THE LIFE OF 



JAMES DAVID FORBES. 



CHAPTER I. 



PARENTAGE AND BOYHOOD. 



' ES DAVID FORBES, the youngest child of Sir William 

 es of Pitsligo and Williamina Belches or Stuart, 

 was born in his father's town-house, 86, George Street, 

 Edinburgh, on the 20th April, 1809. 



Each of his parents belonged to an ancient Scottish race. 

 The Forbeses of Monymusk and Pitsligo, in Aberdeen- 

 shire, of whom his father was the lineal representative, 

 are an offshoot from the Lords Forbes, the chiefs of the 

 House of Forbes. On turning to Douglas's ' Baronage/ 

 and to Burke, I find that the second Baron Forbes, who 

 died about 1460, had a second son, Duncan Forbes of 

 Corsindie, who was the ancestor of the Forbeses of 

 Monymusk and Pitsligo. A grandson of this Duncan, 

 also named Duncan, was the first of his name who got 

 a charter of the lands of Monymusk, from which his 

 descendants for generations took their designation. 



William, the son and heir of Duncan, the first laird 



ymusk, married Lady Margaret Douglas, a 



daughter of the powerful House of Angus; and tin -ir 



son and heir, William, was in 1626 created a Nova 



Scotia Baronet 



B 



