He was managing clerk, Bristow, Peet & Opdyke. In 1883, with General Henry Lawrence Burnett, who was a member of that firm, he formed the firm of Burnett & Whitney.[3]
Aside from his judgeship, he never held elected office. He was an active Democrat and organizer of the national association of Democratic clubs, secretary from its organization, 1888–90. At the May 1892 convention at Syracuse he was chosen as delegate to the National Democratic Convention at Chicago.
He married A. Josepha Newcomb in 1896, who was active in the suffrage movement. In 1912, she organized the first Cornwall meeting in support of voting rights for women, the daughter of astronomer and mathematician Simon Newcomb. Her sister, Anita Newcomb McGee, was a doctor who helped establish the Army Nurse Corps.
Their son Hassler Whitney was the famous Princeton University mathematician. Their son William Dwight Whitney was an international attorney who represented actress Adrianne Allen in her divorce from actor Raymond Massey; William Whitney then married Adrianne, and his first wife Dorothy married Raymond. Their son Simon N. Whitney was the chief economist and director of the Bureau of Economics at the Federal Trade Commission, 1956–1961, and also was an economist with the Federal Administration of Export Control.
He died January 5, 1911. He had just been appointed to the New York State Supreme Court, and contracted a cold that turned into pneumonia on his return from being sworn in.[5]
^"General Henry L. Burnett". Biographical Cyclopaedia and Portrait Gallery Vol. 6, page 1354. Retrieved January 26, 2011.
^"New York Supreme Court 1900s". Political Graveyard. Retrieved 2009-09-17. In New York, the Supreme Court is the lower, trial court. The Court of Appeals is its highest court.