Many people who find their final resting places in cemeteries will be buried alongside family members, often their spouse, children, parents, or siblings. Some, however, made different arrangements.
As one of the most successful actresses of the late 19th century, Charlotte Cushman was able to afford many of the finer things in both life and in death. Two years before her death, she purchased a large corner plot at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, where many of the historic elite of the Boston area are buried. Her somewhat unconventional life led her to have somewhat unconventional burial arrangements. Let us look at the residents of Lot 4236 on Palm Avenue, starting with Ms. Cushman herself.
Charlotte Cushman (1816-1876)
Born in Boston in 1816, Charlotte Cushman was a star, perhaps the biggest American star of her day. She first took to the stage as a teenager in large part to support her mother and younger siblings after her father abandoned the family. She eventually gained fame as an actress who was equally adept at playing male and female roles, leaning fully into her low voice and athletic build to pull them off convincingly. Among her most notable roles were Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Romeo, which she played opposite her sister Susan as Juliet early in her career.
Charlotte spent much of her adult life in Europe. Living mostly in Italy, Charlotte was part of social circles that included numerous queer artists, including author Matilda Hayes and sculptor Emma Stebbins, both of whom she had long-term romantic relationships with. She never married or had any biological children, although she did adopt her nephew and supported both him and, later, his wife and children. Those not in the know interpreted her lifelong “single” status to mean that she was too devoted to her work and supporting her family to bother with a husband.
Charlotte took her final bow in Boston in May of 1875, after several other supposed “final” performances across the Northeast. She then briefly retired to her villa in Newport, one of the numerous properties she owned. She returned to Boston for medical treatment a few months after retiring and passed away at the Parker House Hotel on February 18, 1876. She was 59 years old.
Sally Mercer (c. 1828-1894)
Sallie (or Sally) Mercer was born in Philadelphia sometime in 1828 and was an educated freeborn woman of color. Almost nothing is known about her life before she met Charlotte when she was about 14 years old. Charlotte was so impressed by Sallie’s seriousness and industriousness that she offered her a job as a maid, which Sallie eagerly accepted, supposedly over her mother’s objections. She accompanied Charlotte on her first trip to Europe in 1844 and stayed with her until her death in 1876. Sallie worked for Charlotte as her dresser/wardrobe mistress, housekeeper, travel coordinator, and more, essentially running Charlotte’s life.
Charlotte relied on Sallie so much that she referred to her as her “right hand.” Before the end of slavery in the United States, she was reluctant to travel to the Southern United States until she was assured that Sallie would not be harassed or abused. In her will, she left Sallie an income of $500 per year (about $15,500 today) as well as the use of her property in Philadelphia.
Sallie continued to live with Charlotte’s family for the rest of her life, never marrying or having her own children. She passed away in 1894 at about age 66.
Edwin Charles Cushman (1838-1909)
Edwin, known mostly as Ned, was the biological son of Charlotte’s sister Susan and her first husband, Nelson Merriman, who abandoned the pregnant 15-year-old Susan before Ned was born. When he was about 14 years old, Susan married her second husband, Sheridan Muspratt. Ned and his stepfather had a tense relationship, and Susan agreed that it was in Ned’s best interest to let Charlotte adopt him.
Ned married Emma Crow in 1861, having been introduced to her by Charlotte. They went on to have five sons together: Wayman, Allerton, Edwin Jr., Victor, and Guy. He was appointed US Consul to Rome in 1865, due largely to Charlotte’s friendship with then Secretary of State William Seward. He and Emma would primarily live in Italy for many years, spending their summers in Maine. He passed away in Rome in 1909 at age 70.
Emma Crow Cushman (1839-1920)
Born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1839, Emma Crow Cushman was one of the five surviving children of Wayman and Isabella Crow. Wayman Crow was a prominent local businessman, politician, philanthropist, and co-founder of Washington University in St. Louis. Emma met Charlotte in 1858 when she was visiting St. Louis on tour and became enamored of her after seeing one of her performances as Romeo.
