Fayette F. Forbes

{{Short description|North American plant collector and water engineer (1851–1935)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}

{{Infobox scientist | honorific_prefix = | name = Fayette Frederick Forbes | honorific_suffix = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = | image_size = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{birth date |1851|05|09}}<ref name=Brookline>{{cite book |author= |date= 1936 |chapter= In Memoriam Fayette F. Forbes |title= Annual report of the town officers of Brookline for the year ending December 31 1935 |url= https://archive.org/details/annualreportoft1935broo_0/page/n221/mode/2up?q=Fayette |location= Newton |publisher= Garden City Press |pages= 209 |isbn= }}</ref> | birth_place = Buckland, Massachusetts, United States of America | death_date = {{death date and age |1935|11|20 |1851|05|09}}<ref name=Brookline /> | death_place = Brookline, Massachusetts, United States of America | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | other_names = | siglum = | pronounce = | citizenship = | nationality = | fields = Botany. | workplaces = | patrons = | education = | alma_mater = | thesis_title =  | thesis_url =  | thesis_year =  | doctoral_advisor =  | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | spouse =  | partner =  | children = | signature = Signature of Fayette F Forbes.png | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = }}

'''Fayette Frederick Forbes''' (1851–1935), was a water engineer, plant collector, and botanist with a particular interest in algae and diatoms. At the time of his death he also held the record for the longest-serving public servant in "nearly 100 cities and towns" of the United States of America.<ref name=Globe_21>{{cite news | author = | title = Fayette F. Forbes Dead In Brookline: For 61 Years Supt of Water Department | url = https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/fayette-f-forbes-dead-brookline/docview/820737043/se-2 | work = Daily Boston Globe | location = Boston, Massachusetts | date = 21 November 1935 | access-date = 6 December 2021 }}</ref>

==Life== Forbes was born on 9 May 1851 in Buckland, Massachusetts and after completing public schooling, he undertook further studies at Ashfield before entering the scientific department of Williston Seminary at the age of 19.<ref name=Denehy>{{cite book |last= Denehy |first= John William |author-link= |date= 1906 |title= A history of Brookline, Massachusetts, from the first settlement of Muddy River until the present time |url= https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t9959r511&view=1up&seq=216&skin=2021&q1=Forbes |location= Brookline |publisher= The Brookline press company |pages= 210–211 |isbn= }}</ref> He went on to work at the Holyoke Water Works as a civil engineer,<ref name=Mueller>{{cite journal |author= |date= December 1935 |title= Oldest Member of the N.E.W.W.A. Dies. |url= https://archive.org/details/sim_water-engineering-management_1935-12_82_12/page/416/mode/2up?q=fayette |journal= Water & Sewage Works |volume= 82 |issue= 12 |pages= 417 |access-date= 5 January 2022}}</ref> Forbes' obituary in the Mueller Record states that he worked as an instructor at Williston Seminary before working as an engineer for the railroad companies.<ref name=Mueller /> before working for the Troy & Greenfield Rail Road and the Boston & Albany Rail Road companies.<ref name=Denehy /><ref name=Waywiser> {{cite web |url=http://waywiser.fas.harvard.edu/people/7572/fayette-f-forbes |title= Fayette Frederick Forbes, 1851 - 1935 |website= Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Harvard University |access-date=13 December 2021}} </ref> On December 9, 1873, he was employed at the Brookline Water Works, the employer that he would remain with until the end of his life.<ref name=Denehy /> By 1876 he was promoted to superintendent of the Water Works.<ref name=Denehy /> During this period, presumably as a part of his duties as superintendent, he studied fresh water algae and diatoms. By the 1890s, he advertised his pre-prepared slides of diatoms, both strew mounts and in carefully arranged mounts.<ref name=Stevenson> {{cite web |url=http://microscopist.net/ForbesFF.html |title= Fayette Frederick Forbes, 1851 - 1935 |last= Stevenson |first= Brian |date= November 2020 |website= Historical Makers of Microscopes and Microscope Slides |access-date=13 December 2021 |quote= F.F. Forbes was an amateur microscope slide preparer who advertised during the 1890s to exchange his preparations of diatomaceae. He prepared both strews and arrangements of diatoms from specific localities.}} </ref><ref name=Anderson> {{cite web |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/artsyscience/1186154089/in/album-72157614611235967/ |title= Microscope slide from 1897 |last= Anderson |first= Tracy |date= 20 August 2007 |website= Flickr |access-date=13 December 2021}} </ref> In 1885 Forbes was elected to the membership of the New England Water Works Association, and served on the executive committee, and as the Association's president in 1898.<ref name=WaterSewage>{{cite journal |author= |date= January 1936 |title= Over 60 Years Service: Death of Fayette F. Forbes, Brookline, Mass. at Age of 83. |url= https://muellermuseumlibrary.org/MR_NewsLetters/PDFs/Mueller_Record_Jan_1936a.pdf |journal= Mueller Record |volume= 25 |issue= 256 |pages= 5 |access-date= 17 December 2021}}</ref><ref name=NEWWA>{{cite journal |author= |date= 1949 |title= Commemorative Award. |url= https://archive.org/details/sim_new-england-water-works-association-journal_1949-12_63_4/page/364/mode/2up?q=Fayette |journal= New England Water Works Association |volume= 63 |issue= 4 |pages= 365 |access-date= 8 September 2022}}</ref> In 1927 he was elected to an honorary membership, and a commemorative award as commissioned in his honour, in 1949.<ref name=NEWWA />

