Barbara Cushing Mortimer Paley, born Barbara Cushing in Boston, Massachusetts, was the daughter of renowned brain surgeon Harvey Cushing, who held professorships at Johns Hopkins, Harvard, and Yale, and Katharine Stone (née Crowell). She spent her formative years in Brookline, Massachusetts.1920 United States Federal Census Barbara had two older sisters, Mary and Betsey, who both entered into unions with affluent families: Mary Cushing became the second wife of Vincent Astor, while Betsey Cushing married James Roosevelt, the son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and later John Hay Whitney.name="Bumiller1999"> Together, the Cushing sisters were often referred to by the public as 'The Fabulous Cushing Sisters'.
