JOHN MURRAY FORBES
John Murray Forbes
Born February 23, 1813
Bordeaux, France
Died October 12, 1898 (aged 85)
John Murray Forbes (February 23, 1813 - October 12, 1898) was an American
railroad magnate and abolitionist. He was president of both the Michigan Central
railroad and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in the 1850s.
Forbes was born in Bordeaux, France. His parents were Ralph Bennet Forbes and
Margaret Perkins, youngest daughter of the Perkins family, a merchant banking
family in the China trade. The Forbes family settled in Milton, Massachusetts,
where his father was an energetic but unsuccessful businessman who died when
John was only six.
Forbes attended school at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, then at
Round Hill School in Northampton, Massachusetts, from 1823-28. He was one of
three brothers sent by their uncle to Canton, and achieved some financial
success during a short time spent trading in Canton. However, unlike his brother
Robert Bennet Forbes 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.
He supplied money and weapons to New Englanders to fight slavery in Kansas and
in 1859 entertained John Brown. In 1860 he was an elector for Abraham Lincoln.
Staunchly pro-Union, he is given credit for founding the New England Loyal
Publication Society in early 1863 (Smith 1948). A delegate to the Republican
conventions of 1876, 1880 and 1884, he eventually became displeased with the
Republican party and worked successfully to get Democrat Grover Cleveland
elected President.
Forbes's many philanthropic activities included the re-establishment of Milton
Academy, a preparatory school south of Boston, Massachusetts in 1884.
Edward Waldo Emerson, Ralph Waldo Emerson's son, published Forbes biography in
the September 1899 issue of "Atlantic" magazine. The Emerson and Forbes families
were close. John Murray's son, William Hathaway Forbes, 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."
His cousin Francis Blackwell Forbes(1839-1908) is the great-grandfather of 2004
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate John Forbes Kerry. His eldest son,
William Hathaway Forbes (1840-1897) became the first president of the American
Telephone and Telegraph Company.
John Murray Forbes
Born February 23, 1813
Bordeaux, France
Died October 12, 1898 (aged 85)
John Murray Forbes (February 23, 1813 - October 12, 1898) was an American
railroad magnate and abolitionist. He was president of both the Michigan Central
railroad and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in the 1850s.
Forbes was born in Bordeaux, France. His parents were Ralph Bennet Forbes and
Margaret Perkins, youngest daughter of the Perkins family, a merchant banking
family in the China trade. The Forbes family settled in Milton, Massachusetts,
where his father was an energetic but unsuccessful businessman who died when
John was only six.
Forbes attended school at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, then at
Round Hill School in Northampton, Massachusetts, from 1823-28. He was one of
three brothers sent by their uncle to Canton, and achieved some financial
success during a short time spent trading in Canton. However, unlike his brother
Robert Bennet Forbes 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.
He supplied money and weapons to New Englanders to fight slavery in Kansas and
in 1859 entertained John Brown. In 1860 he was an elector for Abraham Lincoln.
Staunchly pro-Union, he is given credit for founding the New England Loyal
Publication Society in early 1863 (Smith 1948). A delegate to the Republican
conventions of 1876, 1880 and 1884, he eventually became displeased with the
Republican party and worked successfully to get Democrat Grover Cleveland
elected President.
Forbes's many philanthropic activities included the re-establishment of Milton
Academy, a preparatory school south of Boston, Massachusetts in 1884.
Edward Waldo Emerson, Ralph Waldo Emerson's son, published Forbes biography in
the September 1899 issue of "Atlantic" magazine. The Emerson and Forbes families
were close. John Murray's son, William Hathaway Forbes, 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."
His cousin Francis Blackwell Forbes(1839-1908) is the great-grandfather of 2004
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate John Forbes Kerry. His eldest son,
William Hathaway Forbes (1840-1897) became the first president of the American
Telephone and Telegraph Company.