William Hathaway Forbes (October 31, 1840 – October 11, 1897) was an American businessman.

Early life

Forbes was born on October 31, 1840, in

Milton, Massachusetts Milton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Milton is an immediate southern suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. The population was 28,630 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Milton is located in the relatively hilly ...

. His father,

John Murray Forbes John Murray Forbes (February 23, 1813 – October 12, 1898) was an American railroad magnate, merchant, History of opium in China#Growth of the opium trade, opium merchant, philanthropist and Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist. ...

, was a French-born railroad magnate. Forbes enrolled at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1857, but he was expelled in 1860. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

of 1861-1865, he served in the

1st Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry The 1st Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service The 1st Massachusetts Cavalry was organized at Camp Brigham in Readville, Massachusetts, Readvil ...

of the Union Army from 1861 to 1863, and in the

2nd Regiment of Cavalry, Massachusetts Volunteers The 2nd Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry Regiment was a regiment of cavalry troops in the Union army during the American Civil War. It consisted primarily of men from the states of California and Massachusetts, and served in the Eastern Theater, ...

from 1863 to 1865. He was captured by the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

on July 6, 1864, and imprisoned in Charleston and

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-mo ...

, until December 1864. He received a bachelor of arts degree from Harvard University in 1871.

Career

Forbes started his career at J.M. Forbes & Co., an investment firm founded by his father. In the later 1870s, Forbes was approached by

Gardiner Greene Hubbard Gardiner Greene Hubbard (August 25, 1822 – December 11, 1897) was an American lawyer, financier, and community leader. He was a founder and first president of the National Geographic Society; a founder and the first president of the Bell Teleph ...

and Thomas Sanders to invest in their

Bell Telephone Company The Bell Telephone Company was the initial corporate entity from which the Bell System originated to build a continental conglomerate and monopoly in telecommunication services in the United States and Canada. The company was organized in Bost ...

. Not only did Forbes invest, he encouraged some of his wealthy acquaintances to do so too. Subsequently, Forbes served as the President of the Bell Telephone Company from 1879 to 1887.

Personal life

Forbes married Edith Emerson, the daughter of poet

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...

. They had six sons, Ralph Emerson Forbes, W. Cameron Forbes, John Murray Forbes (who died at age 17 of appendicitis),

Edward W. Forbes Edward Waldo Forbes (July 16, 1873 – March 11, 1969) was an American art historian. He was the Director of the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University from 1909 to 1944. Early life Edward Waldo Forbes, of the Forbes family, was born on Ju ...

, Waldo Emerson Forbes and Alexander Forbes, and two daughters, Edith Forbes and Ellen Randolph Forbes.

Death

Forbes died on October 11, 1897, on Naushon Island, Massachusetts.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, William Hathaway 1840 births 1897 deaths People from Milton, Massachusetts People from Dukes County, Massachusetts Union army officers American Civil War prisoners of war Harvard University alumni American businesspeople

William Hathaway William Dodd Hathaway (February 21, 1924June 24, 2013) was an American politician and lawyer from Maine. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States senator for Maine from 1973 to 1979, as the U.S. representative for Maine's ...

Early life

Career

Personal life

Death

See also

Further reading

References