The Famous Forbes Case of Buckingham County: Part LXIII

Peter A. Forbes

News of the assault on R. D. Forbes was followed on March 7, 1905 by the obituary of Peter A. Forbes, brother of the wronged John S. Forbes. In January, Peter Forbes had attended the trial in Farmville. The weather was inclement and, when he returned home to Buckingham County, he fell ill and never recovered. The Times-Dispatch printed this tribute:

[He] was indeed a friend to all classes and conditions of people in this county, and there are few men here who have not experienced kindness at his hands. Mr. Forbes was in the seventy-fourth year of his age, and had been clerk of the Courts of Buckingham continuously for about thirty-five years. He was an astute and efficient officer, and conducted the office to the satisfaction of all concerned. Mr. Forbes began his public career as deputy sheriff under his uncle, Colonel W. W. Forbes, and succeeded the late R. K. Irving as clerk of the then County and Circuit Courts.

It is thought that the great worry incident to attending the two long and tedious trials of charges against E. C. Wooldridge, who was charged with Charles Forbes, with having burned the houses of the late John S. Forbes, had much to do with hastening Mr. P. A. Forbes’s death. . . .

Mr. Forbes married Miss Helen C. Oliver, of this county, who, with five sons and two daughters, survive him. Mrs. Forbes is in very precarious health and it is feared that the shock of her husband’s death may prove disastrous to her.

With this obituary, it becomes increasingly clear how far the influence of the Forbes family stretched in Buckingham County. One member or another had held offices of power and/or influence for decades. Certainly, long enough to accumulate some political enemies.

On March 12, 1905, The Times-Dispatch reported that W. J. Hubard, previously clerk of the Circuit Court in Buckingham County, was selected to replace Peter A. Forbes as Clerk of Buckingham Court.

Coming Next: The Long and Winding Road

Need to catch up? Click here for The Famous Forbes Case of Buckingham County: Part I