Having stayed up late last night having a 5.5-hour Skype conversation with someone, I woke up early this afternoon. What I did then is somewhat of a mystery to me now. Actually, the general course of my day somewhat baffles me. I got very little done, I know that. Listened to some music, then some podcasts. Got a superb sub from Subway. My favorite: a footlong buffalo chicken sub on flatbread with pepperjack cheese, chipotle southwest sauce, extra hot sauce, grated parmesan cheese, and oregano. Magnifico! I also remember that this evening, I found myself doing still more genealogical work. In terms of firmly documented things, I didn't make much progress, but I do think I made some probable advances.
I'm not totally, 100% certain that the individuals in some records are to be identified with the individuals in others, but I'm prepared to consider it quite likely and give my best interpretation of the data so far. We begin with my probable great-great-great-great-grandparents. There was a Pennsylvanian man named Daniel Root, who according to his tombstone in West Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, was born 10 December 1818 and died 17 June 1888 at the age of 67. He had a wife named Maria (or "Polly") Root whose maiden name was Mumma. The same cemetery holds her tombstone, though it's entirely in German. It lists one "Maria, ehefrau von Daniel Root, geborne Mumma", born 16 September 1816 and died 12 August 1872 at the age of 55. According to the information I found at another website, they had at least four sons: John M. Root (b. 11 March 1842; d. 27 July 1896); Jacob M. Root (b. 6 February 1845; d. 20 January 1921); Henry M. Root (b. 4 September 1848; d. 6 September 1895); and Daniel M. Root (b. 2 May 1855; d. 12 October 1919).
Anyway, the 1870 census for West Cocalico Township shows one Daniel Root, an illiterate 51-year-old stone mason, living with a 55-year-old woman named "Polley Root" and a 9-year-old girl named "Elizabeth Root". It's a shame the 1870 census doesn't specify clearly the relationships between household members, but it seems plausible that this is the family whose graves were mentioned above. The same census shows, elsewhere in the same township, the family of a 76-year-old farmer named Samuel Burkholder. Aside from his obvious relatives, living with him is a 22-year-old domestic servant named Henry Root, possibly the son of Daniel Root.
Now, of course, according to the tombstones mentioned above, Maria/Polly Root died in 1872. Thus, in the 1880 census for West Cocalico Township, there exists a household headed by a 61-year-old stone mason named Daniel Root, but now he has a new wife: Kate Root, age 44. There is also a 10-year-old daughter named Louisa Root. Elsewhere in the same township, I find a household headed by 31-year-old Henry Root, whom I presume to be both the former servant of the Burkholders and the son of Daniel Root. This Henry Root is a stone cutter, and he lives with his wife Susanna, 29; his son Daniel, 6; his daughter Katie, 4; and his son Henry, 1.
According to a tombstone from one of the local cemeteries, Henry M. Root was born 4 September 1848 and died 6 September 1895 at the early age of 47. It is thus no surprise that he does not appear in the 1900 census. The 1900 census for East Earl Township, also in Lancaster County, does however show a household lead by illiterate 51-year-old widow Susan G. Root. The 1900 census states that she was born December 1848 in Pennsylvania to Pennsylvania-born parents, and that she has had five children, all of whom were then yet living. Three of those children are living with her. The oldest is Katie C. Root, 24, born July 1875. This is plausibly the same Katie Root mentioned in the 1880 census. The older children are younger: Mamie C. Root, 18, born October 1881; and Lizzie C. Root, 13, born August 1886. They, of course, could not have appeared in the 1880 census.
The 1900 census for Leacock Township, yet again in Lancaster County, also shows a 26-year-old farm laborer named Daniel C. Root, born April 1874 - again a reasonably suitable match for the Daniel Root who in 1880 was the 6-year-old son of Henry M. Root, himself plausibly the son of yet another Daniel Root. This younger Daniel Root has been married for four years to "Elizabeth C. Root", a 22-year-old woman born in July 1877. Both of her children are living with them: Robert V. Root, 3, born October 1896; and Henry C. Root, born April 1900 and so just one month old at the time of the census.
