McNeill (George E.) is born in Amesbury.

George McNeill becomes a labor organizer at a local woolen mill at age 14, subsequently moves to Boston in 1863 and co-founds the Grand Eight-Hour League (the precursor to the Boston Eight-Hour League), and serves as its president (1869-1874). He subsequently declares “an empty stomach can make no contracts,” edits labor publications in the Northeast, helps pass federal and state labor legislation, and comes to be called the “Father of the Eight-Hour Movement.” He promotes establishment of a Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor and is appointed its co-director. For the next 20 years, he is involved in the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor. McNeill dies in Somerville on May 19, 1906