Marriage & Family
The Cushing Family
After a long courtship, Harvey Cushing married Kate Crowell on June 10, 1902 in Cleveland. They had known each other from childhood. The couple moved into No. 3 W. Franklin St., Baltimore, next door to William and Grace Osler, whose company they thoroughly enjoyed. They were saddened when Osler was named Regius Professor at Oxford in 1905.
By the time the Cushings moved to Brookline, Massachusetts in 1912, they had four children. The last child, Barbara, was born in 1915. As Harvey focused on his surgical career to the point of workaholism, Kate, a highly competent woman, was left to manage the household and raise five children largely on her own.
Harvey Cushing lived long enough to see his second daughter Betsey marry James Roosevelt, son of Franklin Roosevelt, and become the mother of two daughters, Sara and Kate
Kate Crowell (right) from a Daguerreotype of 1892
The other woman was possibly Kate’s friend, Mary Goodwillie, founder of the Junior League of Baltimore. They both saw Cushing when they visited Boston in 1892.
Family Boat Trip up the Great Lakes in 1898
Left to right: Betsey Maria Cushing (HC’s mother) holding Edward H. (Pat) Cushing (infant son of HC’s brother Ned), Harvey Cushing, Kate Crowell, Melanie Harvey Cushing (wife of Ned) and Dr. Ned Cushing
Below: Harvey Cushing and Kate Crowell.
Letter from Harvey Cushing to Kate Crowell, ca. 1898
Manuscripts & Archives, Sterling Memorial Library
Kate Cushing with the Cushing Children
William Harvey (Bill), born 1903, Kate, Mary Benedict (Minnie), born 1906, Betsey, born 1908, Henry Kirke, born 1910.
Not pictured: Barbara (Babe), born 1915.
The Cushing Home in Brookline, Massachusetts
The Cushings lived at 305 Walnut Street in Brookline from 1912, a Boston suburb, until they left for New Haven in 1933.
Henry to His Father, and Harvey Cushing’s Reply, 1918
Manuscripts & Archives, Sterling Memorial Library
The Cushings at Their Summer Cottage, 1921
The Cushing Family spent summers at Little Boar’s Head on the shore of New Hampshire, though typically Kate Cushing would take the family while her husband remained at work or traveled abroad. Below is the one picture we have showing Harvey Cushing with his family.
Front row: Henry, Kate Cushing, Barbara. Back row, seated: William, Betsey, Mary, Harvey Cushing. Standing: Mrs. Crowell.