Emma and Charlotte exchanged numerous passionate letters over the next few years, meeting whenever they could. It is believed that Charlotte convinced her to marry her nephew Ned to maintain their relationship without drawing suspicion from Charlotte’s partner, Emma Stebbins. Emma Cushman’s marriage to Ned also allowed her to travel to Rome, where Charlotte lived, when he was appointed US Consul to Rome in 1865.
After Charlotte’s death in 1876, Emma was one of the few people in Charlotte’s circle who didn’t destroy their letters from her. Much of the information we now have about Charlotte’s personal life comes from these letters.
Emma Crow Cushman passed away in Maine in 1920 at age 81.
Edwin Charles Cushman Jr. (1868-1907)
Born in Rome in 1868, Edwin Jr. was the third of the five sons of Edwin Cushman and Emma Crow Cushman. As an adult, he was an amateur anthropologist and studied the native people of the southwestern United States. In this capacity, he was made a special agent of the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904. He primarily served as a liaison to the Cocopa people, who were part of an exhibit in which numerous indigenous peoples were on display.
Edwin Jr. married Alice Muller in 1890, and their daughter Violet was born later that year. They were divorced in 1901. He passed away in 1907 at age 38 due to tuberculosis.
Wayman Crow Cushman (1864-1923)
The oldest of Edwin Cushman and Emma Crow Cushman’s five sons. He was born in 1864 in England, where Charlotte was then living. In 1890, he married St. Louis socialite Mary Ames, and they had two sons, Henry and Robert. They divorced in 1908. Wayman died of a heart attack in 1923 at age 58.
Learn More
Books
- Bright Particular Star: The Life and Times of Charlotte Cushman by Joseph Leach (1970)
- Charlotte Cushman: Her Letters and Memories of Her Life by Emma Stebbins (1879)
- Lady Romeo: The Radical and Revolutionary Life of Charlotte Cushman, America's First Celebrity by Tana Wojczuk (2020)
- Twelve Great Actresses by Edward Robins (1900)
- When Romeo Was A Woman: Charlotte Cushman and Her Circle of Female Spectators by Lisa Merrill (1999)
Databases
- Ancestry Library Edition- Billions of genealogical records focusing primarily on the United States, with some records from Europe and Canada. Highlights include immigration and naturalization records, fully indexed U.S. Census records from 1790 to 1940, and Massachusetts vital records from the colonial era to the early 20th century. Available for use in library only.
- Boston Globe Full Text (1872-2007) via ProQuest- Searchable full-page and article reproductions back to the first issue on March 4, 1872. Includes news articles, photos, advertisements, classified ads, obituaries, cartoons, and more.
- MyHeritage Library Edition- MyHeritage Library Edition is one of the largest, most internationally diverse genealogy databases of its kind. It provides access to billions of historical documents, millions of historical photos, historical newspapers, and other resources in thousands of databases that span the past five centuries.
- New York Times (1851-2021)- Text-only articles (not page reproductions). Does not contain all content found in the published version of the Times, such as advertisements, charts, classified ads, graphs, most images, and non-staff written articles. Updated daily by 8 a.m.
- Newspaper Archive- Searchable full-page reproductions of historical newspapers, some of which were made from the collections of the Boston Public Library. Boston coverage includes: Boston Globe (morning and evening editions), 1872-1922; Boston Post, 1831-1922. Also includes historical newspapers published in these states: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, D.C., New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
Online Resources
- Archival Gossip: A Scholarly Take on Nineteenth Century Tattletales- Digital resources compiled as part of project entitled: The Economy and Epistemology of Gossip in Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth US American Literature and Culture, which used Charlotte Cushman as a case study.
- Digital Commonwealth- Images of and related to Charlotte Cushman
- Library of Congress Prints & Photographs- Images of and related to Charlotte Cushman held by the Library of Congress
Articles
- Abiding Attachments: Artist Emma Stebbins and Actor Charlotte Cushman- from the Smithsonian
- Charlotte Cushman (1816-1876): Stage Actor & Opera Singer- from Mount Auburn Cemetery
- Charlotte Cushman: Boston's Lady Romeo- from King's Chapel
- “Miss Cushman is a very dangerous young man”: The Meteoric Rise and Posthumous Erasure of a 19th Century Celebrity- from the Newport Historical Society
Add a comment to: The Cushmans of Mount Auburn