Forbes (George Washington) is born in Shannon, Mississippi.

The son of formerly enslaved parents, Willaim and Sarah Forbes, he grows up in Ohio, attends Wilberforce University, moves to Boston in approximately 1885, then graduates from Amherst College. He becomes editor of the Boston Courant (1892-1897) and then librarian at the West End Branch Library in 1886.* Forbes marries Elizabeth Harley in 1900, moves to 18 Wellington Street, and dies there on March 10, 1927.