Bennington

ROOT, Henry Green

Men of Vermont: Illustrated Biographical History of Vermonters & Sons of 
Vermont. Ullery. Brattleboro: Transcript Publishing Company, 1894, pp 341-342 
(portrait p 341)

Henry Green ROOT, of Bennington [Bennington County, Vermont], was born 18 
September 1818 in Greenfield [Franklin County], Massachusetts, son of Elisha 
and Betsey [MOSELEY] ROOT. His early education was received in the public 
schools of Greenfield, and this was supplemented by a course of study at 
Fellenburg [?] and Deerfield [Franklin County, Massachusetts] academies. At 
the age of seventeen he entered the employ of Boynton & Whitcomb, at 
Templeton [Worcester County], Massachusetts, to learn the manufacture of 
tinware. Four years later he formed a partnership with Luther R. GRAVES and 
soon after they established themselves in Bennington [Vermont], under the 
firm name of Graves & Root, which firm existed more than fifty years, and for 
many years they were the largest producers of tinware in Vermont. They 
established the second National bank in Vermont, of which Mr. [Luther R.] 
GRAVES was president, and Mr. [Henry Green] ROOT was vice president, which 
offices they hold at the present time.

He [Henry Green ROOT] was a director of the board of the Bennington Battle 
Monument Association, and chairman of the executive committee at the 
centennial celebration at that place. He has been for more than thirty years 
a director of the Vermont State Agricultural Society, serving three years as 
its president. Formerly a Whig, he is now a staunch Republican; was for 
several years a member and chairman of the state committee; and represented 
Bennington in the state legislature in 1850 and 1857. In 1860, as 
elector-at-large, he voted for Abraham LINCOLN, and six years later served 
two successive terms as senator from Bennington County. Since 1857 he [Henry 
Green ROOT] has been a member of the Congregational church, of which for 
several years he has been a trustee.

On 23 December 1846 Mr. [Henry Green] ROOT married [his first wife] Catherine 
L., daughter of Samuel H. and Sylvia (SQUIRES) BLACKMER, of Bennington 
[Bennington County, Vermont]; she [Catherine Louisa BLACKMER, was born 03 May 
1829 in Bennington, Vermont, and] died in September 1887. Two children were 
the fruit of this union [of Henry Green and Catherine L. ROOT]: (1) Samuel 
H., and (2) Catherine E., [probably born 18 June 1851 in Bennington, and by 
her marriage became] Mrs. William A. ROOT. [Unknown to submitter if 
Catherine E. (ROOT) ROOT was related to William A. ROOT in any way other than 
by her marriage to him.] On 23 January 1889 Mr. [Henry Green] ROOT [who was 
then seventy years of age, by calculation from his birthdate given in this 
biography] married Mary A., daughter of Dr. Nathan and Esther (CONKEY) GALE, 
of Orwell [Addison County], Vermont.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly