Z 1374.000 Forbes (Alden Spooner) Diary Transcript

Z 1374.000
FORBES (ALDEN SPOONER) DIARY TRANSCRIPT

Alden Spooner Forbes was a merchant and a farmer who lived in Port Gibson, Claiborne County, Mississippi. He was born in Windsor, Vermont, on May 26, 1818. His parents were General A. and Sarah Forbes. By 1838, he had moved to Mississippi and had formed a partnership with S. H. Butler in a general store in Port Gibson. On February 19, 1839, he married Sarah Ann Thomson. Their officiating minister was Zebulon Butler, pastor of the Port Gibson Presbyterian Church, where Thomson and her father, John W. Thomson, were members. Throughout her marriage, Sarah Ann Thomson Forbes owned several tracts of land in Claiborne County and some slaves independently from her husband. They had one child, Ida S., on December 27, 1848. Another child, a son, died in infancy. By 1852, Alden Spooner Forbes was the sole proprietor of a grocery store in Port Gibson. In later years, he would also sell general dry goods. Forbes was a member of the Christian Church of Port Gibson, holding the office of secretary-treasurer for at least the years 1852 to 1853.

In 1859, Forbes built a home on property he owned four miles west of town. He called the property Tanglewood. Forbes operated his store until 1860, when he closed his town residence and moved out to Tanglewood. There he planted a variety of fruits and vegetables and raised livestock, selling much of the produce and meats at the markets in town. Forbes did not plant cotton at that time, and he did not consider himself a planter in the popular sense of the word. Census records for the year 1860 show that he was indeed a small farmer, with assets totaling $12,000, considerably less than the large-scale planters of the area. Sarah Ann Forbess assets for the same year totaled $6,500. In addition, she maintained another residence at the time.

During the Civil War, Alden Spooner Forbes served in the local militia, but his principal focus was the regular work schedule demanded by a small but diversified farm. Sarah Ann Forbes made frequent trips, apparently to visit friends and relatives. Their daughter, Ida, attended school, sometimes boarding in town. When she was not in school, she helped her father on the farm. In June of 1863, most of the slaves left Tanglewood and other farms in the neighborhood. Forbes and his neighbors had a few slaves and hired hands left. They managed the duties of farm maintenance, agriculture, and animal husbandry by swapping horses, mules, and labor, and by streamlining some of their planting. The Union soldiers raided or confiscated some items, but most of the farm was left intact. However, Forbes was one of about twenty citizens of the Port Gibson area who were taken prisoner by the Union forces on Saturday, September 30, 1864, and transported to Vicksburg to be exchanged for Union prisoners. The civilians were held in the Vicksburg jail until they were exchanged. While there, Forbes saw two of his former slaves. Forbes was released on October 24, but some of the group were held until the end of December of 1864. Upon his return home, he continued farming, trying to salvage what was left of the fall harvest.

After the war, the Forbes family tried to maintain their farms despite the difficulties of the changes in their labor force and Reconstruction policies. Apparently, Ida Forbes assisted in the operation of the farms and never married. While Ida Forbes and her father frequently attended the Magnolia Church (denomination unknown) and the Presbyterian Church, she eventually became a member of the Episcopal Church in Port Gibson. After her parents died, Ida Forbes lived at Tanglewood until a year before her death on October 14, 1922. She is buried in Wintergreen Cemetery.