Notes |
- Notes for ROBERT FORBES [and brother William]:
Unclear just when they left Scotland, maybe 1807 on Rambler, could have been earlier. If they were on Rambler they survived where their mother and sister did not.
They arrived, probably via Georgia, in Florida about 1822. Robert and William developed large estates around Quincy, Gadsden County, Florida. They left their estates to their sisters, Christina and Margaret. Neither Robert nor William married. Other relatives [Bruces, Sutherlands, Gunns] also went to the Florida estates. After the deaths of Christina and Margaret, William Bruce and Alexander Bruce [cousins], grandsons of Christina, went from NZ to Florida in 1881 to assist in winding up the estates. The final proceeds were finally distributed in 1915.
My grandfather, a nephew of Alexander Bruce above, helped distribute the funds in NZ. He received sufficient to pay for farm labour assistance, and to support his wife and family on his farm in NZ, while he joined the Army as a Captain [Engineering] and went off to build railways behind the front in France in WW1.
Robert was a judge in Quincy.
In 1972, the "Bruce House" was purchased from the Quincy Garden Club and
restored for use as the Quincy Area Office. The house stands today as a
classic example of adaptive restoration for the purpose of service to the
future. The house itself was owned by Robert and William Forbes, the two
Scottish immigrants who came to the county in the early 1800's. After the
death of these two brothers the house passed to their grandnephews, Hector
and William Bruce. [1]
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