Forbes Family Papers 1732-1931 Guide to the Microfilm Edition Sponsored by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Table of Contents Collection Summary Biographical Sketch Collection Description Related Materials Arrangement Acquisition Information Other Formats Organization Detailed Description of the Collection Select Index Appendix: Condensed Genealogy of the Forbes Family Preferred Citation Access Terms Materials Removed

Collection Summary

Biographical Sketch

The first member of the Forbes family to come to the United States was the Rev. John Forbes (1740-1783), a member of a distinguished Scottish family. Appointed minister at St. Augustine's in 1763, Forbes emigrated to East Florida the following year. From the beginning, the position was difficult and unrewarding, and the climate injurious to Forbes's health. In 1769, he traveled to Boston, where he married Dorothy Murray (1745-1837), a member of another well-known Scottish family and the daughter of loyalist James Murray. The couple spent some time in Florida in the early years of their marriage, but Dorothy Murray Forbes eventually returned to Boston with the children. From 1763 to 1783, John Forbes served in a variety of governmental positions; he was a member of the Governor's Council and held various judgeships, including the position of chief justice. When the Revolution came, John Forbes and East Florida remained loyal to the crown until, in 1783, the area was ceded to Spain in the Treaty of Paris. Forbes returned to England and died later that same year.

John Forbes and Dorothy Murray Forbes had three sons: James Grant Forbes (1769-1825), John Murray Forbes (1771-1831), and Ralph Bennet Forbes (1773-1824). The eldest, James Grant Forbes, moved to England with his father in 1783. The second son, James Murray Forbes, born in East Florida and brought up in Milton, Mass., was a Harvard classmate and friend of John Quincy Adams. After practicing law for a short time in Boston, he moved to Europe in the late 1790s. From 1801 to 1819, he served as consul for the United States, first in Copenhagen and then in Hamburg, paying particular attention to commercial issues. When he returned to the United States, he was asked by newly appointed Secretary of State John Quincy Adams to represent the U.S. in Argentina, where he served with distinction until his death in 1831.

Ralph Bennet Forbes, the third son of John Forbes and Dorothy Murray Forbes, became a merchant. In 1799, he married Margaret Perkins, the sister of well-known Boston merchants James and Thomas Handasyd Perkins. In the early 1800s, he engaged in some unsuccessful commercial ventures in Europe. Ralph Bennet Forbes and Margaret Perkins Forbes had three sons: Thomas Tunno Forbes (1802-1829), Robert Bennet Forbes (1804-1889), and John Murray Forbes (1813-1898). One significant incident in the Forbes family occurred in 1811, when Margaret Perkins Forbes and her two older sons, sailing on the Midas to meet Forbes at Marseilles, were captured by British patrols and, after some difficulty, finally returned to the United States.

Thomas Tunno Forbes was the first in the Forbes family to take an active part in the China trade. As a young man, he was sent to the Far East by his uncles James and Thomas Handasyd Perkins to represent their commercial interests in China. Thomas Tunno Forbes and fellow agent John P. Cushing were just getting established when Forbes was drowned in a typhoon in 1829. After his death, the Perkinses, having already established close connections with the powerful Hong merchant Houqua, joined forces with the firm of Russell & Co., which went on to dominate American commerce in the Far East throughout the 19th century.

Ralph Bennet Forbes's second son, Robert Bennet Forbes, attended Milton Academy for 3 years, but due to his father's financial difficulties, had to leave school and go to work. After a short stint as clerk for his Perkins uncles, he sailed to China at the age of 13 and eventually became a sea captain and China trader associated with Russell & Co. Receiving his first command at the age of 20, he was prosperous enough at 28 to return to Boston and set up shop as a merchant. In 1834, he married Rose Greene Smith (1802-1885), and the couple moved to Milton, Mass., where Forbes had built a house the previous year. Unfortunately, Forbes was hit hard by the Panic of 1837 and was forced to return to China to rebuild his fortune. He lived in the Far East from 1837 to 1840 and again from 1849 to 1851; during that time, he became the head of Russell & Co., played a prominent role in the outbreak of the Opium War, and served as United States vice-consul. In 1847, distressed at accounts of the famine in Ireland, he convinced the federal government to make the U.S.S. Jamestown available for relief purposes, and he himself took command of the mission. In 1851, he returned to Boston and became a ship-owner and ship-builder, later using his expertise to assist the Northern cause during the Civil War by acting as a consultant in the construction of gunboats and building warships for the Union Navy.

After the war, Captain Robert Bennet Forbes retired from business and embarked on a new career as a philanthropist and writer. He wrote several pamphlets on methods and devices for improving the safety of ocean travel. He was one of the first to propose East-West sea lanes in the Atlantic to prevent mid-ocean collisions, and he supported Lieutenant Matthew F. Maury's efforts to create wind and sea charts, assisting Maury for many years in collecting statistical information. Forbes maintained an interest in ship construction and rigging and developed a rig for sailing vessels that bore his name. He also helped to establish a home for retired sailors in Massachusetts and was an active supporter of the Massachusetts Humane Society, serving on its board of directors for many years. Between 1868 and 1869, Forbes and his wife spent a year in Pau, France, and he later made several excursions to the American West.

