Susan Elizabeth Parsons Brown Forbes (1824-1910) was born on a farm in Epsom, N.H., the daughter of William Brown (1797-1887) and Lucretia Billings Gray Brown (1785-1875). In 1843, she worked in the Middlesex Woolen Mills in Lowell, Mass., and in 1845, commenced teaching in various school systems, including a Jewish School in Boston, Mass. It was while she was boarding in Boston in 1857 that she met Alexander Barclay Forbes (1836-1903), a Scottish immigrant and, later, founder of Forbes and Wallace Department Stores in Springfield, Mass. They were married in 1859 and seven years later moved to Springfield. The Forbes adopted Dorcas Gertrude M. Hitchcock (1871- ) in 1874, and in 1881 they purchased "Fatherland Farms" in Byfield, Mass., the colonial home of Susan Forbes' ancestors. Mrs. Forbes spent each summer supervising renovations at the Farm until the retirement of her husband in 1895, when they moved permanently to Byfield. Susan Forbes was an active member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, as well as various charitable organizations.
From the description of Diaries, 1841-1908. (American Antiquarian Society). WorldCat record id: 191259349