He developed the water supply infrastructure of Brookline, including a new reservoir, wells, and according to the ''Mueller Record,'' in his lifetime he had "originated a method for separating different vegetable organisms which is now popularly known as the Forbes Method."<ref name=Mueller/> He was particularly interested in water quality, and in 1890 published his research into the growth of algae in water reservoirs, where he concluded that potable water reservoirs should be covered to ensure water quality.<ref name=FireEng>{{cite journal |author=F.F. Forbes |date= 19 July 1890 |title= A Study of Algae Growth in Reservoirs and Ponds. |url= https://www.fireengineering.com/leadership/a-study-of-algae-growth-in-reservoirs-and-ponds/#gref |journal= Fire Engineering Journal |volume= 8 |issue= 3 |pages= |access-date= 6 January 2022}}</ref> He subsequently has been described, in the context of the problem of algal growth in drinking water supplies, as "probably the first to not only study the problem but also correct his system with a cover."<ref name=Kempe>{{cite book |last= Kempe |first= Marcis |author-link= |date= 2006 |title= A History of New England Water Supplies. |url= https://www.mwra.com/04water/html/historypaper/kempe-historypaper-all.pdf |publisher= New England Water Works Association |page= 95 |isbn= |archive-date= 10 April 2021 |access-date= 5 January 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210410040623/https://www.mwra.com/04water/html/historypaper/kempe-historypaper-all.pdf |url-status= dead }}</ref>

