Forbes, Eli, 1726-1804

Eli Forbes (1726-1804) was born Eli Forbush in Westborough, Mass., and changed his name during the French and Indian War when a Scottish officer convinced him he was spelling it wrong. He was a pupil of Ebenezer Parkman (1703-1782) and later married Parkman's daughter, Mary (1725-1776). He graduated from Harvard in 1751. During 1758 to 1759, he served as a chaplain in the Lake George campaigns of the French and Indian War, and later participated in the capture of Ticonderoga.

From 1752 to 1775, he served as minister of the Congregational Church of North Brookfield where he organized the Brookfield Association of Ministers. He was very interested in bringing Christianity to the Indians and left Brookfield for a short time in 1762 to organize the Christian Church on the Susquehanna. The Brookfield church dismissed him in 1775 at his own request because he was accused of being unpatriotic.

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