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William Hathaway Forbes (1840–1897) was an American businessman.


Early life

William Hathaway Forbes was born on October 31, 1840 in
Milton, Massachusetts Milton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States and an affluent suburb of Boston. The population was 28,630 at the 2020 census. Milton is the birthplace of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush, and architect Buckminster Fuller. ...
. His father,
John Murray Forbes John Murray Forbes (February 23, 1813 – October 12, 1898) was an American railroad magnate, merchant, philanthropist and abolitionist. He was president of both the Michigan Central railroad and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in ...
, was a French-born railroad magnate. Forbes enrolled at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1857, but he was expelled in 1860. During the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
of 1861-1865, he served in the 1st Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry of the
Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...
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, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...
on July 6, 1864 and imprisoned in Charleston and
Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city ...
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 Tel ...
and Thomas Sanders to invest in their
Bell Telephone Company The Bell Telephone Company, a common law joint stock company, was organized in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 9, 1877, by Alexander Graham Bell's father-in-law Gardiner Greene Hubbard, who also helped organize a sister company – the New Englan ...
. 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, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...
. They had six sons, Ralph Emerson Forbes,
W. Cameron Forbes William Cameron Forbes (May 21, 1870 – December 24, 1959) was an American investment banker and diplomat. He served as Governor-General of the Philippines, governor-general of the Philippines from 1909 to 1913 and ambassador of the United States ...
, John Murray Forbes (who died at age 17 of appendicitis), Edward W. Forbes, 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.


Further reading

*Pier, Arthur Stanwood. ''Forbes: Telephone Pioneer'' (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1953).


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 ...