Carnegie Mellon University - Thistle Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

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This Volume Is respectfully dedicated to WILLIAM MaCONWAV who, as Chairman of the Committee on Technical Schools, has suix’ivised the development of our iivslilution so faithfully and well. '3

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William McComvay Chairman, Committee on Technical Schools

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WILLIAM McCONWAY R. McCONWAY was bom in Ireland on St. Valentine's Day, in 184. . lie is as proud of Itis Irish birth as Mr. Carnegie is of bis own Scotch ancestry. Mr. McComvay springs from that fine strain of blood frequently referred to as Scotch Irish. I ut he insists that the Scotch-Irish are a myth, and that he is nothing more than Irish. When seven years of age. his parents emigrated to Amer-ica and settled with him at Pittsburgh. He entered the public schools, which he attended for five years. At twelve years of age he graduated into the school oi Experience, entering the service of the Old Novelty Iron Works Co. Leaving them aiter six months, he secured employment with OInhausen Crawford, with whom he remained until the breaking out of the Civil War. When the call to arms was sounded, the fighting instinct, which lurks in the heart of every Irishman, stirred the blood of young McComvay, and urged him forth to fight for his adopted land. In September of 1861, he enlisted for three years with the One Hundred and Second Pennsylvania Volunteers a a private, and with that regiment saw much hard service. They were in the fray at Williamsburg, at Fair Oaks, at Malvern Hill. Gettysburg, the Wilderness. Spottsylvania. Cold Harbor, and at the Siege of Petersburg, lie was early promoted to Ik Sergeant-Major, and some time later to be Second Lieutenant, holding the latter rank until the end of his term of rvice. In 1864 he received his honorable discharge and came back to Pittsburgh, where he went to work for his . Id employers. OInhausen Crawford. After the death of the senior partner. Mr. McComvay became the junior partner. Again in 1869. he moved up a round further on the ladder to success, forming a company with Samuel I-cwis and John J. Tor-ley. and engaging in the manufacture of saddlery hardware and malleable castings. After a short time Lewi withdrew and the firm name became McComvay. Torlev Co. In 1887 the McComvay Torlcy Co. was incorporated. He abandoned the manufacture of saddlery in 1873. substituting instead the Janney coupler, that humane device which prevents careless enginemen from killing the brakemen when coupling cars together. Their wisdom in specializing on the manufacture of this coupler has been proven. All railroads have adopted it. and the little plant, employing thirty-five men in 1873. has grown, until now it occupies fifteen acres of ground, and employs over two thousand men. 14