Tom Kirby was born in Lancashire, England on March 15, 1866. He married Miss Augusta Schaeffer in Fargo, North Dakota, in 1901. She was born in Clencoe, Minnesota on December 21, 1875.

The Kirbys left North Dakota and moved to Magrath in 1910. They operated a hotel there, which burned down in 1913. Tom homesteaded S.W. 2-2-21 W4th in the Shanks Lake area.

It was a familiar sight to see Tom coming or going with his one horse hitched to a two wheeled cart.

They moved to Milk River in September of 1915, and operated the Commercial Hotel until 1939. They sold the business and retired. Tom died in 1942 and Mrs. Kirby passed away the next year.