High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Robert Cushman (1578 – 1625) was one of the Pilgrims. He was born in the village of Rolvenden in Kent, England, and was baptized in the parish church there on February 9, 1577/78. He spent part of his early life in Canterbury on Sun Street. Cushman married Sarah Reder on 31 July 1606. He was excommunicated for not recognizing the official church and as a consequence spent time in a cell of Canterbury`s West Gate Towers. In 1611 he was one of a group of Pilgrims who fled to Holland because of differences with the official church over their practice of religion. Robert Cushman authored a book "The Cry Of A Stone" in about 1620. It is one of the few books written by a Pilgrim and is valuable because it gives a first hand account of religious life in Leiden. There is no evidence that the Mayflower was hired in Canterbury.