BIO: John CONWAY, Beaver County, PA
  
  Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja & Joe Patterson
  
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  BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES.  This Volume Contains Biographical Sketches 
  of Leading Citizens of Beaver County, Pennsylvania.  Buffalo, N.Y., 
  Chicago, Ill.: Biographical Publishing Company, 1899, pp. 283-287.
  _________________________________________________________________ 
  
  JOHN CONWAY, president of the John Conway Banking Co.; president of the
  Keystone Tumbler Co., and at one time a leading dry goods merchant of
  Rochester, Beaver county, Pa., is, today, one of the most influential men in
  that thriving borough, and is notable for sound judgment and sterling
  integrity. He has been a very successful business man, and his opinion in all
  matters pertaining to business and financial questions, is of great worth. Mr.
  Conway was born in Economy township, Beaver county, Pa., March 27, 1830, and
  is a son of Michael and Mary (O'Brien) Conway,
  
  Michael Conway was born in County Kerry, Ireland, and came to America in
  1825. He located in Economy township, and bought 230 acres of partially
  cleared land on the bank of the river. There he built a log cabin, and later
  a frame house. The farm is now owned by John Conway and his sisters. He made
  many improvements on the place, and it became one of the best kept and most
  prosperous farms in that section. He married Mary O'Brien, who died at the
  age of seventy-eight, her husband dying when sixty-six years old. Their
  children were as follow: Abigail, deceased, who was the wife of James
  McGuire; Thomas, deceased, who was a
  
  284  BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES
  
  farmer; James, attorney, who married Jane Sheldon, served as captain in
  Company H, 139th Reg., Pa. Vol. Inf., was wounded in the battle of the
  Wilderness, and later died from the effects of the wound; John, the subject
  of this biography; Joanna, who married Peter Ivory, of Perrysville; and Mary,
  the widow of William Emery, of Indiana.
  
  John Conway, whose name heads this sketch, was reared on the farm, and
  attended the common schools and the college of Vincennes, Indiana, and then
  returned home, and became a clerk in a dry goods store at Pittsburg, where
  he remained for one year. He was then a clerk for eight years on a steam-boat
  on the Ohio River when he returned to Rochester. In 1856, he opened a dry
  goods store in New Castle, Pa., and after two years spent in that place again
  came to Rochester and bought the building at 749 West Madison street, which
  was built, in 1848, by Bonbright and Irwin. There he started a dry goods
  store, in 1857, and was very successful, continuing in the business until
  1871. His store was the principal one in Rochester at that time. In 1871, he
  closed out, and established a general banking business, the company being
  comprised; of the leading men in Rochester. Gradually Mr. Conway bought out
  the interests of his partners, until, at this time, he is the sole owner of
  it. The bank was built by Bonbright and Irwin, but purchased from J. H.
  Whisler. The subject of this Sketch has built and sold many fine residences
  in Beaver county, and has dealt quite extensively in real estate. He has
  always taken an active interest in the progress of Rochester, and was one of
  the original promoters and stockholders of the Olive Stove Works and of the
  Heat & Light Company. He is president of the Keystone Tumbler Co., of which a
  description is given elsewhere.
  
  Mr. Conway married Thalia Bentel, a daughter of Philip Bentel, of Freedom,
  Beaver county, and to them have been born two children, namely: Lilian M.,
  married to N. F. Hurst, of Rochester, Pa.; and Charles B., who is his
  father's assistant, - he married Emma Pfeiffer, a daughter of Benjamin
  Pfeiffer, of Rochester, Pennsylvania. Mr. Conway is widely known throughout
  the county, and wherever he goes he makes many friends, and keeps them. In
  politics, he is an active Democrat, and has served in the borough council and
  as school director. He is a Mason, and a member of the Presbyterian church. He
  was one of the promoters of the project to build the Masonic block at
  Rochester.