ROOT FAMILY of MICHIGAN

THE ROOT FAMILY

See at the end of the site about my 1st book.

from CONNECTICUT to NEW YORK to MICHIGAN

Related Families:  Holmes, Cryderman, Armstrong, Smith

There are many Root families across the United States.  The branch of Roots examined here is that of LUCIUS ROOT from Connecticut or Canada.  Nothing is known of his parents or siblings.  There were many other Root families in Connecticut at the beginning of the 1800s but none that can be firmly tied in with Lucius.  He was born some time between 1815 and 1817.  Most of his life would be spent as a farmer.  In 1850 he lived in Kendall, Orleans Co., NY with wife, Sarah and had six children.

Lucius married Sarah Catherine Cryderman on Sunday, September 1, 1839 in E. Gwillimbury, Ontario, Canada.  Why Lucius was in Canada in the 1830s and how he met Sarah is unknown.  It could be that Sarah was in America and that was how they met.  The CRYDERMAN surname is quite common in Canada and especially around the Ontario area.  Sarah was born in 1820.  Her parents were John Cryderman (1799 - about 1852) from Ontario, Canada and Elizabeth Ames (1801 - 1875) from Ontario, Canada.  Sarah had nine other brothers and sisters.  One of  her younger sisters, Anna, (born April 1844)  married Samuel Ralph (born 1841) and they lived in Orleans County, New York in the 1860's.   Lucius, Sarah and some children lived with the Ralph family for a period of time in the 1860's.  Anna and Samuel move to Michigan but later divorce.

The first son born was WILLIAM ROOT in 1840 and followed by second  child born Tuesday, October 4, 1842 in Orleans County.  He was named JOHN VALENTINE ROOT.   The middle name of "Valentine" come from Sarah?s side of the family, the great grandfather, George Valentine Cryderman, born in 1715 in Germany, who came to Tryone, Schuyler, New York and lived there until his death in 1780.    A third son arrived in 1844 and was named LYMAN ROOT.  Their next child does not come until Friday, March 12, 1846 or 1847, also in Orleans County.  The difference in the date is due to conflicting sources including census records and the cemetery list on George M. Root. This fourth son?s full name was GEORGE MECKLIN ROOT.    In 1848 a fifth son was born and named ABEL ROOT.  Sarah and Lucius lived in Kendall located in Orleans County in New York during the 1850 census.  Around 1850 came the sixth son which would be named for LUCIUS, JR.  Then about 1852 a seventh son was born and named SILAS ROOT.  On Monday, May 15, 1854 there were now eight sons in the family.  The eighth son was named NELSON COLT ROOT.  Before 1857 Lucius Sr. must have felt America was headed for internal conflicts because he moved his family to Canada.  Family legend suggests Lucius may have left to avoid having to take part in the fighting in America.  While in Canada additional children were born to the family including the first daughter.  She was SARAH MILDRED ROOT born in 1857.         With the outbreak of the American Civil War in April of 1861, a second daughter was born a year later on Saturday, April 6, 1861.  She was named ELLEN LOUISE ROOT and she also was born in Canada.  JAMES A. ROOT, the ninth son came on Thursday, September 8, 1864.  By the 1865 state census the Root family was living back in Orleans County, New York in the town of Clarendon.  They shared a residence with Sarah's sister, Anna and her family.  Two of the sons were not mentioned in the 1865 census, William and Lyman.  They would have been 25 years and 21 years old at that 1865 census and living on their own with their own families or may have died as children.  The exact set of circumstances for these two Root children may never be known.

The Family Moves to Michigan

Between the 1865 state census in New York and May of 1870, the Root family moves to the mid-west, to the Michigan county of Tuscola.   They were listed on the 1870 census for Tuscola but also there was a family celebration with the marriage of George Mecklin Root and LOIS ELVIRA HOLMES  on Sunday, May 29, 1870 in Tuscola County.  So it is feasible that the Root family was in Michigan well before 1870, in fact it may have been just after the 1865 New York census.  There was mention in the Michigan 1865 state census of Lois E. Holmes working (possibly to help care for the young children) for the Root family.

