Jesse Root (December 28, 1736 – March 29, 1822) was an American minister and lawyer from
Coventry, Connecticut
Coventry ( ) is a town in Tolland County, Connecticut. The population was 12,235 at the 2020 census. The birthplace of Captain Nathan Hale, Coventry is home to the Nathan Hale Homestead, which is now a museum open to the public.
Coventry was i ...
. During the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
he served on the Connecticut
Council of Safety
In the American Revolution, committees of correspondence, committees of inspection (also known as committees of observation), and committees of safety were different local committees of Patriots that became a shadow government; they took control ...
and in the
Connecticut militia. Originally appointed as a lieutenant colonel in Peekskill in 1777, he rose to the rank of Adjutant-General of the Connecticut Line. He was a delegate to the
Continental Congress for
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
from 1778 until 1782, and sat as chief justice of the
Connecticut Supreme Court
The Connecticut Supreme Court, formerly known as the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, is the highest court in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The seven justices sit in Hartford, ac ...
from 1796 to 1807 as well as a state court judge. He served in the
Connecticut House of Representatives
The Connecticut State House of Representatives is the lower house in the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The house is composed of 151 members representing an equal number of districts, with ...
and served in the Connecticut Constitutional Convention. He was also a member of the First Company, Governor's Foot Guard, serving as its commandant between May 1798 and October 1802.
His grandson was
Austin Cornelius Dunham.
[http://mssa.library.yale.edu/obituary_record/1859_1924/1917-18.pdf ]
References
External links
A short text on the origin of Connecticut's laws by Root (1798)
1736 births
1822 deaths
People from Coventry, Connecticut
Members of the Connecticut General Assembly Council of Assistants (1662–1818)
Members of the Connecticut House of Representatives
Connecticut state court judges
Chief Justices of the Connecticut Supreme Court
Continental Congressmen from Connecticut
18th-century American politicians
Connecticut militiamen in the American Revolution
People of colonial Connecticut
Military personnel from Connecticut
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