“The arrival of the Forbes family in Canada was marred by the untimely sinking of their vessel in the St. Lawrence River around 1832. Father, mother and three of the six children drowned, leaving Robert Mathew Forbes (Grandfather), his brother William, and a sister, believed to be named Sara. Robert Mathew Forbes had been born in Cork, Ireland, around 1828. Following his arrival in Canada, he was apprenticed as a shoemaker at about age six and later worked in the bush hewing railroad ties by hand, before becoming a farmer in Bruce County, near Whitechurch, Ontario.”

“The Forbes family fled from Scotland after the Jacobite Rebellion, to the Island of Wight. In 1832, they sailed for Canada, to escape the potato famine. The ship they were on sank in the St. Lawrence River, and the mother, father and three children were drowned. Three children survived, Robert, Will and Sarah. Robert was apprenticed to a shoe maker in Ontario when he was six years old and later worked in the bush for a number years, cutting railroad ties.”

One of Mom’s treetops from Britain.