George Hyde Clarke, Jr. (1889-1955)

George Hyde Clarke, Jr., was raised at Hyde Hall and graduated from Harvard College in 1911. He started a career working for the Union Pacific Railroad in Nebraska, then Colorado and New York City. Because of his parents’ failing health, he returned to Hyde Hall to help manage the estate in 1914.

In 1915 he married Emily Borie Ryerson (1893-1960). Emily was the third child of Emily Maria Borie and Arthur Larned Ryerson, owner of the Ryerson Steel Company of Chicago. The Ryersons were one of the wealthiest families in Chicago and had a summer home near Hyde Hall. In 1912 the family had been struck by a double tragedy. While traveling in Europe, they were called home by the sudden death of their eldest son in an automobile accident. Mr. Ryerson immediately booked passage on the first available ship to New York, the Titanic. While Ryerson was lost, the others were rescued and sailed to New York City aboard the Carpathia.

They had seven children between 1916 and 1926 and divorced in 1931.

George married Dorothy Rennard Benjamin (1892-1982) in 1933. They had one son, Thomas Hyde Clarke (1936-2015), who inherited Hyde Hall in 1955.

Emily Borie Ryerson (1893-1960)

Dorothy Rennard Benjamin (1892-1982)

Emily and George's children: Polly with Arthur, Sissy (Emily), Susan, Hyde, Anne, and Jane, ca. 1927