By 1910, the family seems to have relocated considerably for some reason, because they appear in the census for Mansfield, Burlington County, New Jersey. There, the census lists Daniel C. Root, 34; his wife "Catherin E. Root", 31; his son Robert V. Root, 13; his son Henry M. Root, 9; and his daughter Margie H. Root, 4. All of the above are said to have been born in Pennsylvania, as were their parents.
Now, according to a tombstone in a local Lancaster County cemetery, a Daniel C. Root was born 26 April 1874 and died 6 September 1915, at least according to the transcription I found in Withers Monuments. This is corroborated by the records of local funeral director H. M. Mellinger, which mention the burial of a Daniel Root on 9 September 1915. I can't help but wonder why Daniel C. Root died in his forties - as did his father before him. Whatever the case, though living in New Jersey in 1910, he was buried in Denver, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1915.
The family must have relocated back there around that time. In September 1918, Daniel's son Henry M. Root, now 18 years old, gave "#5 Lanc[aster Avenue]" in Denver as his address in his World War I draft registration card. His nearest living relative is his mother, Catherine Elizabeth Root, of Denver. Henry also gives his precise birthdate as 21 April 1900. According to the draft registration card, he's a man of medium build and medium height with brown hair and gray eyes, which matches fairly well with the pictures I have of him, including some pictures from his youth - perhaps even before he ever filled out this form. He worked as a laborer at E. W. Woolman, which was a milk pasteurizing plant in Philadelphia.
On 8 March 1925, a newspaper from neighboring Berks County made mention of a marriage license being given to "Harry M. Root, boxmaker, son of Catharine and the late Daniel C. Root, of Denver, and Catharine P. Stick, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Adam Stick, of Intervilla". Less than a year after that, Henry's grandmother Susan passed away. Her tombstone states that she was born 24 December 1850 and died 20 February 1926 at the age of 75.
The 1930 census for West Lawn, Berks County, Pennsylvania, shows that Henry M. Root by then had moved there to 104 Perkasie Avenue. He is listed as a 29-year-old carpenter who married at the age of 24. His wife, Catherine P. Root, is 25 and married when she was 20. They live with two children: Marion L. Root, 4 years and 7 months old; and Joyce M. Root, 2 months old.
But in 1943, the paper reports the addition of a third daughter "born to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Root, of 466 Penn Ave., Sinking Spring"; the brief birth notice mentions that "Mrs. Root was formerly Catherine Stick". Needless to say, this daughter is much younger than the others! Indeed, less than seven years after her birth, the second daughter is preparing to get married. A June 1950 newspaper article reports on the "surprise pre-nuptial shower" that was "held in honor of Joyce Mae Root". The list of attendees includes not only Joyce Root, but also "Mrs. Henry Root", "Margaret Root" (the youngest daughter), and a few other members of the family, including Henry Root's sister-in-law "Mrs. Margaret Seidel". No mention is made of the oldest daughter.
Then in March 1952, Henry's mother finally dies; the obituary appearing on 18 March 1852 reports that "Catherine Elizabeth (Mowrey), 74, widow of Daniel C. Root, died yesterday", and that she was "a daughter of the late Robert and Mary (Kilhefner) Mowrey". She was survived by her brothers Horatio Mowrey and Jacob Mowrey, as well as by three children: "Henry, of Sinking Spring; James, of Lancaster; and Mamie, with whom she resided".
A 1954 newspaper mentions the youngest daughter as a "daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Root, 44 Penn Ave., Sinking Spring"; the article concerns her trip to Florida. A 1966 newspaper goes on to report on the same daughter's marriage, describing the bride as a "daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry M. Root, 2234 Penn Ave., West Lawn".
