William Gouverneur Ramsay (1866-1916) trained as a civil engineer at the University of Virginia. In 1892, Ramsay joined the Chicago sales office of the Repauno Chemical Company and Eastern Dynamite Company and transferred later to the New York where he eventually headed the sales office until June 1898. He left to organize Company "A," 1st U.S. Volunteer Engineers in response to the Spanish-American War. He served in the war as captain of the company and was promoted to major. After his return from military service in 1899, Ramsay became president of the newly-established Great Northern Manufacturing and Supply Company in Terre Haute, Indiana. The company primarily sold powder it purchased from E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company and other powder manufacturers. When Great Northern went out of business in 1902, Ramsay joined the newly-formed engineering division of the Eastern Dynamite Company as chief engineer. When Eastern Dynamite assigned its assets to Du Pont in 1903, Ramsay became Du Pont's chief engineer and directed the construction of many of the largest explosives factories in the United States. Ramsay became a director and vice president of Du Pont Company in 1916 and retained his position as chief engineer until his death that year.