Joe Getty, a cornerstone of Carroll County history – Baltimore Sun

With Carroll County celebrating its 186th birthday this week, many important names naturally come to mind. One of them, Joe Getty, may be remembered in 2023 as the former Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals for Maryland (now the Supreme Court of Maryland). Getty was appointed to the court by Governor Larry Hogan in 2016 and retired last year after reaching the mandatory age of 70.

However, for those who enjoy the history of Carroll County, the name of Joe, the name of an important local historian, may ring a different bell.

Growing up in Manchester where his father was mayor and his mother’s roots go back to the 1700’s, Joe was surrounded by history and politics. He recalled “all those political discussions over a belly stove in my father’s workshop. People would talk about politics and solve all the problems of the world.”

As a student at Washington College on Maryland’s east coast, he majored in American Studies, then earned a master’s degree in American Civilization from George Washington University in 1980 and a law degree from the University of Maryland in 1996. His passion for the history of Maryland, in particular Carroll County, endearing him to history buffs.

Those of us who do research find Joe’s name everywhere we turn, in the reference books we pull from the shelves, on a copy of an early Carroll County map, on historic property status applications with the Maryland Historical Corporation, and as executive director of the Historical Society…