Root, Joseph M.

Born: 1807-10-07 Cayuga County, New York

Died: 1879-04-07 Sandusky, Ohio

Joseph M. Root was a lawyer, state legislator, and U.S. congressman. Educated in New York, Root moved to Ohio in 1829 and gained admission the bar in 1830. He set up his law practice in Norwalk, Ohio. Root served in the Ohio Senate in 1840 and 1841, and in 1844, he won election as a Whig to the U.S. House of Representatives. Root won reelection as a Whig in 1846 and as a Freesoiler in 1848, serving the House from 1845 to 1851. During the presidential election of 1860, he was a presidential elector for the Republicans. In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln appointed him U.S. attorney for the northern district of Ohio. He held that position throughout the Civil War.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 1755-56; Appointment of Joseph M. Root as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio; Nomination of Joseph M. Root as United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio; Gravestone, Oakland Cemetery, Sandusky OH.