Edwin Stapleton Conway

Biography

Edwin Stapleton Conway began as an employee of William Wallace Kimball, a lank and lean farmer's boy from Wisconsin who showed such aptness for the business that he became Kimball's right-hand man. As general field organizer, Conway traveled the sparsely settled West selecting bright young men in each town to sell pianos and organs to farmers; many such dealers proudly called themselves 'Conway Boys.' His energy and persuasive personality built a net of agencies whose yearly sales ran into the millions. Conway convinced Kimball ('the Governor') of the necessity of manufacturing his own organs in Chicago, prompting Kimball to visit Alfred Dolge's New York office for materials information. After Kimball's death in 1904, Conway became vice-president of the reorganized Kimball corporation.

Highlights

• A 'lank and lean farmer's boy from Wisconsin' who became William Wallace Kimball's right-hand man
• As general field organizer he recruited dealers across the West nicknamed 'Conway Boys'
• Urged Kimball toward organ manufacturing and later became vice-president of the Kimball corporation

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), pp. 340, 343.

Public domain.