The Cushing Contralto Controversy
/...a blog by Bethany Groff Dorau
I popped into The Thirsty Whale the other night, my first time back since they reopened. I can’t say I’m a regular, but The Whale features prominently in many of my favorite stories and is where I can reliably run into some of my favorite people.
Which is why it was no surprise that I ran into a friend of mine from my decadent adolescence, who shall remain nameless. And this, dear friends, is the beauty and the sorrow of remaining in, or returning to, the home of one’s youth. In the presence of our teenage friends, we get to be eternally sixteen. We have both changed, my friend and I, but it was the reunion of our old selves – him a Teen Beat-worthy heartthrob, and me a bright-eyed punk rock girl with a jawline that could slice bread. Ah, youth.
And then, while catching up with my old friend, he revealed that he recently worked on the set of the HBO series Julia, about the early years of Julia Child's’ television career. James and I went home and binge-watched all available episodes. I was completely and utterly charmed. Since I am a nerd, I wanted to read more, and because I am a provincial nerd whose loyalty is bound inexorably to Old Newbury, I unearthed a local mystery, a possible subterfuge involving a patrician suffragette, a “luscious” contralto, and Julia Child’s husband. Oh, and some post-mortem landscaping.
Julia Child cooks a hearty meal for the Cushing family - both true and false. Photo credit: Lynn Gilbert, 1978, Wikimedia Commons.
First, Julia. What a gal! Next, Paul Child, her husband. What a guy! They met in Sri Lanka. He was setting up the war room there. And then - imagine the sound of a needle sliding across a record - there was this. From a biography of Julia Child, “their mother, Bertha CUSHING Child moved the two boys and their sister back to Boston, where she had grown up.”
Cushing is a common name, you say. Millions of them. Not necessarily related to the Newburyport Cushing family. You’d be right, and wrong. There are a great number of Cushings in the world, and our branch of the family was not especially prolific. Caleb Cushing himself was childless, as was his niece Margaret, the two people most involved with the Cushing House Museum. But lo, a smoking gun.
The Richmond Daily Times announcement of Bertha Cushing’s Virginia performance. The body of the announcement says, “She is the daughter of the Rev. John Russell Cushing of Boston, a nephew of Caleb Cushing, the eminent jurist”, April 6, 1902
Bertha Cushing Child introduced herself, and was introduced to the public, as the grandniece of Caleb Cushing, at least in early performances. Now, since I collect Newbury connections like some folks collect stamps, I plugged her into my family tree. Well, I tried to. As hard as I tried, I could not make a connection between her father and Caleb Cushing, even as a step- or half-nephew.
I am making this story sound much better than it is. There is no connection between Bertha Cushing Child and Caleb Cushing, at least none after the 17th century that I can find. Bertha may have lied, she may have been passing on a lie from someone else, it may have been a rumor or family story that was repeated until it seemed true. She also referred to herself as a “native of Boston” but was born in Connecticut. What is provable is that she did not claim to be Cushing’s great-niece when she moved to Boston after the death of her husband in 1902 and performed there frequently to support her family.
Bertha Cushing Child and her children, L to R Mary, Charles, and Julia Child’s future husband, Paul. Boston Globe, April 7, 1907
Perhaps it would have been too easy to check her story when in such proximity to the family of her alleged relative. Margaret Cushing, his actual niece, was alive and well in Newburyport and may have objected to the singer claiming such kinship. Perhaps Bertha understood that she would get more traction from a relationship with Caleb Cushing in Virginia.
It is dangerous to guess at people’s motivations, but sometimes putting the pieces together requires a bit of supposition. What the promotion of Caleb Cushing as great-uncle of the singer reveals, beyond a doubt, is that twenty-plus years after his death, Caleb Cushing was still a national celebrity. What is perhaps uncomfortable to consider is that he was also less problematic in the American South.
I am just beginning to do a deep dive into the legacy of Caleb Cushing. He is one of those figures who seems to evoke devotion and anger in equal measure. He was praised by his contemporaries as “the most learned man living”, a brilliant orator, a skilled negotiator, and a pioneer in the establishment of trade and conflict-of-interest rules. He was regarded by many as a highly ethical man.
On the other hand, as Attorney General, Cushing supported the March 1857 Dred Scott decision, which declared that Black Americans were not and could never be citizens of the United States and were not protected by the Constitution. Throughout his political career, Cushing opposed the abolition of slavery and supported states’ rights, though he supported the Union during the Civil War.
In 1874, President Grant nominated Cushing as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. His nomination was withdrawn when Cushing's friendship with President of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis was made public. His withdrawal from nomination was explained away by his supporters as “purely partisan”, but it is pretty damning. Cushing wrote a letter of recommendation for a member of his staff directly to Jefferson Davis, already the leader of the burgeoning Confederacy, on March 23, 1861.
The New York Times, page 1. January 14, 1874.
Though this could be explained by a long-term friendship between the two men, President Lincoln had issued a proclamation prohibiting communication with the rebel leaders, and Cushing clearly and knowingly violated it. The New York Times declared the “DOOM OF CALEB CUSHING” and published a summary of the “TREASONABLE LETTER OF MR. CUSHING”. President Grant quickly withdrew his nomination.
It is fascinating from a distance of over a century how people are lionized, vilified, excused, and excoriated in the public mind. But we know that at the dawn of the last century, Caleb Cushing's name was enough to help launch the career of Julia Child’s mother-in-law, who Julia referred to as “an utterly impractical, pre-Raphaelite creature”. And the post-mortem landscaping? Bertha Cushing Child died in Paris in 1933 and her ashes were interred at Père Lachaise Cemetery. Since her grave was leased, not owned, however, after 30 years, her ashes were sprinkled on a lawn.
I am a little bit sad that my plans to recreate the Julia Child kitchen at the Museum of Old Newbury in honor of her family connections here are dashed. I did so want to think of Paul Child as the urbane, witty heir of a long line of Newburyport folks. Plus, if he had been Caleb Cushing’s great-great nephew, Julia Child would have been my sixth cousin-in-law, and THAT would be worth boasting about.
After all, I have followed Julia's advice closely, at least when it comes to history. “Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it."
