Benjamin And Adelaide Cushway/The Cushway House

Benjamin (1810-1881) and Adelaide (1812-1877) Cushway (formerly Cauchois) were prominent settlers in the Saginaw Valley. Both descended from early french-Canadian families of Detroit. Between 1827 and 1834, Benjamin apprenticed with Harvey Williams of Detroit, a notable blacksmith. Benjamin and Adelaide married in 1833. In 1834, three years before Michigan achieved statehood, Territorial Governor Lewis Cass (1782-1866) appointed Benjamin official blacksmith to the Chippewa (Ojibwa) Indians at the Saginaw Indian Agency. Cushway served in that capacity until 1866. In 1844 the Cushways built this house, which originally stood within Fort Saginaw, an abandoned military post. The Cushway House The oldest surviving residence in Saginaw County was erected by two of its prominent settlers. In 1844, Benjamin and Adelaide Cushway built this house one-half mile northwest of here, near what is now the intersection of Court and Hamilton Streets. The house was moved twice, once in 1867 and again in 2001. The broken pediment at the roofline, the entrance with classical pilasters that flank the door and support the entablature above, and the simple exterior are hallmarks of the Greek Revival style, fashionable at the time. While built by Americans of French-Canadian descent, the Cushway House was subsequently owned by the Vogts and Nacaratos, families of German and Italian ancestry - a testimony to the diverse ethnic makeup of the Saginaw Valley.