Ralph Bennet Forbes's third son, John Murray Forbes, like his two older brothers, went to China at an early age and soon acquired a great fortune. Unlike them, he then transferred his business interests to projects within the United States, especially railroads. He was the driving force behind the construction of the Michigan Central and the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroads, serving as president of the latter in the 1880s. During the Civil War, he aided the Northern cause in many ways: he acted as consultant to the Navy, traveled to England to prevent the Laird "rams" from falling into Confederate hands, and urged Lincoln to allow the enlistment of more Negro troops. John Murray Forbes and his wife Sarah Hathaway Forbes had a daughter named Mary Hathaway Forbes. Their son William Hathaway Forbes (1840-1897) married Edith Emerson in 1865 and became the first president of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company.

Robert Bennet Forbes and Rose Smith Forbes had three children: Robert Bennet Forbes, Jr. (1837-1891), Edith Forbes (1843-1925), and James Murray Forbes (1845-1937). The eldest, Robert Bennet Forbes, Jr., proved a disappointment to his father for his spendthrift ways. He never married and died only two years after his father. Edith Forbes was a devoted daughter and a correspondent of her father's. In 1864, she married Charles Elliott Perkins, and they moved to Burlington, Iowa, where Perkins became president of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad. James Murray Forbes followed in his father's footsteps and became a prosperous China merchant. After attending school in Concord, Mass., he went to the Far East in 1863 at the age of 18 and spent most of the next 10 years there. Starting as a clerk with Russell & Co., he advanced rapidly in the firm and, in 1871, returned to the United States a wealthy man. That same year, he married Alice Bowditch, granddaughter of navigator Nathaniel Bowditch, and the couple settled permanently in Boston and Milton.

Francis "Frank" Blackwell Forbes (1839-1908) was the son of clergyman John Murray Forbes (1807-1885), the grandson of James Grant Forbes, and the great-grandson of Rev. John Forbes. He had a brother named John Murray Forbes, Jr. (1844-1921) and a sister named Adelaide Forbes Carmichael. In 1857, after a secondary-school education at the Columbia College Grammar School in New York, Francis Blackwell Forbes went to China, where he became a partner in Russell & Co. He was also active in the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company, which operated a fleet of flat-bottomed steamers up and down the Yangtze River. In 1867, he married Isabel Clarke, and they had three sons: Francis Murray Forbes (1874-1961), who lived with James Murray Forbes while he was in school and starting off in business; Charles Stuart Forbes (1877-1949); and James Grant Forbes (1878-1955). Their daughter Isobel Forbes married Albert de Mimont.

While in the Far East, Francis Blackwell Forbes developed an interest in Chinese botany and became a leading specialist in the subject. He also took part in promoting what became the Shanghai Country Club, served as consul in Shanghai for Norway and Sweden, and wrote some papers on the Burlingame Mission. In the early 1880s, Forbes moved from China to Europe, spending most of the next 20 years in England and France. He became managing director of the Serrell Automatic Silk Reeling Company and was hit hard by the company's failure in 1894, as well as the earlier failure of Russell & Co. in 1891. During the later years of his life, he became interested in bimetallism and corresponded widely with silverites in Europe and the United States.

Francis Blackwell Forbes's uncle, Paul Siemen Forbes (1808-1886), also lived in China during the same period. He had three sons: William Howell Forbes (1837-1896), Henry De Courcy Forbes (1849-1920), and Paul Revere Forbes (1860-1936).

For a genealogical chart of the members of the Forbes family that appear in this collection, see the Appendix: Condensed Genealogy of the Forbes Family.

Collection Description

The Forbes family papers consist of the correspondence and other papers of the Forbes family of Milton, Mass. mostly Robert Bennet Forbes (1804-1889), Francis Blackwell Forbes (1839-1908), and James Murray Forbes (1845-1937). The collection primarily documents the commercial activities of various members of the family engaged in the China trade and other business interests during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. Other subjects include: the ships Macedonian and Jamestown and their voyages to relieve the Irish famine; the ships Niantic, Coquette, Canton Packet, and Alert; sea-faring life; Oriental botany; the Massachusetts Humane Society; bimetallism; the Opium War; descriptions of Canton, China; and the history of Shanghai. Among the many correspondents are the merchant firms T. H. Perkins & Sons, Baring Bros., and Russell & Co., as well as the Hong merchant Houqua, Robert C. Winthrop, National Bowditch and other Bowditch family members, Benjamin F. Butler, George Bancroft, Theodore Lyman, Alfred Richardson, and others.

The collection also contains scrapbooks and diaries, including the diaries of John Cunningham (1839), James Murray Forbes (1857-1858, 1874-1875, 1884-1930), Mary Hathaway Forbes (1859-1861), and Alice Bowditch Forbes (1871). Other diaries describe a voyage to Greenland in the schooner Nautilus by an unknown author (1860), a trip to China by James Murray Forbes (1870-1871), and a trip to Germany and Spain by Paul Revere Forbes (1883).

For a list of select individuals, organizations, places, events, ships, and subjects of significance that appear in the collection, see the Select Index below.

