Edmund Lambert Cushing (1807 - 1883)
Born at Lunenburg (MA); died at Charlestown (NH).
Teacher, lawyer, state legislator, jurist.
Portrait by Helen M. Putnam, 1951.
Presented to the State, date unknown.

Cushing's uncle, Asahel Stearns, was a noted jurist, as was Cushing's elder brother Luther Cushing. Cushing himself graduated from Harvard College (Class of 1827), and because of his talents the College asked him to be a tutor. Cushing accepted the post and was for some years a tutor, and in later life Cushing regretted his decision, saying "he wasted some very valuable years in teaching." (Bell, p. 126.) He was not admitted to the Bar until he was twenty-seven years old (1834), and he did not begin law practice in New Hampshire until 1840, when he settled at Charlestown. Aged thirty-three, Cushing had by then been married for five years (to Laura Lovell, of Charlestown, NH, in 1835).

Cushing became a prominent lawyer at Charlestown. He was elected a State Representative (1850, 1852, and 1853), and in 1855 he was appointed a circuit judge for the Court of Common Pleas. Soon afterwards the courts system was changed, and Cushing's post was abolished. Cushing was offered a judgeship on the new Court of Common Pleas, but he declined the offer and returned to private law practice.

In 1874 the New Hampshire courts were reorganized by the Democrats, who were new to political power. Cushing was named Chief Justice; two years later the Republicans came back with a vengeance and Cushing's judicial career ended. Bell writes (p. 127), "It is always unfortunate when the courts of justice become the subject of party contentions, and especially so when the effect may be to deprive the community of the services of officers of high character and qualifications. Judge Cushing undoubtedly possessed many of the requisites of a first-rate judge....." Cushing was also a good writer, revising his brother's Manual of Parliamentary Practice with the addition of many notes; and he was a skilled performer on organ and piano.

Reference: Charles H. Bell, The Bench and Bar of New Hampshire (1894), pp. 126 - 127.