Andrew Bell Forbes (July 16, 1824 - December 7, 1902) was born in Perth Amboy, Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States.

He was the son of Susannah Foster (1784-1865) and Captain Cleaveland Alexander Forbes (1780-1857), who during the War of 1812, sailed as a privateer and from 1833 to 1836 was in command of the Francis Depau between New York and Havre, France.

His parents were married on May 12, 1800 in California, United States and together they had 14 children: Susan Forbes (1801-1846), Sarah Forbes (1802-1823), Maria Forbes (1803-?), Alexander Forbes (1805-1831), Catherine Forbes (1807-?), Anna Forbes (1808-1891), Elizabeth Forbes (1811-1900), Louisa Forbes (1812-1845), Cleaveland Alexander Forbes (1814-1857), John Forbes (1816-1835), Thomas Gifford Forbes (1817-1906), Joseph Dunderdale Forbes (1818-1867), Gifford Forbes (1820-?) and Andrew Bell Forbes (1824-1902).

One of his brothers, Thomas Gifford Forbes, was a sea captain and one of the oldest and wealthiest citizens of Sherman, Texas, United States. He sailed between New York, Liverpool, New Orleans, Galveston, and other ports.

During the practice of this profession, he accumulated considerable estates and when he came to Sherman in 1872 he founded the cotton company, substantially as it's today, although, of course, much modern machinery has been added.

He was a large shareholder in Sherman's National Bank of Merchants and Planters, the Binkley Hotel, Sherman's Opera House, the Birge-Forbes Cotton Company, and other business ventures.

Andrew Bell Forbes was the grandson of Susanna Gifford (1756-1816) of Newark, New Jersey and of the English captain Alexander Forbes (1743-1799).

The most distant ancestor was Alexander Forbes (c.1256-c.1303), a man of great magnanimity and courage, a true lover of his country. He was captain and governor of Urquhart Castle, which he gallantly defended against King Edward I of England (1239-1307), to the extreme, and could not under any circumstances be persuaded to surrender.

In the end, the castle was stormed and the entire garrison, with him and all his sons, were killed by the sword in 1303; but happily his wife, who was pregnant, gave birth to a son, who succeeded him and continued the line of this family.

Marriage in Chesterfield

Andrew Bell Forbes married Katherine K. Thompson (1829-1919) of New Jersey on April 29, 1851 in Chesterfield, Burlington, New Jersey, United States, and together they had 5 children: Stanly Forbes (1855-1944), Cleaveland Forbes (1858-1948), Florence Forbes (1860-1936), Katharine Forbes (1863-1887) and Angela Forbes (1863-1960).

One of them, Angela Forbes, married Schuyler Brinckerhoff Jackson (1849-1914), grandson of Frederick Wolcott (1767-1837), a Litchfield County, Connecticut probate judge in 1796, and a member of the honored Wolcott family.

In turn, the great-grandson of Oliver Wolcott (1726-1797), American politician and signer of the Declaration of Independence of the United States.

It should be noted that Katherine K. Thompson was born in July 1829 in New Jersey and died at the age of 90, in 1919. She was buried in the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, Alameda County, California, United States.

Death

Andrew Bell Forbes died on December 7, 1902 at age 78 in San Francisco, California. He was buried on December 10 in the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, Alameda County, California, United States.