A native of New York City, he studied law and moved to his brother's home in Albany just before the Revolution. He served very actively during the Revolution. He was a member of the Albany Committee of Correspondence and served captain of the New York Volunteers. He later joined the Fifth New Jersey Regiment and served as an acting judge advocate general. As an aide-de-camp to General George Clinton, he was captured by the British when Fort Montgomery fell in 1777. He was released in a prisoner exchange the following year.
After the war, he returned to Albany and married; his wife, Lydia, was the daughter of Dr. Samuel Stringer. One of their children who died in infancy is buried in the Church Grounds. Their Market Street house adjoined that of Dr. Stringer. Lush was among the last slave owners in Albany, owning slaves as late as 1820. A successful attorney, he served multiple terms the State Assembly and Senate.
Lush died in 1825 at the age of seventy-two. Since he is not listed in the Common Council's inventory of interments in the State Street Burying Grounds, it's likely he was originally buried in the String family vault which stood in a small private cemetery leased by David Vanderheyden at what is now the northwest corner of Washington Avenue and Swan Streets.
His wife, one son, and his brother are also listed on the east face of this monument. When it was originally erected, this plot commanded a very fine view of the ravine below with two ornamental bodies of water, Lake Bethesda and Indian Lake.
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