Hugh McAlister North, Sr. (7 May 1826—20 December 1907) was born in McAlisterville, Juniata County, Pennsylvania. After attending the academy at Mifflinburg, he studied law in Union County where he was admitted to the bar in 1849. After moving to Columbia, he became a prominent attorney in Lancaster County and was instrumental in founding the Lancaster County Bar Association in 1880. North served in the State Legislature in the mid-1850s and ran for several other political offices including U.S. Congressman in 1864, and Lt. Governor in 1874.
In 1860 and 1876 he served as a delegate to the National Democratic Conventions. North also served as President of the First National Bank of Columbia and as a director and solicitor for several large corporations.
North married Serena Franklin in 1868 and had two children, Serena Mayer and Hugh Jr.
Hugh McAlister North, Jr. (21 June 1873—20 May 1929) graduated in 1897 from Yale University and, like his father, became a prominent Lancaster County attorney and civic leader. In 1915 he married Elizabeth Cottman. North, Jr. died at the age of 56 from pneumonia. In his will he left $200,000 in trust to Franklin and Marshall College for the creation of a museum of antiquities and objects of art and industry relating to Lancaster County history to be located in his home at 229 East Orange Street. In 1951 the trust was assigned to the College allowing for the construction of the North Museum on campus, which opened in 1953.
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