William Henry Cushing

First Calgary lumber company; 11th mayor of the city

Born: 21 August 1852 at Kenilworth, Ontario
Married:  1877 to Elizabeth Rinn, she died 3 years later; 1883 to Mary Jane Waters
Died: 25 January 1934 (aged 81) at Calgary, Alberta
Buried: Union Cemetery at Calgary, Alberta, Plot J:05:023
Contributor: Jim Benedict

Early Life

His father was a farmer from Norwich England.  By 1879, Cushing indentured as a carpenter.  At age 31, in 1883, he moved to Calgary where he engaged in building of houses and stores.  In 1885, Cushing opened a sash and door factory, from which the family became wealthy.  By 1900, the business had expanded to 42 city lots and employed more than 100 workers, growing to 200 by 1911.

I’ve identified most of the Cushings in Calgary cemeteries. One puzzle is a Cushing by marriage who remarried in the 1950’s. She was in the dental corps during WWII. She worked for a dentist in Calgary and has a military grave at Burnsland. I don’t know the name of her Cushing husband or where they married, if he died or they divorced.

William Cushing and his wife Sarah (Thompson) married 1849 and raised their family of 9 children in Kenilworth, Ontario. Sarah died at her son WHC’s home in Calgary, buried with her husband in Ontario. Early notes assumed she died in Ontario but I think all the family had moved elsewhere.

William Henry Cushing b. 1852 was the oldest son and arrived in Calgary before the first CPR train in 1883. He was involved in various building & utility projects, also mayor of Calgary around 1900.

His first wife was Elizabeth Rinn who died young in Ontario. Their daughters were Louise 1878-1906 (Louise / Hillhurst Bridge named for her) and she was assistant organist at Central Methodist Church. Louise and her step-mother Mary Jane used to attend Alberta Government social events in Edmonton with WHC. Winnipeg has a Louise Bridge and it may have been named after Princess Louise.

Alice Maude Cushing b. 1879 d. 1960 BC married FF Higgs, a Calgary furniture dealer. The Higgs family moved to BC leaving no living descendants in Calgary. I have some notes on the Higgs family from a BC researcher. Alice was a teacher before marriage and also musical. Can’t tell which “Miss Cushing” is referenced in some news articles before she married in 1902.

Second wife of WHC was Mary Jane Waters 1849-1924 who raised the girls and lost three babies in Calgary 1885, 1888 and 1889. Their crumbling sandstone marker was moved from Shaganappi to Union Cemetery and names are also on WHC’s marker down the hill. Some variations in dates.

Third wife of WHC was Isobel McNabb 1876-1944 from BC who had been an employee of Cushing Brothers Lumber company. Some men had business connections to relatives of their wives.

WH Cushing’s brothers and other relatives plus some Ontario associates worked for the lumber company in Calgary. My mother was named after Grandma’s Aunt Elizabeth, Mrs. AB Cushing who came to Calgary when WHC was part of the first Alberta Cabinet in 1905. My great-grandfather Shaw worked for Cushing Brothers from 1905 and then AB Cushing Mills from 1911. The first of his family moved to Ontario in 1830 and has no known connection to the Shaw family of Midnapore.

My Shaw grandparents James & Hannah are buried near Randolph Cushing (nephew of ABC) at Union. One of the Shaw daughters called Viola and Dolph’s sister both died in 1907. The original record books for Union Cemetery were located in the office nearby (Spillar Road entrance) when I started research.

AB Cushing and Elizabeth had no children and retired to BC about 1925 (based on Calgary phone books). The AB Cushing business passed to a nephew and I was told (but have no proof) that his children were adopted. The last Cushing connected to AB Cushing Mills sold it after his daughter Donna died. Donald CUSHING | Obituary | Calgary Herald (remembering.ca)