Jonathan Cushing born to Peter and Hannah Cushing in Rochester, New Hampshire, in 1793. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1817, and soon after traveled south. While in Richmond he agreed to temporarily take the place of a sick tutor at Hampden–Sydney College. He was soon made a professor, and when President Dr. Moses Hoge died in 1820 Cushing succeeded him in the presidency. With his accession ended the formative period of the institution, which now began its rapid growth into the proper functions and domain of a college. Cushing secured an endowment and built the present college edifice and the president's residence.
