Background
Forbes was born January 29, 1840 in Bangor, Maine.
Forbes was born January 29, 1840 in Bangor, Maine.
In his early twenties he sailed to Calcutta on the family-owned Pocahontas. This voyage was followed by a voyage as first mate to Southern Europe. His return arrival to Boston discovered the nation in the midst of a civil war.
He returned to Maine to enlist in Company H, Second Maine Volunteers.
As a lieutenant, he fought in the Bulletin Run and the Peninsular Campaign. He was wounded twice.
His regiment was discharged in 1862. The following year he sailed to California, where he accepted a commission as "assistant adjutant-general, with the rank of major" under John Bidwell.
He and a fellow officer left the Army in 1865 to return to the eastern United States by land, with a side trip through Brigham Young"s so-called empire.
They rejected that idea and headed south from Salt Lake City. They were supported financially by his teaching and her midwifery (she earned five dollars per birth). Janie Gardner came to live with the family as hired help, and in 1876, she became Forbes"s second wife.
In 1887 with the passage of the Edmunds-Tucker Acting, plural marriage became a crime, and Forbes was forced into hiding.
About a year later, at Forbes"s insistence, Nancy moved there as well. Due to local controversy, she moved out of the community and over the border into New Mexico.
The family"s moves remained frequent and complicated until Wilford Woodruff issued the Manifesto ending polygamy and enabling families like the Forbes to return to Utah without fear. In 1921, the citizens of American Fork decided to honor Forbes for his long service to the community.
In the early stages of planning, this letter was released:
April 15, 1921 was selected to be, and the original plan for a dinner and social event turned into a true holiday, with businesses and schools closed.
Speeches were given. Then Forbes himself stood to talk. He began with simple weeping, then thanked the residents for their love and returned it, then declared the meeting his funeral: that he was now ready to die and "face my Maker unafraid, and with joy in my heart."
In fact, he held on until May 5, 1927.
The Deseret News reported in his obituary that he "had been a teacher for 54 years continuously, 46 years in this community, where three generations attended his schools, a record probably unparalleled in the history of education in the west.".