BIO: John Wylie FORBES, Beaver County, PA
    
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    BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES.  This Volume Contains Biographical Sketches 
    of Leading Citizens of Beaver County, Pennsylvania.  Buffalo, N.Y., 
    Chicago, Ill.: Biographical Publishing Company, 1899, pp. 42-45.
    _________________________________________________________________ 
    
    42  BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES
    
    JOHN WYLIE FORBES. The family of which the gentleman whose name heads this
  biography is a worthy reresentative, have resided in Beaver county for more
  than a century and have contributed their share toward the building up and
  maintenance of its present flourishing condition.
  
    Mr. Forbes is well known throughout this vicinity as a man of high business
  principles, a dutiful citizen, and enjoys the confidence and esteem of a, host
  of acquaintances. He was born near Moravia, Lawrence county, then Beaver
  county,-the date of his birth being December 29, 1835, and he is a son of
  David and Elizabeth (Wylie) Forbes. On the paternal side of Mr. Forbes'
  ancestors, the family was of Scotch-Irish extraction, and William Forbes, his
  grandfather, was the first of the Forbes family to locate in this vicinity,
  which he did about 1798. He took up a large tract of land and pursued the
  vocation; of a farmer. The father of the subject of this sketch was born in
  1798, and was but six months old when his parents moved to this county. He at
  first carried on farming but later began dealing in grain, his field of
  operation being along the old Erie canal. He died in February, 1861. In
  politics, he was a Democrat of the Jeffersonian type and took an active part
  in local affairs. He was a member of the United Presbyterian Church, of which
  he was also an elder. His union with Elizabeth Wylie resulted in the birth of
  nine children: William, deceased; John W., Rebecca, Elizabeth, Benjamin,
  Nancy, Robert and Alice, all deceased; and Amanda. On the maternal side of
  the family, the ancestors of John Wylie Forbes were Scotch, and his
  grandfather was John Wylie.
  
    The subject of this narrative was elementarily trained in the schools of
  his native district and further pursued his studies at Westminster College,
  after which he spent a year and one-half teaching school in the state of
  Kentucky. Owing to his father's illness, he returned home and took charge of
  his business. His mother died in 1861. In 1870 he settled in Beaver Falls,
  where he worked at different vocations. He embarked in mercan-
    
    BEAVER COUNTY  45
    
  tile pursuits, and in 1888 sold out, and operated a foundry. The latter
  enterprise he continued until 1892, when the Standard Gauge Steel Company was
  organized and he was made vice-president of the plant, a position he occupies
  at the present time. Mr. Forbes is a director and treasurer of the Champion
  Saw and Gas Engine Company of Beaver Falls. In February, 1865, the subject of
  our sketch enlisted in the cause of the Union in Company G, 78th Reg., Pa.
  Vol. Inf., and served throughout the remainder of that terrible struggle.
  
    Socially, Mr. Forbes is a prominent member of Post No. 164, G. A. R.