Sidney Root an American businessman.

Root was born in Montague

Montague, Massachusetts

Montague is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 8,489 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts metropolitan statistical area....

 in western Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, but early in his life his family moved to Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

, where his boyhood days were spent in the shadow of the Green Mountains

Green Mountains

The Green Mountains are a mountain range in the U.S. state of Vermont. The range extends approximately .-Peaks:The most notable mountains in the range include:*Mount Mansfield, , the highest point in Vermont*Killington Peak, *Mount Ellen,...

. On his father's plantation he acquired the industrious habits which characterized him through life. Though prevented by reason of his father's limited resources from attending school more than three months in the year, he made the most of his meager opportunities and soon found architecture was the passion of his youthful mind. He possessed exceptional talents for skillful and accurate designing, but his practical father considering that such an accomplishment was comparatively worthless, refused to encourage it, and so apprenticed his fourteen year old son to an indifferent sort of a jeweler who taught him the business of watch-making.

In the early 1840s, he came to Lumpkin, Georgia

Lumpkin, Georgia

Lumpkin is a city in, and the county seat of, Stewart County, Georgia, United States. The population was 1,369 at the 2000 census.-History:This area of Georgia was inhabited by indigenous Native Americans for thousands of years before European contact...

 to clerk for Vermont-native William A. Rawson who married Root's sister in 1843. He did well but wanted larger opportunities. In the early summer of 1857 he came to Atlanta to co-partner a dry-goods business with Mr. J.N. Beach. In the autumn of that year, on the railroad from St. Louis to Chicago, he met with accident which broke his hand and arm in five places.

In the Spring of 1861, he decided to support secession over union. At the beginning of the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 he helped organize the Board of Direct Trade to ensure Confederate

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

 trade to Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 was not disrupted. In this capacity he was sent to Europe but he returned home only to find his immense property interests destroyed by the invader and himself under arrest. As soon as he obtained his release he sold out his remaining fragments of real estate to Gov. Joseph E. Brown

Joseph E. Brown

Joseph Emerson Brown , often referred to as Joe Brown, was the 42nd Governor of Georgia from 1857 to 1865, and a U.S. Senator from 1880 to 1891...

 and went to New York, where he again established himself in business, maintaining connection with Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 and Charleston

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

. He also helped establish the Mount Olivet Church at the request of freed southern negroes. He remained in New York until 1878 when he closed out his business in the metropolis and came to Atlanta. Back in Atlanta he continued his philanthropy work. He served as a trustee for Spellman Seminary, and through his association with Colonel Lemuel P. Grant, was given charge of constructing the L.P. Grant Park and being its Park Superintendent.

From the date of his return until the time of his death he was one of its foremost citizens and when it was decided to hold the International Cotton Exposition

International Cotton Exposition (1881)

International Cotton Exposition was a World's Fair held in Atlanta, Georgia from October 5 to December 3 of 1881.hThe location was along the Western & Atlantic Railroad tracks near the present day King Plow development...

 in 1881, Mr. Root was commissioned to visit Europe in behalf of the enterprise where he successfully sold shares in the corporation.

Root was a great lover of nature and he suggested old colleague Lemuel Grant donate land to create a park. Soon after, in 1883, Root was named park commissioner by mayor John B. Goodwin

John B. Goodwin

John Benjamin Goodwin was born in Cobb County, Georgia, USA the son of and attended school in Powder Springs.He moved to Atlanta in 1870 and studied law at Gartrell & Stephens and a year later was admitted to the bar....

 in which office he was largely responsible for the construction of Grant Park

Grant Park (Atlanta)

Grant Park refers to the oldest city park in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, as well as the Victorian neighborhood surrounding it.-Park:Grant Park is the fourth-largest in the city, behind Chastain Park, Freedom Park and Piedmont Park...

. He served as chairman of the city's board of park commissioners for years, bringing to bear his artistic tastes as well as his ripe experience in beautifying what was then a resort at Grant Park.

His two sons were architects: John Wellborn Root

John Wellborn Root

John Wellborn Root was an American architect who worked out of Chicago with Daniel Burnham. He was one of the founders of the Chicago School style...

, chief architect of the World Columbian Exposition and Walter Root in Kansas City

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

.