William Orcutt Cushing

CUSHING, William Orcutt. b. Hingham Center, Massachusetts, 31 December 1823; d. Lisbon, New York, 19 October 1902. Cushing was raised by Unitarian parents. He became a minister of the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, and served his first pastorate at Searsburg, New York. He married in 1854, and went on to serve in Auburn, Brooklyn, Buffalo, and Sparta, all in New York State. After his wife died in 1870 and his own health declined (including the loss of his voice) he retired from the ministry and began writing hymns, completing over 300 in his remaining years; JJ, p. 274, lists eight that appeared in Ira D. Sankey*’s Sacred Songs and Solos. The most memorable of these are: ‘Down in the...