White House Historical Association

George F. Gartside

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"George F. Gartside," White House Workers History Project, White House Historical Association, 2026, https://whha.whirlihost.com/Detail/workers/831.
Position
Engineer
Years in President's House
circa 1932 – 1940
Legal Status
Free Person
Gender
Male
Race/Ethnicity
White
Presidencies
Herbert Hoover
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Biography
George F. Gartside was born on June 11, 1900, in Baltimore, Maryland. (1) He was listed on First Lady Lou Hoover’s 1932 staff Christmas list as a heating employee at the White House. (2) It is unclear how long he worked on the staff, but he was listed as an engineer on a 1940 White House Christmas list. The 1940 Census listed him as a maintenance man for the federal government; in 1950, he was listed as an air conditioning engineer for the government. (3) Gartside served as a private in World War II and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery after his death on June 7, 1958. (4)
(1) George Thomas Francis Gartside in the U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947, National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; Wwii Draft Registration Cards For Virginia, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 271, Ancestry.com.
(2) White House Employees, 1932, Lou Henry Hoover Papers, Subject Files, White House Christmas 1932, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library.
(3) George I Gartside in the 1940 United States Federal Census, Year: 1940; Census Place: Arlington, Virginia; Roll: m-t0627-04246; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 7-31B, Ancestry.com; George F Gartside in the 1950 United States Federal Census, National Archives at Washington, DC; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Year: 1950; Census Place: All Places, Arlington, Virginia; Roll: 735; Page: 7; Enumeration District: 7-112, Ancestry.com; "White Regular Employees of the White House Christmas, 1940," Folder: Christmas Subject File, Grace Tully Papers, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York.
(4) “George Thomas Francis Gartside,” Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49187110/george_thomas_francis-gartside.
Birthplace
Baltimore, Maryland, USA