George S. Whyte Biography
As published in
"The City of Kenosha and Kenosha County Wisconsin: A Record of Settlement,
Organization, Progress and Achievement"
by Frank H. Lyman Vol. 2, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1916.
Among the active, energetic and prosperous business men of Kenosha is George S.
Whyte, one of the founders and promoters of the Macomber & Whyte Rope Company.
He was born in Scotland March 20, 1867, a son of George and Isabella (Primrose)
Whyte. The family left Scotland in 1883 and established their home in Chicago.
The father, who has devoted his life to mining and engineering, is now living in
Waukegan, Illinois.
George S. Whyte was sixteen years of age when the family crossed the Atlantic.
He had pursued his education in the schools of his native country and later
attended evening school in Chicago, taking up the study of stenography. He
started upon his business career as an employee of the Washburn & Moen
Manufacturing Company of Worchester, Massachusetts, and Waukegan, Illinois. He
represented that company in their Chicago office and continued with them until
1894, in the meantime working his way gradually upward. He was ambitious,
however, to engage in business on his own account and in 1895 he assisted F. B.
Macomber in organizing the Macomber & Whyte Rope Company. They represented
another manufactory for six years, but felt that greater profits might be
secured by handling their own product, and in 1901 they therefore started to
manufacture wire rope at Coal City, Illinois. Since that time the business has
steadily grown and in 1912 the plant was removed to Kenosha, while in September
1915 main offices were established in this city, although branch offices are
maintained in various parts of the country and agencies in all of the large
jobbing centers. Mr. Whyte has taken each business step carefully, being sure of
his ground, yet actuated at all times with the progressive spirit that has
brought him to a most creditable place in business circles.
In 1890 occurred the marriage of Mr. Whyte and Miss Anna Jessel of Chicago, and
they now have one son, Jessel Stuart, who is now secretary of the Macomber &
Whyte Rope Company. He was graduated from Cornell College at Ithaca, New York,
with the degree of Mechanical Engineer. He took post graduate work in the
University College at Sheffield, England, studying metallurgy and the chemistry
of steel. He afterward took the four months' practical course in manufacture and
treatment of wire in the factory of W. N. Brunton & Son at Musselburgh,
Scotland, and returned home to become an important factor in the development of
the business. He has been instrumental in instituting new processes and new
ideas, and the business has grown rapidly in the past three years, its output
doubling in that time. He married Ruth Johnson of Chicago, and the young couple,
like his parents, are prominent in social circles of this city.
In politics George S. Whyte is an independent Republican, for while he usually
supports the principles of that party he does not consider himself bound by
party ties. He and his wife are consistent members of the Baptist church, and he
is prominently known in fraternal circles. In Masonry he has attained the
thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, and is also a member of the Mystic
Shrine. He belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Royal League
and the Royal Arcanum, and he is also identified with the Chicago Athletic
Association and the Chicago Automobile Club. His business interests have brought
him a wide acquaintance and his social qualities have gained for him popularity
among all with whom he has come in contact.
Typed by: Michelle Laycock