Surname: Root

The Root surname is part of Rosmer P. Kerr's heritage. His eighth great-grandfather was:

• John Roote of Badby, Northamptonshire, England. In the year 1600, he married Ann Russell. John and Ann were my tenth great-grandparents.
• Thomas Roote [1], baptized 16 January 1605 at Badby. He emigrated to New England by 1637, when he was listed as a soldier in the Pequot war. With his wife, whose name is not known, he had seven children. He died at the age of 89 in 1694 (17 June by one source, 17 July by another). Thomas [1] was my ninth great-grandfather.
• Thomas Roote [2], born about 1644 in Hartford, Connecticut. On 3 July 1666 he married Abigail Alvord, with whom he had five children. After her death in 1699, he seems to have moved to Boston and then to Lynn, Massachusetts, where he married the widow Mary Cox, daughter of Philip and Alice Kirkland, on 4 December 1701. He died by January 1730. Thomas [2] and Abigail were my eighth great-grandparents.
• Deacon Thomas Root [3], born 11 April 1667 in Northampton, Massachusetts. On 4 March 1691 he married Thankful Strong. Together they had eleven children. By 1709, this family had moved to Coventry, Connecticut, where Thomas became the first town clerk and the first deacon. He died at Coventry on 13 November 1756. Thomas and Thankful were my seventh great-grandparents.
• Experience Root, the seventh child of Deacon Thomas Root, born 18 January 1703 at Northampton. She was married to Samuel Parker, Jr., at Coventry on 24 March 1726.

Another English generation can be found online at several websites, albeit lacking documentation and possibly all springing from a single source of speculation. I won't provide links--they're found easily enough in a Google search if desired. However, I'm adding the details here as possible avenues for additional research:

• Thomas Roote, born about 1555/6 in Badby, where he married Ann Burrell about 1574/5 at the Church of the Virgin Mary. (Some sites give the place name as Bagby, Northampton, which I believe is incorrect. Bagby is in Yorkshire; Badby is in Northamptonshire.) Thomas is said to have died 5 April 1609 at Northampton, and was buried in the churchyard (at Badby, I presume). If correct, Thomas and Ann would be my eleventh great-grandparents.
• John Roote, said to have been born or baptized 24 June 1576 at Badby. His marriage to Ann Russell is said to have taken place at the Church of the Virgin Mary, Badby, on 27 July 1600. John and Ann are the same couple named above, at the beginning of this post.

Root, James Pierce. Root Genealogical Records. 1600-1870. Comprising the General History of the Root and Roots Families in America. New York: R.C. Root, Anthony & Co, 1870.

Messier, Betty Brook, and Janet Sutherland Aronson. The Roots of Coventry, Connecticut. Coventry, Conn. (1712 Main St., Coventry 06238): 275th Anniversary Committee, 1987.