Finally, a newspaper from 3 September 1977 includes the obituary of "Henry M. Root, 77", who was born "in Intercourse, Lancaster County", and was "a son of the late Daniel and Elizabeth (Mowery) Root". He is mentioned as a member of St. John's Lutheran Church in Sinking Spring, Berks County, and a former carpenter who retired in 1969. Surviving yet are his brother James, his widow "Catherine P. (Stick) Root", and "three daughters: Marian L., wife of Richard Rhodes, Rothsville; Joyce M., wife of Ralph Daubert, Laureldale; and Margaret E., wife of Robert Schade, Fairfield, Ohio". The little pamphlet distributed at his funeral lists "Henry M. Root" as born "April 21, 1900" and deceased "August 31, 1977", which coheres with the similar data provided by the Social Security Death Index. Several years later, an 1981 newspaper features the obituary of "Catherine P. Root, 76, of 605 Emerson Ave., Laureldale, widow of Henry M. Root", who was born in Womelsdorf, Berks County, as "a daughter of Adam and Mary (Mountz) Stick". The three children mentioned in her husband's obituary are mentioned again here as still surviving, and mention is also made of Henry M. Root's death on "Aug. 31, 1977". The pamphlet distributed at her funeral, naming her as "Catherine P. Root nee Stick", gives her birthdate as "August 24, 1904" and her death date as "August 14, 1981" - also a match for her entry in the Social Security Death Index. Their joint tombstone features the same general data, but only lists "Henry M. [Root]" as living "1900 - 1977" and "Catherine P. [Root nee] Stick" as living "1904 - 1981".
Henry Root's brother "James F. Root" died in 1989; his obituary has him born in "Wilmington, Del.", as "a son of the late Daniel and Elizabeth Mowrey Root". In 1999, an obituary appears for "Joyce M. Daubert, 69", who was born in "Spring Township" as "a daughter of the late Henry M. and Catherine P. (Stick) Root". Then in 2004, an obituary appears for "Marian L. Rhodes, 78", who was born in "West Lawn" as "the daughter of the late Henry M. and Kathryn P. Stick Root".
That, essentially, is the gist of the documents I've collected pertaining to my Root ancestry; the final obituary was that of my grandmother. I'll have to give a more detailed elaboration of the Mowrey ancestry at some point. Now, given the wealth of documents, Henry M. Root isn't terribly much of a mystery. Neither is his mother. The same is not quite so true of Henry's father Daniel C. Root. Not having ever found an obituary for Daniel, I don't technically know what his parents' names were. And so it is only circumstantial evidence that leads me to identify my great-great-grandfather Daniel C. Root with the child Daniel Root in the 1880 census. That is an unfortunate small leap I must make. I mean, sure, it seems quite reasonable to me. The name matches, and it's hardly an extremely common name. The age matches perfectly. He lives in the same general area. Recall: my great-great-grandfather (Daniel C. Root, born April 1874) definitely lived in Leacock Township in 1900, while it is suggested that he is to be identified with a Daniel Root (b. c. 1874) living in West Cocalico Township in 1880. The two locations are roughly 14 miles apart. In addition, note that the siblings of this Daniel Root also bear the same middle initial. I have found the suggestion that Daniel's mother Susan's maiden name was Conrad, which would be a likely candidate for the "C" - thus, Daniel Conrad Root.
So possibly, I've traced my Root lineage back six generations before myself, to the elder Daniel Root (1818-1888). I still need to locate a number of obituaries for members of this family. Furthermore, I haven't yet found any of these people in the 1850 or 1860 census records, which is perhaps a bit peculiar. What's more, I now seem to have several surnames to research: Root, Conrad, Mumma. I haven't identified any solid connections with other bearers of that surname from my area... but from the ones who are listed in the 1903 book Biographical Annals of Lancaster County, it seems that the Conrad family may have had a German Reformed background, whereas the Mumma family may have been Mennonite. On the other hand, I have found a 2 April 1888 article reporting the deaths of Rev. Clayton Mumma and his brother-in-law Rev. John Conrad, both affiliated with the "Ancient church of God" that appears to have been on River Street in Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania. (The pair were struck by a train... which tends to happen if you walk on railroad tracks and manage to not hear the whistle of warning, I suppose.) Rev. John Conrad, interestingly, was from Schoeneck, which is in West Cocalico Township; his age at death leads me to estimate that he was born around 1842; theoretically, he could have been Susan Root nee Conrad's older brother or cousin. But I have no evidence of that whatsoever at this point, only speculation.
Anyway, I'll conclude this post with one of those early-twentieth-century pictures I have of the younger Henry M. Root:
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