Thaddeus H. Forbes, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Thaddeus H. Forbes
THADDEUS H. FORBES.
This gentleman comes of good Scotch and German stock, and the good sense and native shrewdness of the one, combined with the sturdy energy and honesty of the other, make a combination that will tell in the character of the descendant, and has no doubt been the cause of the prominence of this family. He is a son of Jacob and Martha Forbes, who came to Coburg, Indiana, in 1854, from Hamilton, Upper Canada, and helped evolve from out the wooded solitude of this region the noble agricultural country of Porter County, Indiana. Thaddeus H. Forbes was born in the vicinity of Hamilton, Canada, August 20, 1851, but from about the age of three years has been a resident of the county in which he now lives. He enjoyed only the advantages of a common school education, but made such good use of them that he fitted himself for the position of a successful and intelligent farmer, stock raiser and stock dealer, as well as for the filling of almost any position of trust and honor within the gift of the county. He took up the battle of life for himself at the age of twenty-one, up to which age he worked for his father, and upon attaining his majority he was presented by his father with eighty acres of land, to which he has since added, until he is now in possession of 405 acres of as good grain and stock land as can be found in his section of the country. He has not only increased the number of his acres, but has kept full pace in its improvement by the enlargement and beautifying of his residence and by its more convenient arrangement. Mr. Forbes was married June 26, 1875, to Miss Nora Pinney, of La Porte County, Indiana, whose parents, Horace and Angelina Pinney, were honest, thrifty, and industrious people, who honored the profession of farming in which their lives had been spent. Their family consisted of nine children: Jay, born January 20, 1847, is a merchant of Maxwell, Kansas; Jennie (Mrs. Goodwin) was born April 20, 1850, and resides on a farm near the old homestead; Nora, born September 4, 1852; Kay, born November 16, 1854, died in 1888; Ell. was born May 6, 1856, owns and farms the old homestead; Erastus was born February 3, 1861, is a conductor on the Michigan Central Railroad; Elsworth, April 7, 1863; Lois, born July 2, 1865, makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Forbes, is a fine musician, and is at present attending Dwight L. Moody's Missionary School at Chicago; and Emma, who was born September 30, 1867, is a foreign missionary, having gone out September 30, 1893, under the auspices of the Baptist Foreign Missionary Society of the West, to Cumbum, India. She is a woman of strong convictions, and dares follow where duty leads. Horace Pinney came to Indiana with his parents from Jackson County, Ohio, in 1836, and his wife from Pennsylvania in 1835. They were married in 1843 on the 4th of May, and moved onto the farm on which their son Ell. now lives. Mrs. Pinney died in 1872 at the age of forty-five years, and Mr. Pinney's death occurred in 1880, at the age of sixty-two. Since their father's death Lois and Emma have made their home with Mr. Forbes. Except the first three years, Emma lived with Jay. Mrs. Forbes as a hostess is entertaining, ladylike, refined, and lovable in all her actions. She and Mr. Forbes have no children of their own. They live quietly but elegantly, and do what good they can, without ostentation or display. In religious matters Mrs. Forbes is a Baptist; and though Mr. Forbes is not a member of any church, he also inclines to the Baptist faith. He is a Democrat, but has never been an office-seeker, the only position he ever held being that of postmaster's deputy at Coburg. In matters of importance to the community, he has always been interested and helpful. His family is one which it is a pleasure to meet, and from such homes as his must go out the influence that will cleanse the turbid stream of political corruption and social wrong, and bring a healthier tone of moral purity into the every-day life of the nation and the action of the people.
Source: Goodspeed Brothers. 1894. Pictorial and Biographical Record of La Porte, Porter, Lake and Starke Counties, Indiana. Chicago, Illinois: Goodspeed Brothers. 569 p.
Page(s) in Source: 54-56
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook