The family of John Root 1608-1684

 A funny (?) thing happened on my way to writing this blog post.  I found errors, and ended up deleting about 3000 names from my tree, including lines to several royal ancestors.  From sad experience, I've found that there are many false lines back to royalty, so it no longer surprises me that I've inherited those.  I delete them as I find them.  However, my current belief is that the following information is correct.

John Root, the immigrant, was born February 20, 1608 in Badby, Northamptonshire, England, the son of John and Ann Rushall (NOT Mary Ann Russell) Root.  He married Mary Kilbourne, the daughter of Thomas and Frances Moody Kilbourne on January 10, 1640 in Farmington.  John and Mary had 8 children together, all born in Farmington.  John died with a decent estate in 1684 in Farmington and Mary died in 1697.  

Their first born son was John, born in 1642 and died in 1687 in Westfield, Massachusetts.  He married Mary Ashley, the daughter of Robert and Mary (maiden name not proven to my satisfaction) Ashley.  Their children are Mary, Sarah, John, Samuel, Hannah, Abigail, Joshua, and Mary.  I will be writing more of this family in my next blog post.

Samuel was born next, in 1644.  He married Mary Orton, the daughter of Thomas and Margaret Pratt (possibly Pell) Orton, and died in Westfield in 1711.  I have not found a record of children, although a daughter, Mary, has been mentioned without, as far as I can find, any documentation.  Other sources state that this couple had no children.  

The next child was Thomas, born in 1648.  (Was there an unsuccessful pregnancy between 1644 and 1648?  That is a conspicuous gap in this family record.)  He married three times.  His first wife, the mother of his children, is Mary Gridley, daughter of Thomas and Mary Seymour Gridley.  (Mary Seymour is connected to our family also.) Their children are Mary, Thomas, Samuel, Elizabeth, Sarah, Timothy, and Joseph.  He next married Mary Spencer, the daughter of Thomas and Sarah Bearding Spencer (no known children), and then Sarah Leonard, the daughter of John Dumbleton.  Their children are Thankful and Mary.  Thomas also died in Westfield, in 1709.

Their first daughter, Mary, was born in 1650.  She married Isaac Bronson, the son of John and Frances Hills Bronson.  Their known children are Isaac, John, Samuel, Mary, Joseph, Thomas, Ebenezer , Samuel, Sarah, and Mercy.  Mary died in 1701 in Waterbury, Connecticut.  

Stephen was next, born in 1652.  He married Sarah Wadsworth, the daughter of John and Sarah Stanley Wadsworth.  Their children are Timothy, John, Mary, and Sarah.  (Mary married into the Judd family, so we likely have some connection there, but I haven't found it yet.)  Stephen died in 1717 in Farmington, Connecticut.  

Susannah was born in 1654 and married Joseph Langdon, the son of John and Mary Seymour Root Langdon.  (Mary Seymour Root, widow of John above, next married John Langdon.)  Their children are Sarah, Joseph, John, Samuel, Susanna, Ebenezer, Mary, Mary again, and Thomas.  She died in 1712 in Farmington, Connecticut.

The next child was Joseph, born in 1656.  He first married Elizabeth Warner, whom I am as yet unable to further identify.  Their children are Elizabeth, Mary, and Joseph.  He married Ruth Porter Smith, the daughter of Thomas and Sarah Hart Porter, in 1727, after his first wife's death.  Joseph died in 1739 in Farmington.  

The last son, Caleb, was born in 1658.  He married Elizabeth Salmon, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Phelps Salmon.  Their children are Mary, Caleb, Thomas, Elizabeth and Samuel.  There is a bit of confusion here because both Elizabeth and Caleb have a death date of June 10, 1712.  Yet, there is a statement in a Root genealogy that he also married an unknown daughter of the Gillette family.  I wonder whether Elizabeth had actually died earlier and Caleb had remarried.  Perhaps at least Samuel, who was born in November of 1712, was the son of the Gillette daughter?  More research needs to be done here.  Caleb was a physician, and died in Farmington.  

The Root men, in particular, had fine reputations among their peers.  They were all known as being tall (over six feet) and strong, and all fought in King Phillip's War,  and likely in other skirmishes with native Americans, because that's what men did in that time period.  We can be grateful for their courage and sense of service to their families and their colony.