Isaac Newton Roop (March 13, 1822 – February 14, 1869) was a United States politician, pioneer and member of the Whig party. In 1859, he was the first elected (provisional) governor of the newly proposed Nevada Territory.

Early life

Roop was born in

Carroll County, Maryland Carroll County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 172,891. Its county seat is Westminster. Carroll County is included in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metropolitan Statistical Area, which ...

Career

In 1851 William Nobles (guide) started taking settlers over a route through the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primar ...

passing through the

Honey Lake Honey Lake is an endorheic sink in the Honey Lake Valley in northeastern California, near the Nevada border. Summer evaporation reduces the lake to a lower level of and creates an alkali flat. Honey Lake dries almost completely in most years. H ...

valley; included among these settlers were the 29-year-old Isaac Roop and his family. His first three years in California were spent in Shasta County, in farming and trading. During this period he also held the positions of Postmaster and School Commissioner. He had accumulated in that time upwards of fifteen thousand dollars' worth of property, but in June 1853, lost it all by fire. It was then that Roop retreated to the Sierra Nevada and to Honey Lake, where he concentrated on his own backcountry holdings and nearly single-handedly erected the burg of Rooptown which he would later name for his daughter Susan. In September 1859, Roop was elected the first territorial

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of the proposed

Nevada Territory The Territory of Nevada (N.T.) was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until October 31, 1864, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Nevada. Prior to the creation of the Nevada ...

. At the time,

Susanville Susanville (formerly known as Rooptown) is a town in and the county seat of Lassen County, California, United States. Susanville is located on the Susan River in the southern part of the county, at an elevation of . Its population is 16,728 ...

was thought to be in Nevada instead of California. The new provisional government first convened on December 15, 1859, in the town of

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

. Roop lived in the contested County of Roop. He was elected in 1861 to the new Nevada Territorial Senate. After the county's dissolution in 1865, Roop returned to

Susanville, California Susanville (formerly known as Rooptown) is a town in and the county seat of Lassen County, California, United States. Susanville is located on the Susan River in the southern part of the county, at an elevation of . Its population is 16,72 ...

. Roop became

Lassen County Lassen County () is a county in the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 32,730. The county seat and only incorporated city is Susanville. Lassen County comprises the Susanville, Calif ...

's district attorney for two terms.

Personal life

On December 24, 1840, Roop married Nancy Gardner, his tutor. They had children: John, Isaiah and Susan. On June 20, 1850 Nancy died of typhoid fever. Isaac Roop died in

on February 14, 1869. His daughter Susan Arnold resided in the town as well until her own death in 1921, and both were buried in the town's cemetery. There is a mural depicting father and daughter in uptown Susanville, on the outside wall of Johnson's Shoes. Roop County, Nevada was named for him.

References

External links

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Isaac Roop
at WesternStarWiki

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roop, Isaac 1822 births 1869 deaths California Whigs 19th-century American politicians Governors of Nevada Territory Members of the Nevada Territorial Legislature Nevada Whigs People from Susanville, California People from Carroll County, Maryland American city founders

Early life

Career

Personal life

References

Further reading

External links