Biographical Sketch of

Chebar Forbush

Transcribed by Joan Benner

Source: Memorial and Biographical Record and Illustrated Compendium of Biography of Citizens of Columbia, 
Sauk and Adams Counties, Wisconsin, published 1901 by G. A. Ogle & Co., Chicago, 1901, Pages 261 - 263


The history of a community or a nation is made up of the experiences and deeds of individuals and for this reason 
it would be difficult to write a readable narrative of the development of Adams county, Wisconsin, without frequent 
mention of the name of Chebar Forbush. He is one of the pioneers who did so much in those early days to shape the 
destinies of the great state of Wisconsin, and to make for her a career of prosperity and greatness rarely paralleled 
in the world's history. The subject of this review has been a resident of Adams county practically half a century 
and with the exception of a few years has occupied his present home in New Chester township.

Chebar Forbush was born in the town of Starke, Coos county, New Hampshire, November 24, 1834. His parents were Chebar 
and Elizabeth (Graper) Forbush. The father was born in Massachusetts, near Bloody Brook, and the grandfather of our 
subject served through the Revolutionary War, seven years in all. It is said that two Forbush brothers were taken 
prisoner by the great Cromwell in Scotland, and were banished from the country in 1655. They settled in Massachusetts,
near Springfield, and their descendants have scattered throughout the United States, many of them still living in 
Massachusetts. Chebar Forbush, Sr., removed to North Adams, Massachusetts, where he was employed as watchman in the 
factories in that place for a number of years. He then moved to Adams county, Wisconsin, locating in Pleasant Prairie, 
and thence to  Sharon, Wisconsin. His death occurred in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1872, at the age of seventy-two 
years. He was a stanch Whig in his earlier days, and later, voted with the Republicans. Our subject's mother was born 
in 1804 in New Hampshire, and died in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the age of eighty-five years. Her father was a farmer,
and lived and died in New Hampshire. Her mother was a descendant of the Hollanders.

Chebar Forbush, our present subject, was a small lad when his family took him to North Adams, Massachusetts, where he 
worked five years in a cotton factory. He accompanied the family to Illinois, and thence to Wisconsin. He took up his 
residence in Adams county in 1851, and a few years later purchased his present farm of one hundred and twenty acres. 
He has placed many valuable and convenient improvements upon it, and has made it in every sense a home, where genuine 
hospitality and good cheer are extended to all who cross its threshold.

Mr. Forbush enlisted February 11, 1862, in Company G, Nineteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. His first two years of 
service were in eastern Virginia and North Carolina. He was later transferred to the Army of the Potomac, and took part 
in the siege of Norfolk, the battles of Drury's Bluff, Fair Oaks, and the sieges of Petersburg and Richmond. He was 
mustered out and discharged May 4, 1865, having been in the ranks almost continuously during his entire service.

Chebar Forbush was married November 5, 1856, to Sarah Foster, of New Chester township, Adams county, Wisconsin. She 
died January 8, 1859, aged twenty years. Sophia C. Stewart, daughter of James Stewart, of Waukesha, Wisconsin, became 
the wife of our subject, March 19, 1860. Mrs. Forbush was born in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. To this union three 
children were born, namely: Clara Sophia, now Mrs. Peter Johnson, of Hancock, Wisconsin; Sarah Agnes, now Mrs. William 
DeMott, of Westfield, Wisconsin, and Walter U., at home. Mr. and Mrs. Forbush are members of the Congregational church 
of New Chester, of which Mr. Forbush is a deacon and trustee. He is also a member of the Badger Post, G. A. R. at 
Friendship. He is a Republican in political views, having voted for Fremont in 1836, and has continued to support the 
men and measures of the "grand old party" ever since. He has been chosen supervisor of New Chester township several 
times, always serving his community with fidelity and to the satisfaction of all men of all shades of political faith.


Transcribed by Joan Benner






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