Biography of William Webster Whyte - McDowell Co. WV The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 540 WILLIAM WEBSTER WHYTE, of Welch, is serving his tenth consecutive year in the office of county clerk of McDowell County, and has long been one of the prominent and in- fluential citizens of this county, where he was for twenty- four years chairman of the Republican County Committee, besides which he has served as county sheriff and county assessor. He is president of the Pocahontas Insurance Com- pany and secretary and treasurer of the Excelsior Pocahon- tas Coal Company. Mr. Whyte was born in Amelia County, Virginia, on the 27th of November, 1860, and is a son of Henry and Elizabeth (Webster) Whyte, the former a native of Norfolk, that state, and the latter of Amelia County. The mother died in 1901, aged fifty-nine years, and the father was seventy-two years of age at the time of his death, in 1906. Henry Whyte was a valiant young soldier of the Con- federacy in the Civil war, in which he served in the com- missary department of the famous Mahone Brigade. He became a republican at a time when such political affiliation was looked upon with general disfavor in Virginia. He was in railway service during virtually his entire active career, and was long an efficient and popular conductor on passenger trains between Norfolk and Petersburg. Later he was in similar service on the Norfolk & Western Railroad. His father, Henry Whyte, Sr., was born in the City of Dublin; Ireland. Henry and Elizabeth (Webster) Whyte became the parents of one son and four daughters. William W. Whyte attended a preparatory school at Petersburg. He became connected with the Norfolk and Western Railway and for some time was in the maintenance of way department. On the 10th of November, 1888, he came to Elkhorn, McDowell County, West Virginia, in the employ of the Houston Coal Company, and he has been closely identified with coal mining industry in this section of the state, the while he has held various executive positions and has authoritative knowledge of all details of this line of taterprise. >From early youth Mr. Whyte has shown an active interest in politics, and he has been a leader in the councils and campaign activities of the republican party during the period of his residence in McDowell County. He was elected county sheriff in 1896, and in this office gave an effective administration during his term of four years. He was county assessor four years, and since 1912 he has served continuously as county clerk. He has been actively con- cerned in the development of coal mining in this section, the first coal having been shipped from McDowell County in September, 1888, about one month before he here estab- lished his residence. He is affiliated with the local Blue Lodge and Chapter of the Masonic fraternity, as well as the Commandery of Knights Templars at Welch and the Temple of the Mystic Shrine in the City of Charleston, he having served two years as master of the Blue Lodge at Welch. Mr. Whyte has shown both efficiency and a fine sense of loyal stewardship in the various public offices of which he has been the incumbent, and he has secure place in popular confidence and esteem in his home county. In 1899 Mr. Whyte married Miss Mary Watson, daughter of James Watson, of Chester, Pennsylvania, and they have two sons, James W. and William Webster, Jr. Submitted by Valerie Crook **************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Files may be printed or copied for personal use only. ****************************************************************