There is a pair of web sites detailing the activities of the Forbes and Perkins families in China, making their fortune in the opium and tea trades. A segment from the more detailed web site:

'Until 1792 part of the Perkins family shipping business, along with their Cabot relations was the slave trade. In 1789 Thomas H. Perkins first went to China with Elias Derby from Salem, Massachusetts. A "loyalist" cousin, who fled America during the War of Independence, George Perkins was a merchant in Symrna. With a solid "connection", a strong family framework and firm financial backing Perkins & Company became the leader in the American pack. It was a family affair. Thomas H. was brother-in-law of Russell Sturgis, an uncle to J.P. Cushing and brothers John M. and Robert B. Forbes. Joshua Bates, a partner in Baring Brothers Bank, handled the family business in London. He was married to a Sturgis. Russell Sturgis's grandson later became Chairman of the Board of Barings. Perkins & Co. found that illegality both in nature and operation discouraged competition and used sporadic attempts by the Chinese Government to enforce their opium prohibition, "to [build] the machinery that allowed it to control the Canton market for Turkish opium." Perkins & Company became the first American firm to operate a "storeship" at Lintin in a new smuggling procedure. The opium was unloaded onto the "storeship," then the trading vessel would travel on to Canton with chits. The chits were then sold and the opium was retrieved later by the Chinese buyer. Smooth as silk—all illegal—but bribes were paid and business was good.'

It seems possible that these two families having established their trade contacts in Smyrna, made it later their permanent base, when conditions in China were no longer conducive for trade. These family names, if they are the same related families, are visible in both the Boudjah and Bornobat cemeteries. This hypothesis is currently being investigated.

The result of my contacting the Captain Forbes house museum in July 2004 was, 'not found any info. on your David Forbes being related to the Milton Forbes family. Our family tree goes back to Rev. John Forbes (born Descrie, Scotland) 1740-1783 who married Dorothy Murray, (of Milton), 1769.'

At this stage my conclusions are, if there is a link, it is likely to be a remote one.

There is also unconnected research on-going in the field of the broader Levant, and some of these can be viewed in the bulletin of the Astene journal (the Association for the Study of Travel in Egypt and the Near East).