Robert Bennet Forbes papers, 1817-1967 ; bulk: 1817-1889.

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Robert Bennet Forbes papers, 1817-1967 ; bulk: 1817-1889.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/34182340

Correspondence, financial records, and fifteen volumes of diaries kept by Robert Bennet Forbes, ship captain, China Trade merchant, shipbuilder, and philanthropist of Milton and Boston, Mass. Much of the collection relates to Forbes' command of the Jamestown, a ship sponsored by the New England Committee for the Relief of Ireland and Scotland (NECRIS) to provide relief for famine victims in Ireland in 1847, including correspondence, financial records, Forbes' letterbook, lists of provisions, and records of other ships involved in the venture. Forbes' lifelong interest in shipbuilding is also represented in the collection, particularly during the Civil War when he negotiated with the U.S. Navy to build ships for the Union cause and later made and sold ships to Congress. Other areas of Forbes' life documented in the collection include his career as a China Trade merchant, first with J. and T.H. Perkins and Sons and later as head of Russell and Co., with which Perkins and Sons merged in 1830; his philanthropic work as a founder of the Sailor's Snug Harbor in Boston and the National Sailor's Home in Quincy; and his work building lifeboats for the Humane Society of Mass. Forbes' diaries were kept from 1840-89 and document virtually all aspects of his life, including trips to Europe and a voyage to South America in the Roy Nankin in 1858, however they were not kept in China or during his voyage in the Jamestown (except for a summary of events written after the fact). Correspondents include Gideon Welles.

6 boxes.

Massachusetts Historical Society

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 7354402

Massachusetts Historical Society

Related Entities

There are 11 Entities related to this resource.

New England Committee for the Relief of Ireland and Scotland.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62p0mjz (corporateBody)

Russell and Company.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6qz7w0d (corporateBody)

J. and T.H. Perkins and Company.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vb3t94 (corporateBody)

Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60s4zpt (corporateBody)

Sailor's Snug Harbor (Boston, Mass.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69652w2 (corporateBody)

Forbes family.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vv0t4x (family)

Forbes, R. B. (Robert Bennet), 1804-1889

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6r78m84 (person)

Welles, Gideon, 1802-1878

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vx0gb5 (person)

A native of Glastonbury, Conn., Gideon Welles began his career as a lawyer but took up journalism as a profession, founding the Hartford Times, which he also edited, in 1826. Active in the Democratic Party in Connecticut, he served in the Connecticut state legislature and in several state offices. He later shifted his allegiance to the Republican Party due to his strong anti-slavery views and founded the Hartford Evening Press, a zealously Republican newspaper. President Abraham Lincoln appointe...

Jamestown (Ship)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tb6hzr (corporateBody)

Merchant vessel, home port unknown, master unkinown. From the description of Logbook of the ship Jamestown, 1851 Oct. 12-1852 Jan. 22. (Old Dartmouth Historical Society Library). WorldCat record id: 230332740 ...

National Sailors' Home (Quincy, Mass.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kx115f (corporateBody)

Roy Nankin (Ship)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6x696c3 (corporateBody)