Mt. Auburn Cemetery. His wife died three months later. An inventory of the estate made after his death placed the value at nearly 2 1/2 million dollars. The house and estate were sold in 1866 to Samuel R. Payson who further added to its grandeur. Town of Belmont \| Belmont Historical Society