John Sterett Gittings (1848-1926)
MSA SC 3520-1546
Biography:
John Sterett Gittings was born in 1848 in Baltimore, the son of William S. and Annie (Aldrich) Gittings. He attended Maryland Agricultural College and studied in Bremen, Germany, and at St. John's College, Oxford, England. He married Rosalie May, and they had five children: Henry May, Frederick May, John S. Jr., Gladys H., and Dorothy Rosalie.
Gittings began his career in banking in his grandfather's firm of John S. Gittings & Son, the second oldest private bank in the South. He became president of the bank in 1880 and held that position until 1912 when he closed the firm. Gittings also served on the boards of Merchants National Bank, Maryland Life Insurance Company, and Eutaw Savings Bank.
His political career was started in 1866 when he was appointed paymaster general of the State militia, an office he held until 1870. In 1882 Gittings was elected to the House of Delegates from Baltimore County and he served as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. He was appointed State Treasurer from 1885 to 1886, and in that capacity he served as a member of the State Board of Public Works.
John S. Gittings died January 23, 1926, of pneumonia at his home
in the Burford Apartments, 3209 North Charles Street, Baltimore. He was
interred in Greenmount Cemetery. His obituary noted "Mr. Gittings was of
our soil, a Marylander to his fingertips, and in the strength and charm
of his life was shown how fine may be the fruition of that soil."