Allerton-Cushman Cup
Artifacts with Pilgrim provenance turn up rarely. When such an object is offered to the museum, it is indeed cause for celebration!
In 1998, the family of the late Mercy Ramsey Carl of Texas presented Pilgrim Hall with a carved wooden cup which was handed down in their family, according to tradition, back to the Allerton family.
The cup is made of walnut, turned on a lathe and carved with this verse : Lord help thy people that are in Destresse:
teach all true Christians for to help each other:
turne + the hard hart's that Doth the poore opresse:
teach them to know their needy Christian Brother:
Think on+the ritch mans flourishing estate:
Which cried out in hell+Blessed are the mercyfull+Wh-t was to late.The date "1608" is carved on the bottom of the bowl. According to decorative arts historian David Bostwick, the cup is a wassail dipper cup, similar in concept to the modern glass cups which come with a punch bowl. Communal drinking of spiced wines and caudles (wine or beer mixed with egg, similar to egg nog) was a large part of the hospitality in the 17th century. The cup would have been kept on a sideboard or cupboard and used on special occasions.
According to family tradition, the cup was passed down the female line to daughters named Mercy. The earliest Mercy thought to have owned the cup is Mercy Soule Cushman (b. 1741) of Middleboro, Massachusetts. Mercy descended from such Firstcomers as John Faunce, Patience Morton and Alice Carpenter Southworth Bradford. Her husband Noah Cushman descended from Mary Allerton, Thomas Cushman, Robert Bartlett and Mary Warren. It is very difficult to authenticate a "Pilgrim" object. Small wooden cups seldom show up in documents like probate inventories but, in 1633, Mary Ring left a "footed cup" to her neighbor Elizabeth Warren. Elizabeth's daughter married Robert Bartlett, and Noah Cushman was one of their descendants. This cup just might have been Mary Ring's "footed cup."
Updated 18 May, 2005
