Thomas Busby

Thomas Busby, an old time Montreal merchant and in his day well known in connection with the retail hardware trade, was born in Montreal, a grandson of Thomas Busby, who was the founder of the family in Canada.

This first Thomas Busby came from Ireland and had charge of landscape gardening for the Baroness of Longueuil. He became a man of considerable property for those days. His daughter married Dr. Digby of Brantford, Ontario, and their daughter became the wife of Dr. Henwood of Brantford. Thomas Busby had a son Thomas, who married Mary Lacasse, and they were the parents of Thomas Busby of this review.

Thomas Busby, the third, was educated in the schools of Montreal and when a young man began to learn the hardware business in this city. He later lived for a few years in what was then called Upper Canada but in 1857 returned to Montreal and established himself in the hardware business, which he successfully conducted until his death, which occurred April 20, 1862.

Mr. Busby was married in Montreal in June, 1853, to Miss E. C. Greene, a daughter of Thomas J. Greene, who came to this city in early life from Saratoga, New York. He was a furrier and was for years at the head of the firm of Thomas Greene & Son, while later the sons continued the business under the style of Greene & Sons. Mr. and Mrs. Busby became the parents of four children, but the only one now living is Fred Busby, a resident of Denver, Colorado. Mrs. Busby still makes her home in Montreal, where she has now resided for more than six decades, witnessing therefore much of the development and modern progress of the city, and she is one of the highly esteemed of Montreal’s older residents.