==Legacy== His personal herbarium of 16,000 specimen sheets was donated to the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University, and his Nachet-type drum compound microscope is held by the Ernst-Lewis Collection of Microscopes at Harvard University.<ref name=JSTORPlants> {{cite web |url=https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.person.bm000331255 |title= Forbes, Fayette Frederick (1851-1935) |website= JSTOR Global Plants |access-date=13 December 2021}} </ref><ref name=Waywiser/> Other botanical specimens are held by the New England Botanical Club,<ref name=HUH>{{cite web|url=https://kiki.huh.harvard.edu/databases/botanist_search.php?mode=details&id=39533 |title= Forbes, Fayette Frederick |website= Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries: Index of Botanists |access-date=13 December 2021}}</ref> the National Herbarium of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria,<ref name=MELU> {{cite web |url=https://avh.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?q=country%3A%22United+States+of+America%22+AND+collector_text%3A%22Forbes%2C+F.F.%22 |title= Occurrence Records |website= Australasian Virtual Herbarium |access-date=3 February 2022}} </ref> the Auckland War Memorial Museum,<ref name="Auckland">{{cite web |url=https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/discover/collections/search?f=object_field_collector_id:187126 |title= Collections Online Search |website= Auckland War Memorial Museum |access-date=17 May 2024}}</ref> the Royal Horticultural Society in the United Kingdom,<ref name=RHS> {{cite web |url=https://collections.rhs.org.uk/browse?q=must,metadata.Collector_Calc.en.keyword,contains,Forbes%2C%20F.F.&limit=12 |title= RHS Digital Collections |website= Royal Horticultural Society |access-date=13 November 2023}} </ref> and the Natural History Museum, Oslo.<ref name=UiO> {{cite web |url=https://bionomia.net/Q21513318/specimens?action=collected&institutionCode=O |title= Fayette Frederick Forbes: Collected. |website= Bionomia |access-date=13 November 2023}} </ref>

He named the following species and hybrids: * Salix subsericea, F. F. Forbes<ref name=Rhodera1>{{cite journal |author=F.F. Forbes |date= 1909 |title= Salix subsericea a distinct species. |url= https://archive.org/details/mobot31753003413322/page/9/mode/2up |journal= Rhodera |volume= 11 |pages= 9–12 |access-date= 7 September 2022}}</ref> * Viola Brittoniana X lanceolata F.F.Forbes<ref name=Rhodera2>{{cite journal |author=F.F. Forbes |date= 1909 |title= A new hybrid violet. |url= https://archive.org/details/mobot31753003413322/page/13/mode/2up |journal= Rhodera |volume= 11 |pages= 14–15 |access-date= 7 September 2022}}</ref>

The following species and varieties was named in his honour: * Salix neoforbesii Toepffer<ref name=Zeitschrift>{{cite journal |author=Ad. Toepffer |date= 1916 |title= Zur Nomenklatur einiger Salix-arten. |url= https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/9608245#page/421/mode/1up |journal= Österreichische botanische Zeitschrift |volume= 66 |pages= 399–403 |access-date= 7 September 2022}}</ref> (a synonym of Salix × subsericea Döll)<ref name=POWO1> {{cite web |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:778274-1 |title= Salix × subsericea Döll |website= Plants of the World Online |access-date=7 September 2022}} </ref> * Viola incognita var. forbesii Brainerd<ref name=Brainerd>{{cite book |last= Brainerd |first= Ezra |author-link= |date= 1921 |title= Violets of North America. |url= https://archive.org/details/violetsofnortham00brai/ |publisher= Free Press Printing Company |page= 79 |isbn= }}</ref> (a synonym of Viola incognita Brainerd)<ref name=POWO2> {{cite web |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:266660-2 |title= Viola incognita var. forbesii |website= Plants of the World Online |access-date=7 September 2022}} </ref>

==Standard author abbreviation== {{botanist|F.F.Forbes|inline=true}}

==Further reading== * [https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.person.bm000331255 Forbes, Fayette Frederick (1851-1935)], [JSTOR] Global Plants. * [http://waywiser.fas.harvard.edu/people/7572/fayette-f-forbes Fayette F. Forbes 1851 - 1935], Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments [Harvard University]. * [http://microscopist.net/ForbesFF.html Fayette Frederick Forbes, 1851 - 1935] by Brian Stevenson * [https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/6t053v032 Photograph of the Brookline Low Service Pumping Station, with F.F. Forbes in the foreground], circa 1890-1899. Via the DigitalCommonwealth.org

==References== {{reflist}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, Fayette F.}} Category:1851 births Category:1935 deaths Category:19th-century American botanists Category:20th-century American botanists Category:People from Brookline, Massachusetts