WI BIO - Kenosha Co - WHYTE, George S.

History of Kenosha and Kenosha County Wisconsin. Lyman. Chicago: Clarke 
Publishing, 1916, vol II, pp 232-233

George S. WHYTE, among the active, energetic and prosperous business men of 
Kenosha [Kenosha County, Wisconsin], one of the founders and promoters of the 
Macomber & Whyte Rope Company, was born in Scotland 20 March 1867, a son of 
George and Isabella (PRIMROSE) WHYTE. The family left Scotland in 1883 and 
established their home in Chicago [Cook County, Illinois]. The father 
[George WHYTE], who has devoted his life to mining and engineering, is now 
living in Waukegan [Lake County], Illinois.

George S. WHYTE was sixteen years of age when the family crossed the 
Atlantic. He was educated in the schools of Scotland and later attended 
evening school in Chicago, studying stenography. He started upon his 
business career as an employee of the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company 
of Worchester [Worcester County], Massachusetts, and Waukegan [Lake County], 
Illinois. He represented another manufactory for six years, but felt greater 
profits might be secured by handling their own product, and in 1901 they 
therefore started to manufacture wire rope at Coal City [Grundy County], 
Illinois. Since that time the business has steadily grown. In 1912 the 
plant was removed to Kenosha [Kenosha County, Wisconsin], and in September 
1915 main offices were established in the city of Kenosha, 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 Mr. George S. WHYTE married Miss Anna JESSEL of Chicago, and they now 
have one son, Jessel Stuart, who is secretary of the Macomber & Whyte Rope 
Company. He [Jessel Stuart WHYTE] 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-month 
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 
[Jessel Stuart WHYTE] married Ruth JOHNSON of Chicago, and the young couple, 
like his parents, are prominent in social circles of this city [Kenosha].

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.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly