William Trowbridge Forbes was born on May 24, 1850, in Westborough, Massachusetts, to Ephraim and Catherine Forbes. His father was a farmer who owned $6,000 of real estate and $2,000 of personal property by 1860. He grew up and attended school in Westborough before attending Amherst College. He worked as a math instructor in Constantinople in the early 1870s. By 1880, he was working as a lawyer in Westborough.

 

Forbes married Harriette Merrifield on February 5, 1884, and they had at least five children: William, born around 1885; Allen, born around 1886; Cornelia, born around 1888; Katherine, born around 1889; and Esther, born around 1891. He supported the Republican Party. He served in the state legislature from 1881 until 1882, and he served as a state senator from 1886 until 1887.

 

By 1900, he was serving as a probate judge in Worcester, Massachusetts. They employed at least two white servants. By 1930, they owned a house valued at $50,000. A local writer declared him “one of the most prominent members of the judiciary in the state.” He resigned from the judiciary in 1925, and he died in Worcester on November 8, 1931.

 

Image: William T. Forbes (courtesy Wikicommons)

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