J. NELSON CONWAY, proprietor of the Conway Laundry at Piqua, a model institution of its kind, was born at Piqua in 1867, son of Captain John and Sarah Jane (Manson) Conway. On his mother's side, as will presently be seen, he is of Revolutionary ancestry.

Capt. John Conway, father of the, subject of this sketch, was a native of Pennsylvania, who became a resident of Piqua prior to the Civil War. For a number of years he was captain of a canal boat and was well known to the canal and river trade. Later he engaged in the transfer and storage business, and he introduced the first covered transfer vans ever seen in this city, and in Miami County. His death occurred in 1902.

Capt. Conway was married in 1863 to Sarah Jane Manson, a daughter of James Nelson and Sarah (Harvey) Manson, the former of whom died August 15, 1870, and the latter December 27, 1900. Her great grandfather was David Manson, Sr., who was born in County Antrim, Ireland, in October, 1753, and came to America prior to the Revolutionary War. In July, 1776 he enlisted from York, Pennsylvania, for two months as private in Captain Savage's Company, Colonel Smith commanding. He re-enlisted in September, 1776, for three and a half months, in Capt. W. W. Cosby's Company, Colonel McAllister's Regiment. He enlisted again, in January, 1778, for two months, in Capt. John Rippy's Company, Colonel McAllister, Regiment. During his service in the Revolutionary War, he was for some time a private in the body guard of General Washington.

He was married February 1, 1780, in York, Penna., to Jean Johnston, and in 1807 they came to Miami County, Ohio. He died in 1836, and is buried in the cemetery attached to the Brown schoolhouse, eighteen miles east of Piqua.

David Manson, Jr., son of the foregoing and next in the present line of descent, married Miss Sarah Cornwall, September 11, 1810. He and his wife resided on a farm three miles northeast of Piqua, in Springfield Township. He was a surveyor by profession, and during the winter of 1822-23 he took a severe cold, while on a surveying expedition, which developed into pneumonia and caused his death April 25, 1823. At this time his youngest child, Martha, was but a few months old. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, enlisting from Miami County as a private in Capt. John Williams' Company, Major Henry Prince's Regiment of Ohio Militia. His wife, Mrs. Sarah Cornwall Manson, died in 1838. Their son, James Nelson Manson, maternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a grand nephew of Gen. Mahlon Dickerson Manson.

Capt. John and Sarah J. (Manson) Conway were the parents of three children, namely: Mattie, who married H. M. Alexander, of Piqua, and died in March, 1905; J. Nelson, and William.

J. Nelson Conway grew to manhood in his native city of Piqua, attending the public schools, including the high school, of which he is a graduate. He then became associated with his father in the transfer business and this continued for several years, after which he accepted a position as a driver of a laundry wagon, which was his introduction to the business in which he has since been so successful. After some experience under several different employers, he entered into the laundry business for himself, with a partner, and conducted it for two years and a half under the style of Morton & Conway. He then purchased his partner's interest and has been the sole proprietor ever since. He purchased the building at No. 112-114 Ash Street and has equipped it with the most modern machinery known to the laundry trade, having now one of the best and most up-to-date plants of the kind to be found in all this section. He gives employment to four men and twelve girls, and the quality of the work he turns out is unexcelled.

In 1906 Mr. Conway was married to Miss Gertrude Raney, of Piqua, Ohio. Fraternally he belongs to the Elks and the Knights of Pythias. He is one of Piqua's most representative and go-ahead business men.