DANIEL FORBUSH [#130], d. Marlborough, MA Oct 1687, m(1) Cambridge, MA 27 Mar 1660 REBECCA PERRIMAN, d. Cambridge 1 May 1677,[5/2:135] m(2) Cambridge, MA 22 May 1679[5/2:135] Deborah Rediat, b. abt. 1652, d. 20 Apr 1720. She m(2) Alexander Stewart, d. 6 Apr 1731.
It is not known where Daniel Forbush came from, but there seems little doubt that he was Scottish, and some speculate that he was from Kinellar where a Daniel Forbes died in 1624. The names Forbush and Forbes stem from the same root. Forbush was the common American spelling of the name Forbes as pronounced by a person with a thick Scottish accent. Forbes is two syllables and is pronounced For-bees. The early records bear out the pronounciation and the difficulty that scribes had figuring out the spelling. Daniel often appears in the records as Daniel Farabas. Since he couldn't write, the spelling would depend completely upon how the recorder heard and spelled the name.[1/12]
There is also the possibility that Daniel Forbush was among the 10,000 Scottish prisoners taken by Lord Cromwell at the Battle of Dunbar on September 3, 1650. Many of these prisoners were exiled to the British colonies.[1/13]
Daniel was certainly in Massachusetts by 1660 as he married in Cambridge on March 26 of that year to Rebecca Perriman. She died on May 3, 1677, and he remarried Deborah Rediat of Concord in 1679.
Many of the Forbush/Forbes family moved to Westborough where Reverend Ebenezer Parkman was the minister. Parkman kept a diary in which many Forbushes are mentioned. The reader may wish to consult this source for accounts of the family that give more of a personal flavor to the information.
REF: [1] The Descendants of Daniel Forbush - Frederick C. Pierce,
1892
[2] Cambridge, MA Vital Records
[3] The Diary of Rev. Ebenezer Parkman - Frederick G. Walett,
1974
[4] The History of Cambridge - Lucius R. Paige, 1877
[5] Vital Records of Cambridge, Massachusetts, To The Year 1850,
Thomas W. Baldwin, 1915
[6] Vital Records of Marlborough, Massachusetts, To the end of
the year 1849, Systematic History Fund, 1908
Children (by Rebecca):
1. Daniel, b. Cambridge, MA 20 Nov 1664, d. Kittery, ME Feb 1745, m. Dorothy Pray, d. Jul 1699 2. Thomas, b. Cambridge 7 Mar 1666-7, d. Westborough, MA 20 Mar 1737-8, m. Dorcas Rice, b. 29 Jan 1664, d. Westborough 24 Mar 1753 3. Elizabeth, b. Cambridge, MA 26 Mar 1669, d. Apr 1746, m. abt. 1690 Roger Bruce, d. Southborough, MA 16 Dec 1733 4. Rebecca, b. Concord, MA 15 Feb 1671-2, d. Westborough 28 Jan 1768, m. Joseph Byles 5. Samuel (Capt.), b. abt. 1675, d. Westborough, MA 10 Oct 1767, m. Marlboro 8 Mar 1699 Abigail Rice, d. Westborough, MA 22 Aug 1788
Children (by Deborah):
6. John, b. abt. 1681, m. Marlboro 30 Nov 1704 Martha Bowker 7. Isaac, b. Concord 30 Oct 1682 8. Jonathan (Dea.), b. 12 Mar 1684, d. Westborough, MA 24 Mar 1768, m. Marlboro 1705 or 1706 Hannah (Haywood) (Farrar) Holloway 9? Deborah, b. abt. 1687, m. Marlboro 1719[6/252] Samuel Grow, Jr. of Sutton, MA
Send e-mail to Michael Roman