Elisha Forbes

• 1760 Samuel Forbes and brother Elisha hold a one-eighth interest in the Ore Hill mine. At this time, the Forbeses own two East Canaan forges and a foundry.
• 1761 Samuel and Elisha Forbes acquire the rights to the Chatfield ore bed in Salisbury.

from A Historic Look at Ethan Allen

The Salisbury Furnace

When Ethan was at Salisbury [Connecticut] he learned of the rich lode of iron ore that had been found there, an entire hill of almost pure hematite, virtually free of impurities. The iron deposit, called Ore Hill, had been divided into eight parts, each owned by different proprietors. One share was owned by two brothers in Canaan, where they operated two iron forges, Samuel and Elisha Forbes.

Ethan realized that there was a great opportunity awaiting the person who could build a charcoal blast furnace in Salisbury to melt the iron ore so it could be cast into useful products and into iron bars to be hammered in the forges.

Everything that was needed for a blast furnace was right there in Salisbury: a large lake fed by springs with a steady outflow of water that could operate a water wheel to produce compressed air; a large supply of limestone that could be dug out of the hills at Lime Rock, midway between Cornwall and Salisbury; hills covered with hardwood trees which could be harvested to make charcoal; and finally, Ore Hill itself, with its fabulous lode of high quality iron ore.

in January 1762 the four men entered into a partnership to construct the furnace. For his contribution in making the arrangements and his continuing tie to the operation, Ethan received a one-eighth interest in the furnace.

Soon the furnace was in full operation, with a large crew of local workmen under Allen's direction, producing potash kettles, pig iron and other needed products. (A section of one of the pieces of pig iron produced by Ethan Allen in 1764 was recently discovered buried not far from the furnace site, and is now on display in the Salisbury Cannon Museum.) ...

In 1765, Ethan Allen sold his interest in the Salisbury Furnace and invested in a lead mine in Northampton, Massachusetts. When that enterprise proved unsuccessful, he returned to Salisbury where he learned of land speculation opportunities further north in Vermont. Acquisition of Vermont land soon led to his becoming commander of the voluntary militia - the "Green Mountain Boys" - created to fight off rival land claimants coming over from New York.

Links

• http://genforum.genealogy.com/forbes/messages/1946.html
• http://iwp.uconn.edu/local.html
• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=brow888&i...