In fact, in the summer of 1800, Forbes was called upon to bail out the bank. By 1795, Forbes & Adam shipped a large proportion of their forged iron products through the port of Hudson, New York and they invested heavily in that city’s Columbia Bank. Carlson) demonstrates the impact Samuel Forbes had on the region. Forbes returned permanently to East Canaan by the end of the war in 1781.Ī story relayed in the book Men of Iron: Forbes & Adam (1980, by Kenneth T. In addition to his role as ironmaster at the Lakeville furnace, Forbes also sped up production at his East Canaan forges, producing thin iron rod used principally for making swords, sabers, bayonets, knives, daggers, thin metal musket parts, and nail rods for nails. Using ore primarily from Salisbury Ore Hill, the furnace produced an extraordinary amount of heavy and light cannon, cannon balls, grapeshot, huge cast iron kettles for soldiers’ meals, pig iron and other cast iron products during the Revolutionary War. He also “drafted” Samuel Forbes to return as ironmaster. Therefore, Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull commandeered the Lakeville furnace and ordered Colonel Joshua Porter, who lived nearby, to become overseer. However, he was charged with being loyal to Great Britain and he fled to London, England. After John’s death, Samuel and Elisha Forbes became equal partners in the iron industry and they expanded their iron works industries.īy 1775, Forbes’s Lakeville blast furnace, which he had developed in 1762, had been sold to former Boston merchant Richard Smith. By 1759 when John died, the Seymour Iron Works was completely in Forbes hands with John owning a quarter interest, elder son Samuel with a quarter interest, and younger son Elisha with the remaining one-half interest. Later that year, he sold the bulk of his land on both sides of the Blackberry River to him. John Forbes’s wife, Abigail, died on in 1755 and he turned over most of his East Canaan properties to his son, Samuel.
In 1755, brother Elisha married Hannah Mills and the first of his eight children was born in the following year. In 1754, Samuel married Lucy Peirce of Killingly, Connecticut, and in the next year was born Abigail, their only child. In 1751, John bought out the Seymour Iron Works.
The blacksmith business flourished and by 1749 John purchased more land in the Blackberry River area. In 1746, John established a blacksmith shop for his then 17-year-old son Samuel.
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