Edward Patrick O'Meara, an attorney at law of New Haven, was born January 6, 1875, in the city where he still resides. His father, Edward O'Meara, a native of Ireland, crossed the Atlantic in 1861 and established his home in New Haven. For half a century he was connected with the Edward Malley Company and the Gamble Desmond Company, his association with the latter covering thirty-five years as expert silk buyer. He retired in March, 1917, to enjoy a rest which he had truly earned and richly deserves. In early man-hood he wedded Mary Camilus Healey. a native of New Haven, and a daughter of Dennis and Honora Healey. She passed away in New Haven, February 20, 1913, at the age of sixty-nine years. By her marriage she had become the mother of four children, of whom three are living, Edward Patrick, May J. and Catherine.
     Edward Patrick O'Meara received his professional training in the Yale Law School, being numbered among its alumni of 1899, in which year the LL. B. degree was conferred upon him. Prior to entering upon preparation for the bar, however, he was employed by the Gamble Desmond Dry Goods Company, but not finding mercantile pursuits to his liking and believing that he would secure a more congenial field in law practice, he resigned his position in the dry goods store after four years of service there and entered the law department of Yale. Immediately following his graduation he entered the office of Charles S. Hamilton, with whom he was associated for three years, and since that time he has been alone in practice. His ability has brought him prominently before the public. It is a recognized fact that advancement at the bar is proverbially slow, and yet Mr. O'Meara has made substantial progress in his chosen field, having early demonstrated his ability to cope with involved and complex legal problems. He enjoys the warm regard of his fellow practitioners of New Haven because he has always been careful to conform in practice to a high standard of professional ethics. He belongs to the New Haven County, the Connecticut State and the American Bar Associations. He also has business interests outside of the strict path of his profession, being one of the directors and vice president of the Cronin Coal Company and also of the William J. Sheehan Company. Incorporated.
     On the llth of November, 1909, in New Haven, Mr. O'Meara was married to Miss Helen A. Sheehan, a native of Easthampton, Massachusetts, and a daughter of William J. and Elizabeth (O'Donell) Sheehan. The Sheehan family was established in Massachusetts in early colonial days. Her parents are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. O'Meara have become the parents of two sons and a daughter: Edward Sheehan, born September 19, 1910; Mary Elizabeth, May 17, 1913; and William J., July 24, 1915. All were born in New Haven.
     Mr. and Mrs. O'Meara are communicants of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic church and Mr. O'Meara is a trustee of the St. Francis Catholic Orphan Asylum and a director of the St. Lawrence and St. Bernard Cemetery Association. He has always been deeply interested in public affairs and has been a cooperant factor in furthering various interests concerning the general welfare. In polities he is a democrat and is chairman of the New Haven democratic town committee. He served as a member of the common council in 1899 and 1900 and for two years was a director of the free public library of New Haven, beginning in 1899. In the same year he was made a member of the board of finance of New Haven and served for two years. On the 1st of July, 1905, he was reappointed to that office by Judge J. P. Studley, who was then mayor of New Haven, and served for a three years term. In 1908 he became assistant corporation counsel of New Haven, filling the office for two years, and from 1913 until 1915 he was judge of the city court. He holds membership in the Chamber of Commerce and is interested in all of its well organized plans and projects for advancing the public good. He is identified with various social organizations, including the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Knights of Columbus, the Knights of St. Patrick Club, the Emmet Club, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Union League, the Racebrook Country Club and the Yale Law Alumni Association. In a word his inter-ests are broad and varied. He was one of the first to enlist in the Sanitary Home Guard in 1917. He keeps in touch with the trend of modern events and modern thought, and he stands loyally for those interests which he believes to be matters of public concern and public welfare, and his activities have, in large measure, been productive of far-reaching and valuable results.