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Julius Hanks - started the original bell foundry in 1808 on Water street in Gibbonsville, NY.  Gibbonsville, Port Schuyler and Washington became West Troy in 1836, later becoming Watervliet in 1899.  [All are located in Watervliet Township within Albany County. /CSZ/]  It was located on what is now Broadway between 14th and 15th streets, in Watervliet.  A library with a huge 1832 bell and site marker sits on the cleared site.

The first Andrew Meneely came to the U.S. from Northern Ireland in 1795.
His son, Andrew Meneely, apprenticed out to Hanks and learned the bell making business from him.

Julius Hanks moved his foundry operation to Troy as the Gurley, Hanks and Starbuck Foundry, 1825-1835.  It appears that Hanks was more interested in instrument making, which the Gurley connection fulfilled.

For continuity, the Meneely story starts below this list of Hanks bells.

Bells of both Hanks foundries, verified and in some cases, accessable ...
1824 at Sanger Masonic Lodge tower, Waterville, NY, in chime bell frame
1829 30" at Boone, IA, J Hanks 1829 on waist
1831 at Salisbury, NY, street level, across Route 29 from former 1831-1946 Baptist and Universalist Church
1831 31" in Meneely 'A' frame at Rensselaer County Historical Society, Troy, NY
1832 30" at Reformed Presbyterian Church, Middleline & Charlton Roads, Ballston, in an 1857 A-frame (don't let the frame date fool you)
1833 36" at Fonda, NY, Reformed Church tower, from Amsterdam Reformed 1868 or 1869 in a Jones A-frame

Reported but not verified:
1814 at Jefferson Academy, Jefferson, Schoharie County, NY
1815 at Hartwick College, Yager Hall, Oneonta, NY; Hartwick Seminary 1815, J.Hanks Fecit.-J.G.Knauff Executor
1817 at Auburn NY Prison, now in outer prison front yard,
1823 at Old First Church, Bennington, VT
1825 at Old Southeast Church, Brewster, NY ---(Troy Casting Co)
1830's bell for building belonging to Schoharies First Railroad
1830 or 1803 704# for Dutch Reformed Church, Schoharie County by Julius Hanks, disposition unknown, replaced by Kimberly & Meneely of Troy 1875, 1174#
1831 at Fayetteville, NC, First Presbyterian Church, recast by Oscar Hanks from 1831 fire, on top of tower chime bell frame, inscribed "I perished in the flames the 29th of May 1831" "O.Hanks Bell Foundry Troy"
1835 at East Congregational Church, Milton, MA

From Clinton Meneely Day Book transcribed by Jess Brodnax:
Line 4422: Cooperstown, 1st Pres Ch. 1823# Dec 29, 1898, originally purchased bell from Julius Hanks in 1817, after church burned in 1880's bell was later purchased from Meneely of Troy
Line 6190: Troy, St. Pauls P E Ch, 1900# Feb 23, 1900, KBS in1900, J.Hanks bell originally cast in 1830, cracked and was recast in 1900 by Meneely Bell Co. as the gift of Mary M. Thampson "Glory in Excelsis Deo", from parish history 1804-1954, page 81.

The Andrew Meneely (reds) West Troy, Watervliet foundry story

Andrew continued or re-opened the Gibbonsville foundry on Water street in 1826 as A. Meneely Bell Foundry.  Jonas V. Oothout (for monetary purposes?) became Andrew's partner in 1835, and withdrew in 1841.
Andrew was president of the village in 1839 and 1843.
Andrew took on his oldest son Edwin A. as a partner in 1849, name changed to A. Meneely & Son.
Andrew died in 1851.
His other son, George R. joined at some point.  Name changed to E.A. & G.R. Meneely.
George R. withdrew in 1874.  At some point, Andrew Ernest Meneely and Alfred Cluett Meneely, two  other sons  grandsons of Edwin, continued as Meneely & Co. of West Troy, until ceasing operations in 1950.
Andrew E. died in 1939.  Alfred Cluett Meneely died in 1949.

The Clinton Meneely (blacks) Troy foundry story

Clinton Meneely was the youngest son of Andrew and Philena Meneely.  He enlisted in the Army, served with the Union Forces in the Civil War.  He served on President Lincoln's personal staff and was mustered out.  Reports say 1875, but seems more likely to be 1865.
When he returned home, his older brothers Edwin and George had revamped the business.  This was the public reason Clinton was not included.  Conjecture runs rampant that they just didn't like him and said there was not enough business to support him.
Remember - the Jones & Hitchcock bell Foundry, later the Jones foundry a/k/a Troy bell foundry, had started in 1852 (closing in 1887).
Clinton went into business selling surplus war materials for several years.  As an aside, perhaps he should have joined with the Bannerman Island Castle group on the Hudson near Poughkeepsie.
In 1870 he obtained financial aid from George Kimberly and opened a foundry in Troy on Adams Street as Meneely & Kimberly.  They were quite successful. Their first 11 bell chime still exists at the Episcopal Church on State Street in Albany.  It is still manually played every Sunday from a 60 step climb to the clavier.
By 1880, Clinton bought out Kimberly's interest and became Clinton H. Meneely Bell Co.
About 1900, he revamped his business with his three sons, William, Wadsworth and Chester.  The company became Meneely Bell Co. until closing in 1950.

The lack of raw materials during WWII had severely restricted their business.  New bells could only be cast from melted down old bells.
There had been a bitterly contested court case involving the use of the same family name by both Foundries, causing confusion.  Troy and West Troy is one instance.  A court decreed that any business was allowed to include its family name in doing business.  There was talk that postal people were paid to misdirect mail to one foundry or another.  It sure seems that it was a possibility.

The Kehn family
All thru this were three generations of Kehns who worked for this foundry.  Pius, Chester, and Edward.  I personally knew Eddie when in his 90's.  He lived to be 100.  He (along with his brother Chester) picked up on the repair, service, and electrification of tower bells for the next 30 years.  Much hard copy and verbal information was left to me.  In his later years, he suffered from Alzheimers, but from his kitchen table with a beer or at his bedside, he would remember almost every bell and the story behind it.  You should be so fortunate.

Conversation with Bob Verdin Sr.
I am friendly with everyone in the bell business niche.  We all have our likes and dislikes.  We talked one day in 2011 about electrification of Chimes.  I don't like it but have noticed a cycle to go back to manual ringing.  Bob logically explained it that as people got older and less able to do this manually, electrification was an option not to lose them.  Now, with younger players coming along, manual playing again becomes an option, so not to do away with the manual action makes sense in any electrification process.

The first Meneely came to U. S. in 1795.
---This is still in process.  These old records are not easy.  There may be some minor errors and additions to be worked on.