Clan Forbes Society
Clan Forbes Beyond Scotland
Australia
While Australia was used as a British penal colony starting in 1788, thousands of Scots also emigrated to Australia for financial reasons. As a result, 2,023,474 Australians in 2016 (8.6% of the total population) claimed some Scottish ancestry. This is the fourth most commonly reported ancestry in Australia.
Ireland
Earl of Granard: House of Forbes in Ireland
Dominating the landscape in County Longford in the Republic of Ireland, is Castleforbes – the ancestral home of the Earls of Granard. This noble branch of the Scottish House of Forbes was founded by Sir Arthur Forbes (1590 – 1632), son of William Forbes of Corse, first Baronet of Craigievar and a direct descendant of James Forbes, 2nd Lord Forbes.
New Zealand
New Zealand Prime Minister "Honest George" William Forbes
“Honest George” William Forbes (1869 –1947) served as the 22nd Prime Minister of New Zealand from May 1930 to December 1935. In 1935, Forbes was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal and in 1937, he was awarded the King George VI Coronation Medal. Forbes retained his parliamentary seat until 1943, when he retired after 35 years as a Member of Parliament.
Sweden and Finland
The Forbes Family In Sweden And Finland
The many branches of the Scottish family of Forbes were represented in the troops of Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus. The first Forbes in Swedish military service appears to have been Henry Forbes of Tolquon, who fell at Kirkholm in Russia in 1605.
USA: Connecticut
Forbes of Iron
For two generations, the Forbes of Connecticut built forges and foundries, supplied the new American nation with a wide variety of iron product for war and industry, and became a financial and commercial center for the entire area.
James Forbes of Hartford, Connecticut
James Forbes (1627 – 1692) of Hartford, Connecticut was one of the earliest House of Forbes immigrants to North America. James Forbes was most likely the son of Captain James Forbes of Caithness, the second son of Duncan Forbes (1572-1654), Provost of Inverness and first lord of Culloden.
USA: Florida
John Forbes of Banffshire, Scotland, created Forbes & Company in 1801. Forbes negotiated the land grants in 1805 and 1810 from the Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Cherokee nations equaling over 1.4 million acres, making it the largest land grant in Spanish Florida.
USA: Maine
From Forbes to Furbish: A Scottish Prisoner’s Life and Legacy
William Furbish arrived on the colonial shores as a prisoner of war and became the progenitor of extensive family throughout New England.
USA: Massachusetts
John Fobes: First Forbes in America
John Fobes was the son of the Rev. John Forbes, an outspoken critic of the Church of Scotland. Son John followed the Puritans to the Plymouth Colony and became the progenitor of generations of Fobes and Forbes in America.
The Forbes family of Boston were descended from the Forbes of Newe through a minister in East Florida. They married into the wealthy merchants called the “Boston Brahmins” and became themselves wealthy traders.
USA: Missouri
Josie Forbes: The Witch of Taskee
Josie Forbes, the “Witch of Taskee,” was a popular clairvoyant in Missouri from the end of the 19th century until her death in 1944. She helped over hundreds of people from many states of the Union with everything from lost articles, stolen stock, and murders.
USA: Montana
John Stuart Stuart-Forbes and the Battle of Little Bighorn
A scion of the wealthy Forbes of Pitsligo and Monymusk, John Stuart Stuart-Forbes (1849-1876) left Scotland to avoid scandal. Assuming the last name of his brother-in-law, “John Stuart Hiley” joined Company E of the 7th United States Cavalry. He fought and died under the command of General George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. He is memorialized in St. John's Church on Princes Street in Edinburgh.
USA: New Jersey
Forbes in Colonial New Jersey
After being imprisoned several times for attending illegal assemblies, devoted Quaker John Forbes of Aquhorthies became one of the first landowners in the Scottish colony of East Jersey in 1684.
USA: New York
Silversmith Forbes of New York
William Forbes, first in the line of Forbes Family of Silversmiths, came to America from Scotland, settled in New York City about 1703. His son, Gilbert Forbes, was involved in a plot against George Washington in June, 1776. Sons William Garret Forbes and Abraham Gerritze Forbes were founders of the Forbes Family of Silversmiths in New York City.
Gilbert Forbes and the Plot Against George Washington
Before the Forbes family of colonial New York was making its mark on the silver trade, brother Gilbert was making his mark in quite a different way – as a co-conspirator in the plot to abduct and kill Continental Army General George Washington.