Matthew Cushing, son of Peter Cushing and Susan Hawes, was baptized 2 March 1589 at Hardingham, Norfolk, England. He married 5 August 1613, Nazareth Pitcher, daughter of Henry Pitcher. Nazareth was baptized 30 October 1586 and died 6 January 1682 at Hingham, Massachusetts. Matthew died 30 September 1660.

For the first 50 years of his life he lived in Hardingham and Hingham, Norfolk County, England until 1638, when with his wife and five children, and his wife's sister, the widow Frances Riecroft, who died a few weeks after their arrival, he embarked in the ship "Diligent" of Ipswich, 350 tons, John Martin, Master, which sailed from Gravesend on 26 April 1638 with 133 passengers, among whom was Robert Peck, M.A., Rector of the parish of Hingham, England. The immediate occasion of their departure seems to have been trouble in ecclesiastical matters. Their rector, doubtless with the sympathy and aid of most of those constituting the emigrating party, ha pulled down the rails of chancel and altar and leveled the latter a foot below the church, as it remains to this day. Being prosecuted by Bishop Wren, he left the Kingdom, together with his friends who sold their estates at half their real value. The party, having landed at Boston, Mass on 10 August 1638, immediately proceeded to their destination, Hingham, Massachusetts, so named after their former home in England.

At a town meeting held in 1638, a house lot of 5 acres, first below Pear Tree Hill, on Bachelor (Main) Street, was given to Matthew Cushing, and it continued in the family until 1887. He was early engaged in the public affairs of the town, became a Deacon in the Reverend Hobart's church, and was the progenitor of many eminent descendants. "It is now a pretty well established fact that, with the exception of a few families who have come to this country during the past century, all the persons bearing the surname of Cushing in the United States and Canada are his direct lineal descendants." His will, which was a verbal one, was written after his decease by his children, who under date of 15 November 1660, pray that Daniel Cushing, Esquire, their oldest brother, may be appointed administrator of their father's estate.

Source: Cushing, James. Genealogy of the Gushing Family - an Account of the Ancestors and Descendants of Matthew Gushing who came to American in 1638. Montreal: Perrault Printing Co, 1905.