Background
Andrew Meneely was the son of Andrew Meneely and Eleanor Cobb. His father came to the United States from the north of Ireland in 1795 and settled in West Troy, now it's Watervliet, in New York, where the younger Andrew was born.
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Andrew Meneely
Edit ProfileEducation
At the age of seventeen, after an elementary education, Meneely was apprenticed to Julius Hanks, who, with his brother Oscar, was engaged in making bells, clocks, and scientific instruments.
Career
In 1826 Meneely established in West Troy a bell foundry of his own. Bell-making had been only one of several enterprises in which the Hanks family had engaged. Meneely, on the other hand, devoted himself to this work, and by constant experimentation he greatly improved upon the methods used by his former employers. He was, after a few years, able to predict with accuracy the weight and tone of each bell he cast. Such precision had not previously been attained in America, and it had been common, both in the United States and abroad, to secure the desired tone by chiseling off portions of the bells after they were cast. As Meneely was one of comparatively few foundrymen specializing in bell-metal bells, that is, bells made of copper and tin, usually in the proportion of four to one, and inasmuch as his preeminence was easily established, his foundry was soon sending bells not only throughout the United States but also throughout the world.
The business grew rapidly, and Meneely came to be regarded, in the words of a contemporary newspaper, as "one of those who have done most for the general advancement of the industrial arts in all their branches. " Though he devoted himself unsparingly to his business, even to the detriment of his health, he took an interest in his community and was twice, in 1839 and again in 1843, president of the village of West Troy. His chief interest, however, was the local Reformed Dutch Church of which he was a ruling elder. To this church he gave generously both of time and money, contributing also to the support of other religious institutions. After his death the business was carried on by his sons, who further improved the technique of bell-making, and still later by his descendants.
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In about 1826, Meneely married Philena, daughter of Rodney Hanks, the brother of his employer.
