For nearly a third of a century George O'Connor has been identified with journalistic interests in the Mohawk valley as owner and publisher of the Fort Plain Standard, which is issued from one of the most up-to-date printing plants in the Empire state. Fort Plain numbers him among her native sons, for it was here that he was born on the 5th of December, 1866, his parents being George and Mary (Sponable) O'Connor, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of Fulton county, New York. George O'Connor, Sr., emigrated to the New World in boyhood and took up his abode in Fort Plain, this state, owing to the fact that he had relatives in the village. For many years he was successfully engaged in business as a shoe merchant of Fort Plain, where he passed away in 1905. His widow, who is descended from Revolutionary ancestry, still makes her home in that village, where she is widely and favorably known.
George O'Connor of this review obtained his education in the schools of Fort Plain and was still quite young when he began learning the printer's trade, at which he worked in the employ of others until 1892. In that year he purchased the Fort Plain Standard and two decades later erected his present modern building, since which time his has been one of the best equipped printing establishments in the commonwealth. His brother, Walter W. O'Connor, who became associated with him at the time he acquired this plant, remained active in its management until his demise on the 24th of May, 1922, when fifty-three years of age. During the past two years George O'Connor has been alone in the operation of the Standard plant, which received extended mention in the Country Gentleman of June, 1920, as a unique and thoroughly appointed printing establishment, the article describing in what particulars the Standard differed from the ordinary country newspaper. Mr. O'Connor furnishes employment to five people and in addition to the publication of the Fort Plain Standard, which has a circulation of eighteen hundred, he does a large job printing business, receiving his patronage principally from out of town.
On the 4th of February, 1884, Mr. O'Connor was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Clyde of Cherry Valley, Otsego county, New York. Their daughter, Dorothy Clyde, is now the wife of Carl Lindemann, Jr., of Hackensack, New Jersey. Politically Mr. O'Connor is a stalwart democrat, while his religious faith is that of the Universalist church. He holds membership in the Fort Rensselaer Club of Canajoharie and is, moreover, a worthy exemplar of the teachings and purposes of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Fort Plain Lodge No. 433, A. F. & A. M. He has long been numbered among the leading and influential citizens of Fort Plain, where he has resided from his birth to the present time and where he has won well-merited success in his endeavors.