Person Record

Metadata

Name

Dowsley, Thomas B.

Othernames

T. B. Dowsley

Born

May 22, 1836

Birthplace

Brockville, Upper Canada

Places of residence

Unknown
Owen Sound, Grey County (for about 60 years)
Chatham, Ontario
880 4th Avenue East, Owen Sound c. 1921

Father

Unknown (from Ireland)

Nationality

Canadian

Notes

Thomas B. Dowsley is listed in the 1901 census of Owen Sound. It gives his birthdate as May 22, 1836.

A. Marjorie McMurtrie (nee Kennedy) was a sister of Mr. T. Dowsley Kennedy. Their mother was a Miss Dowsley, whose father, T. B. Dowsley, had a Carriageworks located on what is now 889 3rd Ave. East (in 1973 it was the site of the Dominion Motors store). The T. B. Dowsley family later moved their business to Chatham, Ontario. The firm had invented the "Swing & Axle Carriage". The Dowsley property had run from 4th Ave. through to 3rd Avenue, and the two homes owned by the Dowsleys were next to the Knox United Church and were eventually sold and torn down by the Bell Telephone Co., which put a new Bell Telephone building on it. The property behind the homes was where the Carriageworks was situated. This business faced onto what is now 3rd Ave. East.
After the carriageworks moved away from Owen Sound, Arthur Dowsley carried on a hardware business at the 3rd Ave. East location.

Thomas B. Dowsley was in the village of Sydenham c. 1856. He built one of the first brick houses in the village along what is now 4th Avenue East, at the site where the Bell Telephone building was circa 1961. Prior to 1909, the address was known as __________ Street.

Mr. Dowsley had stopped to see the Toronto Exhibition when on his way to Owen Sound, and happened "to meet a very pretty Irish coleen. He fell in love, and later married her." (4th Entrance to Huronia, p. 66).

In the 1871 census, he was listed as a ____________. The household included _________________.

When he passed away at the age of 86 in Owen Sound on November 30, 1921, he was described as a "Gentleman" and "
Carriage Manufacturer". He was a widower at the time, and he passed away at 880 4th Avenue East.

Archival Items at the Grey County Archives:
The photograph of the Alfred J. Frost automobile made at Owen Sound also pertains to Thomas B. Dowsley, as his carriageworks made the carriage part of the automobile.