1S96 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



435 



there were four H. Meyers in St. Louis; and as 

 the letter- head right before us was printed " H. 

 Meyer, Commission Merchant," the clerk look- 

 ing the matter up took it for granted that this 

 letter was from one of the four who were in the 

 commission business. He was accordingly giv- 

 en very close figures on what he wanted, and 

 the honey was shipped, to be paid for in ten 

 days. As he did not respond in ten days, in- 

 vestigations were made, with the result given 

 above. A letter from the chief of police of St. 

 Louis tells us the man is an out-and-out 

 swindler. 



I wish to take a little space right here for 

 something that to most of you will be only a 

 personal matter. There are some of our read- 

 ers, however, who are more or less connected 

 with the Koots, and have several times asked 

 me what I knew about them. 



THE ROOT FAMILY AND ANCESTORS. 



Briefly: The first records we have been able 

 to hunt up are found in Marestield, Sussex Co., 

 England, and they go back as far as 1576. At 

 that time the name was spelled Rootes. In the 

 year 1635, at Salem, Mass., records are found of 

 three or more brothers by the name of Roote. 

 In 1640 John Roote came over from Bad by, Eng- 

 land, a little village in Northamptonshire, and 

 located in Farmington, Ct. The Pilgrims came 

 over in 1620 — twenty years before, as you will 

 notice. But John Roote and wife were of Puri- 

 tan stock, and were members of a Congrega- 

 tional church in Badby, England. They had 

 eight children. John, the oldest, was born in 

 1642, and he was also father of eight children. 

 Caleb, one of those eight, had a family of five 

 children. One of the five was named Samuel, 

 and he was the father of a family of seven. 

 Enos, one of these latter seven, had a family of 

 nine. The names of these nine were, Moses, 

 Samuel, Elizabeth, Levia, Chauncey, Ellas, 

 Enos Prindle, Benjamin, and Martha Delia. 

 The second child, Samuel, was my grandfather, 

 and he lived in Waterbury, Ct., where my fa-, 

 ther, Samuel H. Root, was born in 1810. My' 

 grandfather was the father of nine children: 

 Martha Julia, Philomela, Hannah Emmeline, 

 Samuel Homer (my father), Eliza Rebecca, Sal- 

 ly Maria, Benjamin Edison, Mary, and Albert. 

 Of this family of nine, all are now gone except 

 the first, Julia, and she is now 9:3 years old. All 

 the husbands and wives of these cliildren are 

 gone except my mother, who is now 84 years 

 old, and is living here in Medina. In 1870 it 

 was estimated that there were 100,000 Roots and 

 their descendants, all coming from the stock 

 given above. How many hundred thousand (if 

 the fashion for large families still continues) 

 ought there to be by this time — 1S96? Those 

 who want further information may find it in 

 the book called '"The Root Genealogy," pub- 

 lished by R. C. Root, Anthony t^: Co., 62 Liberty 

 St.. New York. This book was published in 

 1870. and contains .533 pages. 



From the "Root Genealogy" I make a few 

 extracts as follows in regard to the prevailing 

 traits of the Roots: First, they are, as a rule, a 

 devotional people. We find a large number of 

 deacons, etc., all along down the line, and some 

 ministers of the gospel. They have been called 

 Puritans of the straitest sect; but for all that 

 they are patriotic, many of them losing their 

 lives in the Revolutionary War and in the late 

 rebellion. As a rule they are a good-sized peo- 

 ple, many of them quite athletic; but the great- 

 er part of them do not bear shutting up indoors 

 for a very long period. They are an agricultu- 

 ral people; and even if they get away from the 

 farm and garden, and got into business in the 

 cities, sooner or later they gravitate naturally 

 back to the farm, or out among the fruit. Now, 



I have not space to make my list of good quali- 

 ties much longer; but I find in the book a sen- 

 tence, and a part of it in italics, that made me 

 smile broadly. It is this: " The whole line have 

 been characterized for shrewdness, and noted 

 especially for a strong miti-hurnbiujatweness." 

 Many of them are remarkable as mathemati- 

 cians and musicians. 



Well, about a year ago the matter was talked 

 over of having a reunion of the Roots and 

 Rootlets at Silver Lake, Summit Co., O. Let 

 me explain that, for m,any years past (it seems 

 to me I have heard it stated as twenty or more), 

 Mr. R. H. Looge has managed a picnic ground 

 year after year so much to the satisfaction of 

 the public generally, especially that part of the 

 public who love righteousness and hate iniqui- 

 ty, that it seems to be a favorite rendezvous for 

 all good people. The whole ground is fenced 

 off, and no one can get in without paying a 

 small admittance-fee— say five cents for every 

 person, but nothing for teams that bring the 

 visitors. By this means friend Lodge keeps out 

 roughs and objectionable people. Nobody gets 

 Inside of the inclosure without passing the eye 

 of the gate-keeper. Now, right over said gate 

 is a large bulletin-board or sign; and in great 

 black letters the fact is proclaimed to every body 

 that, under no circumstances, are these grounds 

 opened on Sunday. In fact, at every point of 

 ingress and egr.'ss this fact is made known, so 

 that no one need go there and be disappointed 

 because he did not know the regulations. 



This establishment has been successfully 

 managed, as I have told you, for twenty years 

 or more, while various picnic-grounds, open 

 week days and Sundays, have started up and 

 gone down into bankruptcy and oblivion again 

 and again as the years have passed. Let me 

 just briefly relate the history of one of these. 



The Glen, at Cuyahoga' F^lls, was establish- 

 ed where the river makes a cut a hundred feet 

 or more through the rocks, and forms one of 

 the most beautiful pieces of natural scenery to 

 be found in Ohio or any other State. A few 

 years ago a man secured possession of this 

 property, fitted up the natural caverns, springs, 

 rural bridges, etc., until it was one of the finest 

 things to be found anywhere, and crowds of 

 people flocked to it. While it was at its height 

 of popularity I asked the question of a relative 

 who lives near there, " Has this man backbone 

 and sense enough to resist the tremendous 

 pressure that will be brought to bear on him to 

 open this place on Sunday, and then, as a 

 natural sequence, bring in intoxicating liquors?" 



My cousin replied: 



'"They are already bringing their forces to 

 bear on him to have it open on Sunday; but I 

 guess he is all solid, for he is a very earnest 

 Methodist, and a good man." 



Time passed, and I heard the Glen was get- 

 ting to be a terribly bad place. During one of 

 my wheel-rides over that way I asked my 

 cousin again in regard to it. He replied some- 

 thing like this: 



"Why, Amos, they have persuaded this man, 

 somehow or other, that his beautiful grounds 

 should be open on Sunday to let people who 

 have not time during the week have a little 

 chance for recreation, rest, oufdoor air, etc. 

 The place was finally made a Sunday resort. 

 Then the same arguments were brought to bear 

 to induce him to sell liquor to people who 

 would be very careful not to abuse (?) the use 

 of it; and—" 



He looked at me with a smile as much as to 

 say that I might guess the outcome. I re- 

 plied: 



c"So this poor man lost his religion, lost his 

 money, lost his temperance principles, and is 