The HOLMES Family of New York and Michigan

Lois Elvira Holmes' parents were CALEB HOLMES and ANGELINE MARIA ARMSTRONG of Steuben, New York.  Caleb was born about 1819 in New York.  He married Angeline Armstrong, the daughter of Melvin and Mary Armstrong, on or before 1846.  Angeline was born in Steuben, New York on Friday, January 21, 1825.  Caleb's parents were Daniel Holmes, born about 1790 and Lois Lewis.  They were married about 1814 in New York and had seven other children besides Caleb.         From available research it appears all the Caleb Holmes children were born in Michigan.  Besides Lois, there was Eunice in 1847, Douglas, Annie, Jack (John) C. Holmes in 1857, Alfred Holmes on December 7, 1859, George B. Holmes in 1864, and Lillian Agnes Holmes on September 23, 1871.  On Jack Holmes, he married Lucy Griffin about 1884 in Michigan and they had two children, Albert Holmes in 1885 and Lillian in 1887.  Jack died on June 26, 1917 in Millington, Michigan.  Alfred Holmes married Hettie Jobison on June 15, 1890 in Arbela, Michigan.  He lived until March 5, 1930.  George B. Holmes married Mary Dawson on March 30, 1891 in Caro, Michigan.  The youngest daughter, Lillian A. Holmes, married Henry Thiell.  They had two sons, Thomas and Glen Thiell.  Lillian died on December 23, 1935 in Millington, Michigan.

The Children of Lucius and Sarah Root in Michigan

Nothing is known of what became of William Root, born in 1840 and Lyman Root, born 1844.  John Valentine Root married Hannah M. Davis about 1875 in Michigan.  She was from Temp, Ontario, Canada and born on Tuesday, June 18, 1844.  They had three children, Maude, Alice and Philio Root.  For Lucius Root, Jr., he married Mary (last name unknown) and they had one known son, named William Root, born on September 25, 1874.  For Silas Root it is not known if he ever married.  He died of eutesitis (or enteritis) on May 18, 1901 in Auburn,  Bay County, Michigan.  Nelson Colt Root married Viola Adelaide Belden on Saturday, September 15, 1877 in Oakley, Saginaw County, Michigan.  Viola's parents owned the Belden Lumber Mill.  They had ten children, the last one born in 1906.  Nelson Colt Root lived until February 4, 1928 in Flint, Genesee County, Michigan.The sister, Sarah Mildred Root, may have married a gentleman named Gleason and she may have died in childbirth with their first child.

Ellen Louise Root married Henry Thayer on Wednesday, October 19, 1881 in Brady Township, Saginaw County, Michigan.  They had a daughter, named Ellen Thayer.  Henry (born on December 19, 1861) died January 27, 1928 of abcess of the lungs and Ellen Root Thayer died on August 27, 1928 of pernicious anemia in Chesaning Township, Saginaw County, Michigan.    Ellen's brother, James A. Root, became blinded by a boiler explosion at the Belden Lumber Mill in Chesaning, Michigan when he was about 14 - 15 years old.  Years later James married Mary Mae Davis, who was also blinded since childhood due to measles. Mary's parents were Elvira Burnham of Canada and Fred Davis from Michigan.   James and Mary married on Friday, January 21, 1887 in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, her hometown.   They went on to have four children, Walter Aron Root in 1890, Clyde Nelson Root in 1894, Grace May Root in 1900 and Eugene Root, who was born between 1887 and 1889 but died as an infant about 1890.

The couple spent many years at the beginning of the 20th century performing their musical act at concerts, rodeos and church events. They lived in several different states (Nebraska, Minnesota and Missouri).  Mary died on August 7, 1940 in Missouri and James on February 13, 1958 in Minnesota.

Lucius Root's Second Family

It is not known exactly what happened to Lucius' first wife, Sarah Catherine Cryderman. It is believed by family legend that she died of gall bladder tumors. She was listed on the 1870 census with the rest  of the Root family.  She may have died right after the 1870 census.   There are marriage records on file in Corunna, Shiawassee County, Michigan that Lucius married Celestia Pierce on Saturday, February 4, 1871.  Three children were born to the couple in the years that followed their marriage.  In 1874, a daughter named Florence was born, Then in 1876 a son named Alfred came and the last was Mable Root in 1879.  Lucius was listed on the 1880 census for Michigan.  The census for 1890 was lost to a fire in the early 20th century.  But Lucius and Celestia Root were listed on the Sunday School rolls for the Methodist Church of Chesaning, Michigan.  A note on the rolls states Lucius died March 18, 1891. Celestia and her three children moved to Owosso and became members of the Methodist Church of Owosso and Celestia was still listed as a member up to the 1913 church membership rolls. She died on February 21, 1913. (This recent information came to light through the efforts of Jeanine Reckinger, in her Root research.)

