History of Milton, (Norfolk County) Massachusetts United States of America

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Biographies:

John Murray Forbes, merchant, was born in Bordeaux, France, Feb. 23, 1813; son of Ralph Bennet and Margaret (Perkins) Forbes, and grandson of the Rev. John and Dorothy (Murray) Forbes. His father was temporarily engaged in mercantile business in Marseilles and his wife with two children joined him in 1811, having taken passage from Boston in a merchant vessel which was captured and detained by a British man-of-war. Three months after John Murray was born the family set sail for Boston, were again captured, put under a prize crew and carried to Corunna, Spain. Sailing thence they were again captured and carried to Portugal and on the third trial they reached Boston in August, 1813. John Murray was educated at the Round Hill school, Northampton, Mass., where he had as instructors George Bancroft and Joseph G. Cogswell. He left school to take a position in the counting room of his uncles, James and Thomas H. Perkins, and in 1830 went to China as clerk in the house of Russell & Co. He returned to America in 1833 for the benefit of his health and on Feb. 8, 1834, he was married to Sarah S. Hathaway of New Bedford, Mass. In March, 1834, he returned to Canton, China, and became a partner in the house of Russell & Co. He returned to the United States in 1837 with a fortune gained in trade. He acted as agent for the Canton house and engaged in business on his own account. In 1861 he used his influence in averting civil war and was appointed a peace commissioner by Governor Andrew. Finding no possibility of securing a peaceful solution to the troubles between the north and south he advised preparation for a long war and aided Governor Andrew in recruiting and equipping the troops from Massachusetts. He advised the issue of bonds and favored making them payable after a long term of years as a permanent loan and not for a short term as a passing emergency. He also advised transporting the first troops sent to Washington by boat rather than take the risk of passing through the border states on the railroad. He was sent to England by the government to try and prevent the fitting out of ironclad rams. He was largely interested in western railroads from 1846, and was a director of the most important railroads having a terminus at Chicago. He was a presidential elector in 1860, 1868 and 1872, and a personal friend of President Grant. He supported the candidacy of Grover Cleveland in 1884 and was an advocate of free ships to sail under the American flag. He had a home at Milton, Mass., and as a summer home owned Naushon island off the southern coast of Massachusetts, which he made a model American estate. Mr. Forbes died at Milton, Mass., Oct. 12, 1898.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Ezra Badlam, soldier, was born at Milton. Mass., May 25, 1746; brother of Stephen Badlam, a general in the revolutionary war. He served as a captain of artillery at the siege of Boston, fought at Trenton and Princeton, and fell into the hands of the British at White Plains in 1780. He was afterwards released and promoted to the rank of colonel at the end of the war. He took an active part in putting down Shays' rebellion. He died in Dorchester, Mass., April 5, 1788.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Caroline Leslie Field, author, was born in Milton, Mass., Nov. 10, 1853; daughter of Seth D. and Adeline Dutton (Train) Whitney; granddaughter of Moses and Rebecca (Dunbar) Whitney and of Enoch and Adeline (Dutton) Train; and a descendant of John and Elinor Whitney of Watertown, Mass. She was educated at Milton, chiefly at home, and was married to James Alfred Field Oct. 13, 1875. She resided in New Jersey and at Guilford, Conn., for several years, and in 1893 removed to Millton, Mass. She is the author of: High Lights (1885); The Unseen King, and Other Verses (1887); Nannie's Happy Childhood (1899).

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

William Hathaway Forbes, merchant, was born in Milton, Mass., Nov. 1, 1840; son of John Murray and Sarah Swain (Hathaway) Forbes. He entered Harvard with the class of 1861, and left during his first junior term. He went into business in Boston in 1861, and on December of that year was commissioned 2d lieutenant of Company E, 1st Massachusetts cavalry. He served in South Carolina until July, 1862, afterward joining the Army of the Potomac. He was promoted 1st lieutenant, Aug. 16, 1862; captain in the 2d Massachusetts cavalry, Jan. 1, 1863 and major, June 20, 1863. On July 6, 1864, he was captured by a party under Col. John S. Mosby, the Confederate guerilla chieftain, at Aldie, Va., and was held as a prisoner of war util Dec. 10, 1864, being confined first in Charleston prison and later at Columbia, S.C. He was Commissioned lieutenant-colonel, Oct. 28, 1864, and was honorably discharged, May 15, 1865. He was married Oct. 3, 1865, to Edith, daughter of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and was engaged in business in Boston until 1887. He was one of the founders of the American Bell telephone company in 1878, and its president until 1887. He received the degree of A.B. from Harvard in 1872 by vote of the corporation. He died on Naushon Island, Buzzard's Bay, Mass., Oct. 10, 1897.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor