Thomas Roote (later Root) migrated to Hartford, Connecticut in 1637 seeking economic opportunities no longer available to him and his family in England. The search for farmland for ever larger families led successive Root generations to relocate to Hebron, Connecticut (1705), Unadilla, New York (1774) and eventually to Bolivar, New York (1824). For the next two-hundred years Bolivar remained the home port for the Root family as the local economy transitioned from farming to industrialization with the oil boom of the 1880s ...
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Thomas Roote (later Root) migrated to Hartford, Connecticut in 1637 seeking economic opportunities no longer available to him and his family in England. The search for farmland for ever larger families led successive Root generations to relocate to Hebron, Connecticut (1705), Unadilla, New York (1774) and eventually to Bolivar, New York (1824). For the next two-hundred years Bolivar remained the home port for the Root family as the local economy transitioned from farming to industrialization with the oil boom of the 1880s and the 1920s. When economic opportunity in Bolivar declined, Root family members migrated to the Michigan, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and California to either continue employment in the oil industry or to launch new careers. The Root family was no different than other American families in seeking the American Dream to achieve social mobility, educational opportunities, and, increased financial security. The Root family history is typical of immigrant families who came to America starting with the settlement at Jamestown in 1607.It has been thirty years since I published The Root Family of Bolivar, New York. In thirty years, the Internet has taken users to web sites, which offered a tremendous array of genealogical resources making it apparent that my 1990 publication needed significant updating. The result is Abel Root, Sr. and His Descendants of Bolivar, New York.Abel Root, Sr. and his wife, Penelope Cartwright Root, with five children: Abel, Jr., David, Bishop, Penelope, and Franklin, moved to Scio in Allegany County, New York in 1822 from Unadilla in eastern New York State. In 1824 the Root family moved to Bolivar township establishing a farm across the road from Maple Lawn Cemetery. Their youngest child, James Harlow Root, was the first recorded birth in Bolivar in 1825. The 1879 History of Allegany County, New York documents Abel Root, Sr.'s 1845 departure to Illinois with his wife. The reasons for moving to Illinois are unknown. All six children remained in Allegany County where each one married, raised a family, and was buried. Unfortunately, what happened to Abel Root, Sr. still remains a mystery. No death record or burial location can be found. The 1850 US Census lists his wife, Penelope, living with son Franklin Root in Angelica, New York. Penelope Root Cartwright was buried in Maple Lawn Cemetery in 1851 in an unmarked grave. Between 1845 and 1850 Abel Root, Sr. must have died but documentation remains elusive.During the 1860s the first migration of Root family members out of Bolivar and Allegany County began. The reasons remain unknown, but I suggest that it was the desire to seek better economic opportunities or to just start over somewhere else. The first grandchildren to leave were Minerva Root Holly after her separation and divorce from her husband along with her sister and brother-in-law, Mary Jane and Elmer Barber. They relocated to Detroit, Michigan. David Root's youngest daughter and son-in-law, Elosica and Addison Evans, moved to Missouri and his eldest son, Albert Root, went to Washington, D. C. Mary Root Rew, a younger daughter of Bishop, and her husband Justice took their two children to Kansas, while Penelope's two surviving sons, Francis and Royal, sought new economic opportunities in Pennsylvania. Franklin Root's only son and his widowed youngest daughter moved to Iowa.
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