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Title Manuscript of Francis Blackwell Forbes's Article Entitled 'The Reverend John Forbes in East Florida, 1764-1783'
Reference Ms. N-49, box 38
Library Massachusetts Historical Society
Collection Forbes Family Papers
Collection Series Francis Blackwell Forbes Papers, 1839-1931
Date 1885
Description Information about the life of the Rev. John Forbes, Francis Blackwell Forbes's great-grandfather.
Document Type Manuscript
Theme(s) Social Life
Keywords family, book, history, biography, government, colony, letter, property, finance, vessel, voyage, mission, Christian
Countries France; UK; USA; Spain
Places Paris; Florida; Georgia; London
Ports Boston, USA
Additional Information

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 travelled 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.

Francis 'Frank' Blackwell Forbes (1839-1908) was the son of clergyman John Murray Forbes (1807-1885). He had a brother named John Murray Forbes, Jr (1844-1921) and a sister named Adelaide Forbes Carmichael. In 1857 Forbes went to China, where he became a partner in Russell and Company. 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 four daughters (one of whom died young) and three sons: Francis Murray Forbes (1874-1961), who lived with cousin James Murray Forbes while he was in school and starting off in business; Charles Stewart Forbes (1877-1949); and James Grant Forbes (1878-1955).

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 and Company 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.

Please note that some of the metadata for this document has been drawn from the Massachusetts Historical Society catalogue.

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