Biographical Sketch of G. J. Roote, Wright County, Missouri

>From "History of Laclede, Camden, Dallas, Webster, Wright, Texas, 
Pulaski, Phelps and Dent Counties, Missouri" The Goodspeed Publishing
Company, 1889.
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G. J. Roote is an extensive manufacturer and dealer in railroad lumber
at Mansfield, and was born in Waukesha County, Wis., in 1845, being a
son of Eleazer and Laura (Jenkins) Roote.  The father was born in Col-
umbia County, N. Y., March 6, 1802, and graduated from Williams College
Massachusetts in 1821, being admitted to the bar of the supreme court
of New York three years later.  He was then engaged in practicing law
until 1830, but was then compelled to go to a warmer climate on account
of his health.  From that time until 1845 he made his home in Virginia,
then moved to Waukesha County, Wis., where he became the chief promoter
and founder of Carroll College.  In 1847 he was elected a member of the
Second Constitutional Convention from his county, and was substantially
the author of the present educational article in the constitution for
the State of Wisconsin, as well as that providing for and founding a
State University.  In 1848 he was elected superintendent of public
instruction, being re-elected to the office in 1852 and 1854, but at 
the latter date ill health again forced him to return South, and, 
having taken orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church, he was for 
three years rector of Trinity Church, St. Augustine, Fla.  He was first
married to Miss Hannah Dayton, of Hudson, N. Y., and secondly to Miss
Laura Jenkins, who was born in New York City in 1815.  She became the
mother of four children, and died in 1876.  Mr. Roote died July 25,
1887, at St. Augustine, Fla.  His father was a native of Connecticut,
and was a physician by profession.  He was a descendant of Thomas Roote
who emigrated from England at an early day and settled in Northampton,
Mass.  The maternal great-grandfather of our subject, Thomas Jenkins,
was born at nantucket, Mass., and amassed a great deal of wealth.  He
was a large ship owner, and was one of the chief founders of Hudson,
N. Y.  His son, Gilbert, was also a ship owner, and for over thirty
years was a collector of the port at Hudson, N. Y.  The latter's daugh-
ter, Laura, was the mother of the gentleman whose name heads this 
sketch, G. J. Roote.  The latter was educated in Ripon College, Wis.,
but in 1863 left his studies to ender the Federal army, and was a 
faithful soldier until 1866.  His literary and other mental endowments
were soon recognized, and he became a clerk in the adjutant-general's
office, under Maj. Gen. Thomas.  His ability as a clerk was very
remarkable, and during all his wearisome routine of duty not one of his
records was returned for correction.  At the close of the war he wrote
the history of the fourteenth Army Corps.  For several years after the
war he was in the employ of different publishing companies, and then
engaged in the real estate business in Jefferson County, Mo., but after
some time went to Alabama, where he and a brother established the
Tuscumbia Chronicle, a weekly journal, but sold out in 1874, returned
to Missouri, and located in Wright County in 1884, where he engaged in
prospecting and mining.  In 1885 Mr. Roote became editor of the Wright
County Republican, but the following year embarked in his present work,
and does an annual business of $30,000.  He is an uncompromising Union
man, a strong Republican, and was the prime mover in establishing the
G. A. R. post at Mansfield, and has been its Commander since its
organization.  He was married in 1872 to Miss Elizabeth Fotheringham,
nee Bryan, who was born in Ste. Genevieve County, Mo., in 1844.  Mr.
Roote was the Republican candidate for the Legislature from Wright 
County in the late election.
 
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