Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/58

38 CURTISS, Samuel Ives, educator, b. in Union, Conn., 5 Feb., 1844. He was graduated at Amherst in 1807, and at Union theological semi- nary in 1870, engaged in missionary work in New York, and in 1870-'2 was connected with the Fifth avenue Presbyterian church. He travelled in Ireland and Scotland in 1872-'3, was ordained by the New York presbytery in 1874, and in 1874-'8 was pastor of the American chapel at Leipsic, of which he was one of the founders. While in Leipsic he attended lectures at the university, receiving the degree of Ph. D. in 187G, and was afterward made a licentiate by Berlin university. Iowa college gave him the degree of D. D. in 1878, and in the same year he became professor of bibli- cal literature in the Congregational theological seminary, Chicago. In 1879 he was transferred to the chair of Old Testament literature and in- trrprctjition. He is the author of "The Name jMachahee," his doctor's thesis (Leipsic, 1876); a translation of Bickell's " Outlines of Hebrew Grammar " (1877) ; of Delitzsch's " Messianic Prophecies " (Edinburgh, 1880) ; and " Old-Testa- ment History of Redemption " (1881) ; " The Levitical Priests" (1877); " De Aaronitiei sacer- dotii atque thorae Elohistica? origine," his licentiate thesis (Berlin, 1878) ; " Ingersoll and Moses " (Chi- cago, 1879) ; and contributions in the " Current Discussions in Theology " (1883 et seq.).

CURWEN, Samuel, loyalist, b. in Salem, Mass., 28 Dec, 1815; d. there, 9 April, 1802. He was graduated at Harvard in 1735, and studied for the ministry, but became a merchant in his native place. In the winter of 1774-'5 he was a captain in Sir William PepperelFs expedition against Louisburg. In 1759 he became impost oiUcer for Essex county, Mass., and in 1775 was judge of the admiralty court. From 1775 until 1784, as a loyal- ist, he resided abroad, returning to his native place in the autumn of 1784. His "Journal and Let- ters " (New York, 1842) contains interesting and valuable information concerning the lives of loyal- ist exiles while abroad.

CUSACK, Mary Frances, philanthropist, known as the Nun of Kenmare, b. near Dublin, Ireland, 6 May, 1830. She spent most of her early life in England, and began to write when very young. She entered an Anglican religious sister- hood, soon afterward became a Roman Catholic, and, returning to Ireland, joined at Newry, in 1859, a community of Franciscan nuns, known as the Irish Poor Clares, engaged in teaching poor girls. Two years later she established a convent of the Sisters at Kenmare, one of the most desti- tute parts of Ireland, and in 1884, in a personal interview with Pope Leo XIII., obtained permis- sion to leave, the Poor Clares and found a new order, the Sisters of Peace, intended for the estab- lishment and care of homes for friendless girls, where domestic service would be taught and moral habits be inculcated. She opened the first house of the new order at Nottingham, England, and in 1885 a similar house in Jersey City, N. J., the first foundation of the Sisters of Peace in the United States. Her active efforts for the relief of the wretched peasants of Kenmare brought her into controversy with the Marquis of Lansdoune, the Earl of Kenmare, and some others of the greater landlords of that region, and with a section of the Catholics of England ; but she seems to have enjoyed from the beginning the sympathy of most of the leading Catholics, lay and clerical, of her own country. She was in tlie United States in 1886. She has published more than fifty works, chief among which are a " Student's History of Ireland " ; " Woman's Work in Modern Society " ; lives of Daniel O'Connell, St. Patrick, St. Colum- ba. and St. Bridget ; " The Pilgrim's Way to Heaven " ; " Jesus and Jerusalem " ; and " The Book of the Blessed Ones."

CUSHING, Caleb, statesman, b. in Salisbury, Mass., 17 Jan., 1800; d. in Newburyport, Mass., 2 Jan., 1879. He was graduated at Harvard in 1817, and for two years was a tutor in mathematics and natural philosophy. He then studied law, was admitted to the bar, and settled in Newburyport. He rose rapidly in his profession, and, although busily engaged with his practice, found time to devote to literature and politics, and was a frequent contributor to periodicals. In 1825 he was elected a representative to the lower house of the Massachusetts legislature, and in 1826 a member of the state senate. At this time he belonged to the then republican party. In 1829 Mr. Cushing visited Europe, and remained abroad two years. In 1833 he was again elected a representative from Newburyport to the Massachusetts legislature for two years, but in 1834 was elected from the Essex north district of Massachusetts a representative to congress, and served for four consecutive terms, until 1843. He supported the nomination of John Quincy Adams for the presidency, and was a whig until the accession of John Tyler. When the break in the whig party occurred, during the administration of President Tyler, Mr. Cushing was one of the few northern whigs that continued to support the president, and became classed as a democrat. Soon afterward he was nominated for secretary of the treasury, but the senate refused to confirm him. He was subsequently confirmed as commissioner to China, and made the first treaty between that country and the United States. On his return he was again elected a representative in the Massachusetts legislature. In 1847 he raised a regiment for the Mexican war at his own expense, became its colonel, and was subsequently made brigadier-general. While still in Mexico he was nominated by the democratic party of his state for governor, but failed in the election. From 1850 till 1852 he was again a member of the legislature of his native state, and, at the expiration of his term, was appointed associate justice of the state supreme court. In 1853 President Pierce appointed him U. S. attorney-general, from which office he retired in 1857. In 1857, 1858, and 1859 he again served in the legislature of Massachusetts. In April, 1860, he was president of the Democratic national convention in Charleston, S. C., and was among the seceders from that body who met in Baltimore. At the close of 1860 he was sent to Charleston by President Buchanan, as a confidential commissioner to the secessionists of South Carolina; but his mission effected nothing. Mr. Cushing was frequently employed during the civil war in the departments at Washington,