Forbes family
In the United States, the Forbes family of China and Boston, of which John Forbes Kerry and John Murray Forbes are members, amassed a huge fortune in the China trade dealing in opium to the wealthier Chinese during the Opium Wars and engaging in other merchant banking, trading, and railroad investment projects around the world. Their ties to the opium trade (from Turkey, Ottoman Empire, Iraq, Iran and Afganistan) were so great, the Forbes family became known in China during the Opium War in the 19th century as the 'Opium Dynasty' or 'Poppy Dynasty' and also by a poetic turn of phrase: 'The House of Forbes - Rests on Water - Dreams of Opium'.Born in France, John Murray Forbes entered the China trade at the behest of his Perkins uncles, and was mentored by the Chinese merchant Houqua who considered Forbes to be like a son. Following John Murray Forbes into China were several brothers and cousins, including Francis Blackwell Forbes, the great grandfather of John Forbes Kerry. The Forbes family lived and traded in China at first due to a family connection with the Perkins family. Later, some of the Forbes family sold their China trading interests to the Russell and Company, an opium empire which was headed by Robert Bennett Forbes, and was later associated with Yale's development and endowment. Yale's Skull and Bones society was founded by William H. Russell, one of the members of the wealthy Russell family, in 1832.
Several of the Forbes family cashed out of their dealings in China after the Opium War, and reinvested in Europe and America. Some of the population growth of Chicago and Midwestern Plains states in the middle to late 19th century was due to John Murray Forbes' railroad projects in Michigan and Chicago. In 1879, William Forbes, son of John Murray Forbes, risked the fortune to financially back Alexander Graham Bell's telephone company, and become president of the company, a risk which paid off. Cameron Forbes used his wealth to become Governor General of the Philippines. His niece Ruth Forbes Paine Young tapped her Forbes family inheritance to finance the International Peace Academy. Her husband invented the Bell Helicopter used in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. In a small way, Ruth Forbes Paine Young's son, Michael R. Paine, and his wife Ruth Paine, tapped their family wealth as a benefactor to Lee Harvey Oswald, whose wife Maria Oswald lived in their house as a family friend, and whose rifle was stored in the Paine's family garage. Many Forbes family members purchased estates in France and Massachusetts, and generally remain influential there, in local or national politics. John Forbes Kerry is a U.S. Senator and currently a candidate for President of the U.S. Though he is a beneficiary of several Forbes family trusts (c. 2002), Kerry has not worked in the private sector for Forbes family business interests and has devoted his life to a career in public service. His first cousin, Brice Lalonde, an ecologist, is a French politician who was a candidate for [President] of France.
Until recently, the Museum of the American China Trade in Boston was curated by a Forbes great-grandson, Dr. H. A. Crosby Forbes, an expert on Chinese porcelain. The museum was a monument to the China merchants and the great wealth accruing to Boston created in the China and opium trade. The [renamed] Forbes House Charitable Trust now owns the Captain Forbes House Museum on Boston's South shore.
The Forbes family owns, through the family JM Forbes Naushon Island Trust, named for the opium dealer John Murray Forbes, the private Naushon Island, part of the Elizabeth Islands NW of Martha's Vineyard and SW of Cape Cod.
The Forbes family of China and Boston is descended from Scottish immigrants (See Forbes genealogy below for Sen. Kerry and other Forbes family members in America and ancestors in Scotland).
| Table of contents |
|
2 Descendants of Archibald Forbes in the United States 3 Sources 4 External link |
The earliest record we have of the Forbes family is that of the marriage of Solvathius Forbes to Maravilla, daughter of King Gregory the Great, in 870 AD.
There are various ideas concerning the origin of the Forbes surname, but the one most accepted is that the name was first assumed by a man named Ochonchar, from Ireland, who slaid a ferocious bear in the district of Forbear. Forbear became spelled and pronounced as Forbes.
Forbes family line in Scotland, beginning with Sir John De Forbes
Descendants of Archibald Forbes in the United States
There is no connection between the descendants of Archibald Forbes and the family that publishes Forbes magazine, which was founded by Bertie Forbes. However, Bertie Forbes, born in New Deer, Scotland is a descendant of the Forbes clan in Scotland.
Sources
External link