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Forbes family. Forbes family business records, 1753-1968 (inclusive).

Title: Forbes family business records, 1753-1968 (inclusive).

The Forbes family business records contain an enormous amount of material pertaining to the one of the most important families of Boston merchants engaged in the China trade during the nineteenth century. The collection consists mainly of account books, letter books, and loose correspondence relating to the China trade beginning with brothers Thomas Tunno, Robert Bennet, and John Murray Forbes and later with Paul Siemen Forbes and Francis Blackwell Forbes. The correspondence and account books document commercial trade activities of Forbes family members as partners in the firm Russell & Co. Business partners and correspondents include Augustine Heard, Houqua, John Perkins Cushing, Thomas Handasyd Perkins, Abraham Ellerman, Augustine Heard, Perkins and Company, Baring Brothers & Co., J. & T.H. Perkins & Sons, Bryant & Sturgis, Purdon and Wiggin, and Walker and Wren . Also included is correspondence of John M. Forbes while serving as United States consul at Hamburg and Copenhagen, and United States agent at Buenos Aires. Forbes family members were closely connected to Shewan-Tomes Company, Perkins Company, and the Shanghai Navigation Company. Later materials relate to the private banking investment firm J.M. Forbes & Co. consisting of financial records, estate and trust accounts, and the records of companies that J.M. Forbes & Co. held significant shares of. The material related to J.M. Forbes & Co. documents the extensive administration and redistribution of wealth made by Forbes family members during the China trade and the establishment of trusts in order to ensure continued prosperity. Also included is material relating to W. Cameron Forbes consisting of correspondence, financial and legal papers, and material relating to his appointment as governor-general of the Philippines, interests in Forbes-Perkins Company, and commissioner of the Massachusetts Street Railway Commission. The collection includes original and copied documents and claims of the ship Macedonian pertaining to two separate seizures in 1819 and 1820 by the Chilean Navy. Correspondence and other documents relate to efforts for recompense of stolen monies and goods.

ArchivalResource: 56.5 linear ft. (107 v., 44 boxes)

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/269592453 View