Related Materials

The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) holds many collections related to the Forbes family papers, including:

James Murray Forbes papers, 1868-1957. Ms. N-49.67. Finding aid available at: http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/doc.cfm?fa=fa0157.

Robert Bennet Forbes papers, 1817-1967. Ms. N-49.70. Finding aid available at: http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/doc.cfm?fa=fa0039.

Edith Emerson Forbes and William Hathaway Forbes papers, 1827-ca. 1964. OFFSITE STORAGE. Finding aid available at: http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/doc.cfm?fa=fa0225.

John Murray Forbes papers, 1854-1898. OFFSITE STORAGE and Ms. N-500 (XT). Finding aid available at: http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/doc.cfm?fa=fa0228.

The Baker Library at Harvard Business School holds a collection of papers of various members of the Forbes family, particularly John Murray Forbes (1771-1831) and Francis Blackwell Forbes. This microfilm edition of the Forbes family papers contains a number of photocopies of items at the Baker Library, as well as a copy of the inventory of that collection (Series VI, Number 12).

Many Forbes family papers and related organizational records are still in private hands. Also included in this microfilm edition is a copy of the inventory of Forbes papers held by R. Forbes Perkins of Manchester, Massachusetts (Series VI, Number 12).

Arrangement

This collection has been broken down into 6 series, each of which is subdivided into numbers. The 6 series are as follows: I. Robert Bennet Forbes letterbooks, consisting of 38 numbers (Reel 1-10); II. Robert Bennet Forbes papers, consisting of 17 numbers (Reel 11-20); III. Francis Blackwell Forbes letterbooks, consisting of 11 numbers (Reel 21-24); IV. Francis Blackwell Forbes papers, consisting of 20 numbers (Reel 25-37); V. James Murray Forbes papers, consisting of 21 numbers (Reel 38-41); and VI. Forbes miscellany, consisting of 12 numbers (Reel 42-47). Many of the numbers have been further subdivided into individual folders. A single number may contain anywhere from 3 or 4 documents to 15 or 20 folders.

Omitted from the microfilm edition of this collection are papers dated after World War I--for example, some letters of Allan Forbes written in the 1930s and 1940s--and papers of distant relatives of wives of Forbes family members, such as material on the Civil War activities of a member of the Amory family. With these two exceptions, everything in the Forbes family collection has been microfilmed.

Acquisition Information

Gift of the China Trade Museum, Milton, Mass., 1984.

Other Formats

Forbes, John Murray. Letters and Recollections of John Murray Forbes. Ed. Sarah Forbes Hughes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1899.

Forbes, John Murray. Reminiscences of John Murray Forbes. Ed. Sarah Forbes Hughes. Boston: George H. Ellis, 1902.

Forbes, John Murray. Letters (Supplementary) of John Murray Forbes. Ed. Sarah Forbes Hughes. Boston: George H. Ellis, 1905.

Forbes, Robert Bennet. Personal Reminiscences. Boston: Little Brown, 1892.

Forbes, Robert Bennet. Letters from China: The Canton-Boston Correspondence of Robert Bennet Forbes, 1838-1840. Ed. Phyllis Forbes Kerr. Mystic, Conn.: Mystic Seaport Museum, 1996.

Perkins, Charles Elliott, and Edith Forbes Perkins. Family Letters, 1861-1869. Ed. Edith Perkins Cunningham. Boston: Privately printed, 1949.

Perkins, Edith Forbes. Letters and Journals of Edith Forbes Perkins, 1908-1925. Ed. Edith Perkins Cunningham. [Cambridge, Mass.]: Printed at the Riverside Press for private distribution, 1931.

Organization of the Collection

The collection is organized into the following series:

Detailed Description of the Collection

Select Index

Listed below are the names of select individuals, organizations, places, events, ships, and subjects of significance that appear in the collection. Following each item is the reel, number, and folder where information about that item or correspondence with that individual is located.

Both William Hathaway Forbes and William Howell Forbes appear in the collection as "W. H. Forbes." It is most likely that the "W. H. Forbes" in Series I (a correspondent of Robert Bennet Forbes) is William Hathaway Forbes and the "W. H. Forbes" in Series III and IV (a correspondent of Francis Blackwell Forbes) is William Howell Forbes, so they have been indexed as such.

Appendix: Condensed Genealogy of the Forbes Family

The genealogy below contains only the names of Forbes family members represented in this collection. Each generation is numbered, so that members of the same generation are preceded by the same number. For example, the brothers James Grant Forbes (1769-1825), John Murray Forbes (1771-1831), and Ralph Bennet Forbes (1773-1824) are all preceded by the number 2. For more detailed biographies of the Forbes family members listed here, see the Biographical Sketch.

Preferred Citation

Forbes family papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Access Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.

Materials Removed from the Collection

Photographs from this collection have been removed to the MHS Photo Archives. See separate descriptions of the daguerreotypes (Photos. 1.361L, 1.371L, 1.404, and 1.478) and ambrotypes (Photos. 2.3, 2.20, 2.24, 2.44, and 2.116-124), which are stored in the MHS Photo Archives by format.