McKelway was born in Salisbury, Pennsylvania to John Ryan McKelway and Catherine Scott Comfort McKelway. He grew up in Albemarle County, Virginia and Charlotte County, Virginia. Graduated from Hampden-Sidney College and attended Union Theological Seminary in Richmond.
He married Lavinia Rutherford Smith and had five children including Alexander McKelway, the writer Saint Clair McKelway and the journalist Benjamin Mosby McKelway.
Graduated from Hampden-Sidney College and attended Union Theological Seminary in Richmond.
He soon became involved in child labor reform. He became Southern regional organizer for the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) In 1909 McKelway moved the family to Washington District of Columbia to continue his work with the NCLC. His efforts resulted in the creation of the United States Children"s Bureau. Many cr McKelway with the passage of the Keating-Owen Acting.
McKelway and his family lived in the Georgetown neighborhood.
