Martha Dickens Forbes, school teacher and asylum matron, was born in Clinton, Wisconsin (near Delavan), on April 29, 1845 to Mary M. (Codnor) and Lyman S. Dickens. She was the second of eight children. The Dickens family moved to Kilbourn, Wisconsin, where Martha grew up and was educated at the Delton Academy. She then taught school in Wonewoc and Union Center. In 1868 Martha married Ambrozius Forbes, a millwright, but she continued to teach except for a short period of time following the birth of their daughter, Mildred Dorn. The family moved to Reedsburg when Mildred reached high school age, and Ambrozius became the Superintendent and Martha the Matron of the Sauk County Poor Farm, which opened on January 1, 1887. In December 1891, the family moved to Menomonie to take charge of the newly opened Dunn County Asylum. After retiring the Forbes continued to live in Menomonie, and from 1898 to 1908, the traveled by train each year. Martha Dickens Forbes died in Menomonie on May 12, 1920.
