Among the worthy citizens that New York has furnished to the state of Idaho is George H. North, the well known clothing merchant of Pocatello, whose enterprising, progressive methods give character to the business life of the city, and whose reputation in commercial circles is unassailable. He was born in Springwater, Livingston County, of the Empire state, July 14, 1858, a son of C. S. and Elvira Thankful (Wetmore) North, who likewise were natives of the same county. The father successfully carried on farming there until his death, which occurred in the fifty-eighth year of his age, while his wife, who still survives, is now sixty-five years of age. They were the parents of five children, but only two are living at this writing, in the summer of 1899.
George H. North, having obtained his preliminary education in the common school, supplemented it by a course in the Geneseo Western Seminary, in Syracuse, New York, where he was graduated with the class of 1876. He then worked on his father’s farm for a time, after which he started westward and accepted a clerkship with his uncle, Orland North, in Evanston Spring, Wyoming. He spent two years in that place and then began business on his own account in Shoshone, Idaho. Subsequently he came to Pocatello and, as a member of the firm of North & Church, established his present business in 1890. That partnership was continued until January 1, 1895, after which Mr. North carried on operations alone until October 1, 1898, when he sold a half interest in the store to Richard Douglass and the present firm of North & Douglass was formed. They have one of the finest stores in the town, splendidly equipped with everything in their line. They occupy a modern brick building twenty-five by eighty feet, their salesroom being on the first floor, while the basement is used as a storeroom. They carry a large and well selected stock of clothing and men’s furnishing goods and shoes, and from the beginning the enterprise has been a successful one, its patronage steadily increasing in volume and importance.
On the 1st of July 1886, Mr. North was united in marriage to Miss Peronne Church, a native of Mankato, Minnesota, and they now have one child, Carlie, who was born in Shoshone. Mr. North became a member of Eagle Lodge, No. 619, A. F. & A. M., in New York, in 1879, and has since taken the Royal Arch degrees. In his political views he is a Republican and keeps well informed on the issues of the day, but has never been an aspirant for office, preferring to devote his time and energies to his business interests, in which he is meeting with creditable and gratifying success. Indolence and idleness are utterly foreign to his nature, and his diligence, systematic methods and reliability have secured to him prosperity.