Joseph Pomeroy Root

Who is Joseph Pomeroy Root?

Joseph Pomeroy Root was an American doctor, politician, and leader of the Kansas Free Staters.

A descendant of an old New England family, Root was the great-grandson of Revolutionary War general Seth Pomeroy. He graduated from the Berkshire Medical College in Pittsfield and practiced medicine in New Hartford, Connecticut for five years. In 1855 he was elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives, as a Whig.

After his term, he joined an armed party of abolitionist settlers who ended up settling in Waubansee, Kansas. After Root was briefly a prisoner of pro-slavery settlers, he devoted himself to the Free State cause, ultimately becoming the chairman of the free-state executive committee. After negotiating an exchange of prisoners with pro-slavery Governor Wilson Shannon, Root left Kansas to gather funds, arms, and support among Eastern abolitionists.

On returning to Kansas, Root was elected to the territorial senate under the Topeka Constitution, becoming president of the Senate and a member of the Territorial Council. After the ratification of the Wyandotte Constitution in 1861, Root was elected to be the first Lieutenant Governor of the new state.