Preceded by Edward S. Hamlin Party Whig Party Political party Whig Spouse Mary Buckingham | Preceded by Homer Everett Role Former Ohio State Senator Preceded by Josiah Tracy Name Joseph Root | |
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Full Name Joseph Mosley Root Born October 7, 1807
Brutus, New York ( 1807-10-07 ) Resting place Oakland Cemetery, Sandusky, Ohio Died April 7, 1879, Sandusky, Ohio, United States Previous office Ohio State Senator (1870–1871) People also search for John Armstrong Smith | ||
Other political
affiliations Free Soil Succeeded by Norton Strange Townshend | ||
Joseph Mosley Root (October 7, 1807 – April 7, 1879) was a U.S. Representative from Ohio.
Life and career
The son of Joseph Root III & Tryphena Mosley he was born October 7, 1807 in Brutus, New York. Root pursued classical studies and later studied law in Auburn, New York. He moved to Ohio in 1829, where he was admitted to the bar in 1830 and commenced practice in Norwalk.
In 1832-1833, Root was Mayor of Sandusky, Ohio. In 1835, Root married Mary S. Buckingham in Norwalk. They had five daughters. Root was elected prosecuting attorney of Huron County in 1837. He served as member of the State senate in 1840 and 1841.
Root was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-ninth Congress. He was reelected to the Thirtieth Congress and reelected as a Free-Soil candidate to the Thirty-first Congress (March 4, 1845 – March 3, 1851). In 1848, he introduced a resolution that recommended New Mexico and California have territorial governments which excluded slavery. He served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Treasury (Thirtieth Congress). He served as Presidential elector on the Republican ticket in 1860. He was appointed United States Attorney for the northern district of Ohio in 1861. He was again a member of the Ohio Senate in 1869. He served as Democratic delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1873. He was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for probate judge of Erie County in 1875.
He died in Sandusky, Ohio, April 7, 1879. He was interred in Oakland Cemetery.
The Joseph Root House in Sandusky may have been a "safe house" on the Underground Railroad, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.