62 HEREDITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF NAVAL OFFICERS. 



The mother, Mary Butler Smith, married in 1836, when she was 29 years of 

 age. She had a splendid physical and mental constitution and was " fortunately 

 endowed with a passionate love for life in an open, free atmosphere, as near as 

 practicable to nature itself. She had been reared among the most highly cultivated 

 people of Boston, and was related to such distinguished families as the Adamses, 

 Hancocks, and Phillipses." Just before the birth of her second son she was a bit 

 gloomy and homesick. After the death of her husband she went to Fredonia, 

 where she established a school. 



Mary Smith's father's brother Albert's son, Commodore Joseph Smith of 

 the navy, afterwards rear admiral, was born in Boston in 1790. He became mid- 

 shipman in 1809 and lieutenant in 1813. As first lieutenant of the brig Eagle 

 he took a conspicuous part in the battle of Lake Champlain, in September 1814, 

 and was wounded. For his services he was voted a silver medal by Congress. 

 In 1815 he participated in the war against Algiers; in 1827 he was commissioned 

 commander. In 1837 he became captain; during 1846-1869 he was chief of the 

 bureau of yards and docks, becoming rear admiral hi 1862. From 1869 to 1871 

 he was president of the examination board for the promotion of officers, and died 

 at Washington in 1877. His son, Joseph B. Smith, made a midshipman hi 1841, 

 had a reputation for rare courage. He became a lieutenant in 1855 and in 1862 

 was killed on the Congress in battle with the Merrimac in Hampton Roads. 



Mary Smith had a sister, Elizabeth Winkle Smith, who married John Oilman 

 Pillsbury. Their son was John Elliott Pillsbury, born December 1846, at Lowell, 

 Massachusetts. Through the influence of the Hon. Albert Smith, he was made 

 a page in the House of Representatives, 1859. At the request of Admiral Joseph 

 Smith he was appointed midshipman in September 1862. He was graduated from 

 the Naval Academy and was sent to the North Pacific squadron. In 1869 he 

 was stationed at the Boston navy yard. He joined the Colorado (Admiral John 

 Rodgers) for a cruise in Asiatic waters; in 1875 he was on the Blake for deep-sea 

 soundings. He was assigned in 1879 to the Kearsarge, North Atlantic squadron, 

 and in 1884 to the United States Coast Survey. Put in command of the Blake, 

 he devised instruments to measure currents at various depths. He published 

 "Dangers of the South Pacific," "Atlantic Local Coast Pilot Sub-division 19, 

 1885," and "The Gulf Stream." He married, in 1877, Florence Greenwood, and 

 had one daughter, Elsie, born in 1877. 



FAMILY HISTORY OF WILLIAM B. GUSHING. 



Fraternity of M M F: II, Bass, one of the "Boston Tea Party." 12 (M M F), 



Moses Belcher Bass. I 3 (M M M), Margaret Sprague. I 4 (M F F), Josiah Smith. I 5 (M 

 F M), Mary Barker, her consort's second cousin. I 6, Captain Robert L. Eells. I 7, Ruth 

 Copeland. 



II 1 (F F), Zattu Gushing (born about 1771), left Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1791 and 

 went to Ballston Spa, New York. In 1799 he superintended the construction of a ship on an 

 island opposite Erie, Pennsylvania; in 1805 he settled in Fredonia, New York, where he was 



a judge for 14 years. Fraternity of M M: II 3, Bass, a youth of great promise who died 



at 25 years of age on a voyage to England for his health. II 4 (M M), Mary Butler Bass. II 

 5 (M F), Elisha Smith. Fraternity of M. F.: II 7, Bosen Smith. II 8, Mary Barker. II 9, 

 Josiah Smith, a shipbuilder. II 10, Albert Smith, a captain who commanded large ships. II 

 11, Anne Lenthal Eells. 



III 1 (F), Milton Gushing (born 1800), studied at what is now Colgate University and 

 practiced medicine; removed to Zanesville, Ohio, where he was a local merchant, then to Colum- 

 bus, Ohio, and in 1837 to Wisconsin, where he was appointed justice of the peace. In 1844 he 

 went to Chicago and practiced medicine and in 1847 went back to Ohio, where he died. Ill 2 

 (M), Mary Butler Smith. Fraternity of M: III 3, Cordelia Miller Smith. Ill 4, William Robert 



