Career
He was part of the prominent American Whitney family. Whitney himself held patents for the manufacture of leather. Thompson, Whitney, and Company
(later Whitney Bros and Company) had 300 workers and annual revenue of over $300,000, producing over 100 cases of leather goods per week at its peak.
In the 1860s, the company was among the top producers in the rapidly growing Chicago leather industry, and its products were showcased in the Paris Universal Exposition of 1867. In 1870, the company was noted as by far the highest-grossing producer in the city.
He died December 31, 1912 at the age of 78 from artero sclerosis.