George Meany - Early Years

Early Years

Meany was born into a Roman Catholic family in Harlem in New York City on August 16, 1894. His parents were Michael Meany and Anne Cullen Meany, who were both American-born and of Irish descent. His ancestors had immigrated to the United States in the 1850s. His father Michael was a plumber and a "staunch trade unionist" who served as president of his plumber's union local. That union had been formed in 1889. Michael Meany was also a precinct level activist in the Democratic Party.

He grew up in the Port Morris neighborhood of The Bronx, where his parents had moved when he was five years old. Always called "George", he did not know that his real first name was William until he got a work permit as a teenager. Following in his father's footsteps, Meany quit high school at the age of 16, served a five year apprenticeship as a plumber, and got his journeyman's certificate in 1917 with Local 463 United Association of Plumbers and Steamfitters of the United States and Canada.

Michael Meany died suddenly of a heart attack in 1916 after a bout of pneumonia. When George Meany's older brother joined the United States Army in 1917, he became the sole support for his mother and six younger children. He supplemented his income for a while by playing as a semi-professional baseball catcher.

In 1919, he married Eugenia McMahon, a garment worker and a member of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. They had three daughters.