George Mecklin Root and Lois E. Holmes

Lois met George by working for the family in the late 1860's.  If George's mother, Sarah had died in the late 1860's and there were still a couple young children at home ( Sarah, Ellen and James) then domestic help would have been needed.  George was a young man in his early twenties and had worked as a farmer back in New York.  Lois became a permanent part of the Root family when she and George married on Thursday, May 29, 1879 in Millington.  The couple was thrilled with their first child, a daughter born in September 1871, who they named Catherine Marie Root, after George and Lois' mothers.  In just seven months their joy was turned to sorrow over their daughter's death on Tuesday, April 30, 1872.  She died of consumption.         Their second child, Arthur Milton Root, was born 1873.  As an adult Arthur married Catherine Miller on Tuesday, New Years Eve, December 31, 1895 in St. Johns, Clinton County, Michigan.  The new Mrs. Arthur Root was born November 26, 1876 in Westphaliia, Clinton County, Michigan.  They  had seven children born between 1898 and 1911.  But Catherine, known as Katie, died sometime around 1913.  This left Arthur to raise his young children alone.  Other family members cared for a couple of the smaller children. It is not known when Arthur died.

ROOT FAMILY

STANDING LEFT:  GEORGE FLOYD (TED), NELSON, ARTHUR and MYRTLE

SITTING LEFT:  GEORGE, EDITH, and LOIS

The third child born to Lois and George was named Nelson Miles Root.  He and his family are covered in the next section.         The fourth child was a daughter, born on Monday, September 18, 1876 and named Myrtle Mae Root.  Years later she married George Will DeWitt.  It is not unknown if they had any children or when George died.  Myrtle died on September 10, 1957 in Grand Rapids, Michigan just before she turned 81 years old.           The fifth child was George Floyd Root, born on Saturday, October 12, 1878 in Millington.  George's nickname was Ted.  In 1905 he married Ethel Howard.  She had been married previously to a Mr. Good and had a daughter named Doris.  Ethel and Ted had seven children between 1913 - 1926, all in Millington. The family was mostly daughters, Eunice Ruth in 1913, Alice Margaret in 1915,

Mary Lorraine in 1917, Martha LaVerne in 1918, Vera Edith in 1920, Ardath Ethel in 1923, and then the only son, Lyndon George Root, born in 1926.  Ted died on February 8, 1957.                The sixth and youngest child of Lois and George was Edith Adele Root, born on Thursday, September 1, 1881 in Millington.  Her first husband was named George H. Holbrook, who was born about 1877 in Hubbardstown in Michigan.  He was employed as a finisher on furniture. Edith was only 15 years old but did have her father's consent to marry.  They married on Wednesday, June 30, 1897 in St. Johns, Michigan. The wedding was performed by Minister D. D. Martin and the witnesses were M.N. Townsend and L. E. Root.   But the marriage did not last very long and they were divorced within a matter of a few years.   Edith did have a long life companion.  He was Dave Hydorne.  They never married but were together most of their lives.

Lois Holmes Root Ethel & George (Ted) Root

George Mecklin Root and his wife, Lois Holmes Root lived in Millington and then in St. Johns, Michigan most of their married life.  He worked as a "fireman" - a man who tends a furnace in an industrial factory.  Lois looked after her father, Caleb Holmes, in St. Johns the last few years of his life.   He died on June 15, 1901. Lois started losing her eyesight about 1900.

ROOT FAMILY (photo about 1900)

STANDING LEFT:  ARTHUR, NINA HANRATTA, MYRTLE, GEO. DE WITT, ADALINE, NELSON,  and TED

SITTING LEFT:  KATE, baby FLOYD, LOIS, LOIS E., baby IDA, GEORGE,  and EDITH

It is believed to be diabetics, which she suffered from.  She spent the last 15 years of her life nearly totally blind.  George died on December 20, 1915 in St. Johns.  They were married for 45 years.  He was buried at Mount Rest Cemetery in St. Johns.  Lois died on Sunday, May 23, 1920 in St. Johns and was also buried at Mount Rest Cemetery.  She did have 13 grandchildren at the time of her death.  Her first grandchild, Doris Leaton Root (child of Arthur and Catherine Root) died in 1900 at the age of 18 months.  The next grandchild was born August 8, 1898.

This is just the Root Family that has been traced back to Lucius Root at the beginning of the 1800's.  Descendents of Lucius and Sarah and of Celestia may be scattered all over the United States and the world. There are many other branches and possible links and conceivably taking the family back to England or Germany.

The ROOT surname means "glad, cheerful"  and dates to the 1000s AD.

A possible early spelling was "Rote".

Another possible early meaning comes from the early days when people became ill and called for assistance from the medicine man.  He carried a bag of medicines, made from the roots of various plants.  So he became referred to as "the root man".

The HOLMES surname means "residence near a place of flat land".

The SMITH surname means "worker at the smithy".

This was their story starting with Lucius Root and his family from Connecticut, New York and Canada until they settled in Michigan in the mid-1860's and for the next 60 years.  Any additional information, data, photos or comments are always welcomed.

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A Chinese maxim:  "To Forget One's Ancestors Is To Be a Brook Without a Source,

a Tree Without a Root."

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