the official historian of the molson firm writes that as a result of a disagreement with his brother thomas as to the conduct of their joint distilling enterprise, william withdrew from this molson family enterprise to establish molson bank in association with his brother, john molson jr.. founded in 1853 and chartered by the provincial legislature in 1855, it was absorbed by the bank of montreal in 1925. william remained its first president until his death and was succeeded by thomas molson's son, john thomas molson (1837-1910).