Johnpainecushman
John Paine Cushman Portrait
Erza Ames

John Paine Cushman

Other Name:
John P. Cushman
Gender:
Male
Born:
March 8, 1784
Died:
September 16, 1848
Home Town:
Pomfret, CT
Later Residences:
Troy, NY
Marriage(s):
Maria Tallmadge Cushman (1812)
Biographical Notes:
   John Paine Cushman was the son of Judge Isaac and Sarah (Paine) Cushman. His older brother Seth who was born in 1782 was a lawyer, so it was first decided that John should remain on the farm. However, Cushman prepared for college at Plainfield Academy with John Adams, a Yale graduate of 1795. He entered Yale with the class of 1806 but an inflammation of the eyes forced him to leave college for a year. After attending the Litchfield Law School, Cushman entered the office of William Bliss of Troy, NY and became close friends with William L. Marcy (Marcy served as U.S. Senator and Governor of New York, and as the U.S. Secretary of War and U.S. Secretary of State).
   Not long afterwards, Cushman made Troy, NY his permanent home, he married Maria Tallmadge ...
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Additional Notes:
On February 21, 1824, Cushman's father-in-law Benjamin Tallmadge wrote to him regarding a sexual affair between his female house servant and a Litchfield Law School student.

“I do not remember whether I informed you that our black Girl Mary had gone to N. York, where I presume She may commemorate our law School in due time, by exhibiting a Mongrel Mink.”

Tallmadge Collection
Education
Years at LLS:
1808
Other Education:
In preparation for college he studied at the Plainfield Academy and attended Yale College in 1806, but left a year later with inflammaiton of the eyes.
Profession / Service
Profession:
Lawyer; Political Office
Admitted To Bar:
1808 in Litchfield County Court
Training with Other Lawyers:
Prior to attending the Litchfield Law School he read the law with Judge Zephaniah Swift of Windham, CT. After completing his studies at the Litchfield Law School he read the law briefly with Abraham Van Vechten in Albany, NY.
Political Party:
Federalist
Federal Posts:
U.S. Representative (NY) 1817-1819
State Posts:
Judge of Third Circuit Court (NY) 1838
Judge of State Supreme Court (NY) 1838-1844
Local Posts:
Recorder (Troy, NY) 1834
Related Objects and Documents
In the Ledger:
Other:
Litchfield County, Litchfield County Court Papers by Subject: Admissions to the Bar
help The Citation of Attendance provides primary source documentation of the student’s attendance at the Litchfield Female Academy and/or the Litchfield Law School. If a citation is absent, the student is thought to have attended but currently lacks primary source confirmation.

Records for the schools were sporadic, especially in the formative years of both institutions. If instructors kept comprehensive records for the Litchfield Female Academy or the Litchfield Law School, they do not survive. Researchers and staff have identified students through letters, diaries, family histories and genealogies, and town histories as well as catalogues of students printed in various years. Art and needlework have provided further identification of Female Academy Students, and Litchfield County Bar records document a number of Law School students. The history of both schools and the identification of the students who attended them owe credit to the early 20th century research and documentation efforts of Emily Noyes Vanderpoel and Samuel Fisher, and the late 20th century research and documentation efforts of Lynne Templeton Brickley and the Litchfield Historical Society staff.
CITATION OF ATTENDANCE:
Ledger. "Journals of the Barr - Litchfield County." Litchfield Historical Society.; Catalogue of the Litchfield Law School (Hartford, CT: Press of Case, Tiffany, and Company, 1849), 7.

Litchfield County Bar Association Records, 1808, Litchfield Historical Society, Helga J. Ingraham Memorial Library.
Secondary Sources:
Cushman, Henry Wyles. Genealogy of the Cushmans. Boston, MA: Little, Brown & Co., 1855.
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