Courtland Cushing

Courtland Cushing (July 1, 1809 – May 24, 1856) was an American lawyer, judge, and diplomat.

Early life Cushing, who was born on July 1, 1809, in Warren County, Ohio. He was the third child of Brigadier General Daniel Lewis Cushing (1764–1815) and his second wife, Margaret (née Van Horne) Cushing (1775–1860), who married in New York City in 1801. His siblings included William Van Horne Cushing; Anna Cushing, the wife of Washington Lawrence; Hannah Lewis Cushing, the wife of John McFadden Gallagher; and Clara Corwin Cushing, the wife of John W. Taylor.

Cushing graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in 1829.

Career Cushing was admitted to the bar in Warren County, Ohio. Shortly before his marriage in 1833, he moved to Madison, Indiana, where he practiced for several years and became a prosecuting attorney for Decatur County, between 1833 and 1837. On July 1, 1841, President John Tyler, a Whig, nominated Cushing to replace John Pettit (later a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from Indiana) as the United States Attorney for the District of Indiana. Cushing's friend and fellow Miami University alumni, elected Cushing to serve for a term of seven years "from and after the eighteenth day of December, A. D., 1844" as President Judge of the third Circuit Court to succeed Judge Miles C. Eggleston. Reportedly, Cushing "had respectable talents, was very dressy and quite a beau among the ladies."

Chargé d'Affaires to Ecuador On September 28, 1850, he was appointed Chargé d'Affaires to Ecuador at Quito by President Millard Fillmore, a fellow Whig. He presented his credentials on June 3, 1851. In Ecuador, Cushing's view of the country substantially differed from his predecessor, John Trumbull Van Alen, who was known as "callow and impulsive" and reportedly "lacked experience in diplomacy and knowledge of Ecuadorian politics." Van Alen had "decided that Ecuador could be rescued from ruin only by General Flores," the former president of Ecuador, and wrote to Washington that Flores was popular and had been "unjustly ousted by a small clique of opportunists." Cushing, however, wrote two years later that "Flores was, as a matter of fact, enormously unpopular in Ecuador and that his return would be a disaster." He further wrote that "The United States cannot view with indifference such an attempt to interfere with the independence and sovereignty of the Republic." including to write that "two 18 pound balls passed through several rooms of my house" in Guayaquil while Flores attacked the city. Also while in office, Cushing "slapped in a claim for $40,000 US dollars against the Republic of Ecuador as compensation to the owners and crew of the ship" that was pirated on its way to the Galapagos Islands. Cushing's mission was terminated by note on October 12, 1853. He was succeeded by former Wisconsin State Senator Philo White, who was appointed by Democratic President Franklin Pierce. the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North and South America that contains the country of Panama.

Personal life On October 16, 1833, Cushing was married to Sarah Ross (d. 1843), daughter of Phineas Ross of Warren County. Together, they were the parents of: Daniel H. Cushing (b. 1841), who became Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Clark County, Ohio.

After the death of his first wife, he remarried in 1847 to Margaret Hutton of Baltimore, Maryland. She died the following year.

Cushing died on May 24, 1856, on the Isthmus of Panama and was buried at Puntas Arenas in Nicaragua.

Descendants Through his daughter Mary, he was the grandfather of four granddaughters, including Norah Hall, Mary Hall (who died in infancy), Sallie Hall (wife of John D. Ryan of Louisville, Kentucky) and Anna Hall (wife of Dr. John Wilber Hulick of Springfield, Ohio).