Noted as businessmen • Colonel James Grant Forbes (1769–1826), engaged in the West India trade in
Port-au-Prince (
Haiti), served as an army officer during the
War of 1812, went as envoy in 1821 to receive the relinquishment of the Floridas from the Spanish authority in
Cuba, Governor of East Florida. • Grandson of John Forbes,
John Murray Forbes (1813–1898), born in France, John Murray Forbes was the first of the family to enter the China trade and later invested in railroads and amassed a large fortune. •
Francis Blackwell Forbes (1839–1908), poppy botanist, wrote a book on Chinese plants,
opium trader in the China trade. •
William Hathaway Forbes (1840–1897), son of John Murray Forbes, businessman. Investor in, and later president of, the
Bell Telephone Company. • Francis Murray Forbes (1874–1961), American businessman, son of Francis Blackwell Forbes and wife Isabel Clark. Co-founder of
Cabot, Cabot & Forbes. • James Grant Forbes II (1879–1955), American lawyer, banker and businessman, son of Francis Blackwell Forbes and his wife Isabel Clark. Was born in Shanghai, China, where the Forbes amassed a fortune from the opium trade and merchant banking after the Opium Wars. The grandfather of
Brice Lalonde and
John Forbes Kerry. • Another grandson of John Forbes
Robert Bennet Forbes (1804–1889), Partner of
Russell & Company, and later associated with
Yale University development and endowment.
Noted as politicians and activists Many Forbes family members are influential in local or national politics in France, the US and the Philippines: •
John Forbes Kerry (born 1943), United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate from 2021 to 2024,
United States Secretary of State 2013–2017,
United States Senator 1985–2013 and
Democratic party candidate in the
2004 United States presidential election. •
William Cameron Forbes (1870–1959) used his wealth to become
Governor General of the Philippines and
ambassador to Japan. •
Edward Waldo Forbes (1873–1969) served as the Director of the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University from 1909 to 1944. Under his leadership, the art collection was vastly expanded, and a new building was constructed in 1927. The Museum Course, run by EWF and
Paul J. Sachs revolutionized museology in the United States. •
Brice Lalonde, an environmental activist who is John Forbes Kerry's first cousin and friend. Lalonde is a French
Green party politician who was a candidate in the
1981 French presidential election and the mayor of
Saint-Briac-sur-Mer near the
Forbes family estate in France from 1995 to 2008. He was a high-profile member of the UN and its Special Adviser on Sustainable Development. •
James Colt (1932–2008), a descendant of John Murray Forbes, part-owner of
Naushon Island, the Forbes family estate off
Falmouth, an attorney specializing in trusts and estates, served as a
Massachusetts state representative, a trustee for 30 years, serving as managing
trustee for seven. •
Ruth Forbes Young (1903–1998), founder of the
International Peace Academy with the purpose of studying
UN peacekeeping and developing peacekeeping
doctrine, she was married to the inventor and helicopter pioneer
Arthur Middleton Young.
Other family members The first members of the family to live in the United States was John Forbes, a clergyman, son of Archibald Forbes, although the family retained its connections with Europe and
John Murray Forbes was born in France. • John Murray Forbes (1807–1885), m. to Anne Howell, (d. 1849) •
Rosemary Forbes Kerry (1913–2002), m. to Richard Kerry. •
Elliot Forbes (1917–2006), conductor and musicologist •
John Murray Forbes (1813–1898), an American railroad magnate, merchant, philanthropist and abolitionist, m. to Sarah Swain Hathaway, (1813–1900). •
John Malcolm Forbes (1847–1904), American businessman and sportsman. •
Michael R. Paine (1928–2018), m. to
Ruth Hyde Paine (1932–2025), family benefactors who were acquaintances of
Lee Harvey Oswald; Ruth housed
Marina Oswald in her
home. •
William Cameron Forbes (1870–1959), investment banker and diplomat, served as Governor-General of the
Philippines from 1908 to 1913. •
China Forbes (born 1970), singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer of
Pink Martini. •
Maya Forbes (born 1968) is an American screenwriter and television producer, sister of
China Forbes. •
Ed Droste (born 1978), singer and musician, lead singer of
Grizzly Bear, grandson of Elliot Forbes. •
Beatrice Forbes Manz, professor of history at
Tufts University •
Amelia Meath (born 1988), singer, musician, and dancer, best known as a singer in
Sylvan Esso and
Mountain Man (band). == Family tree ==