John Murray Forbes

Forbes was born on February 23, 1813, in Bordeaux, France. His paternal uncle was John Murray Forbes, lawyer and diplomat, and his maternal uncle was merchant Thomas Handasyd Perkins. Among his cousins was the botanist Francis Blackwell Forbes. In 1814, his parents moved back to the Captain Robert Bennet Forbes House in Milton, Massachusetts. Forbes attended school at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, then at Round Hill School in Northampton, Massachusetts, from 1823 to 1828. == Career ==

Opium dealer and railroad tycoon Forbes was one of three brothers sent by their uncle to Canton, China, and achieved some financial success during a short time spent smuggling and trading opium in Canton. However, unlike his brother Robert, who devoted himself to the China trade, Forbes returned to Boston and became an early railroad investor and landowner. As with Jay Gould and E. H. Harriman, Forbes was an important figure in the building of America's railroad system. From March 28, 1846, through 1855, he was president of Michigan Central Railroad, and he was a director and president of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, he helped with the growth of the American Middle West. In addition, he founded J.M. Forbes & Co., an investment firm in Boston in 1838. Politician In 1860, he was an elector for Abraham Lincoln. He served as the Chairman of the Republican National Committee during the administration of President Abraham Lincoln. After the Civil War, Forbes was elected as a 3rd Class (honorary) Companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. Between January 22 and December 16, 1881, Forbes served as the honorary consul general for Sweden–Norway in Victoria, British Hong Kong. ==Personal life==

residence, designed by Peabody & Stearns Forbes married Sarah Swain Hathaway (1813–1900). They resided in Milton, Massachusetts, and summered on Naushon Island in Dukes County, Massachusetts. • Ellen Randolph Forbes (1838–1860). William became the first president of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company and father of William Cameron Forbes. • Mary Hathaway Forbes (1844–1916), who married Henry Sturgis Russell (1838–1905) in 1863. Descendants His cousin Francis Blackwell Forbes (1839–1908) is the great-grandfather of 2004 U.S. Democratic presidential candidate John Forbes Kerry. His 4x great-grandson is Jonathan Meath, a renowned Emmy award-winning television producer. Legacy In the September 1899 issue of Atlantic magazine, Edward Waldo Emerson (Ralph Waldo Emerson's son), published Forbes' biography. The Emerson and Forbes families were close as Forbes' son, William, married Ralph's daughter, Edith Emerson. In Letters and Social Aims, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote of Forbes: "Never was such force, good meaning, good sense, good action, combined with such domestic lovely behavior, such modesty and persistent preference for others. Wherever he moved he was the benefactor... How little this man suspects, with his sympathy for men and his respect for lettered and scientific people, that he is not likely, in any company, to meet a man superior to himself," and "I think this is a good country that can bear such a creature as he." The small community of Forbes, Missouri, is named for him. ==References==