----Source:  HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY, 1918, pages 164 - 165.

HOMER M. ROOT

Homer M. Root, president of the Commercial State Bank of Neillsville, financier, public official and man of affairs, has been active in Clark County life for nearly half a century, and as lawyer, farmer, officer and banker, has taken his full share in its development and progress. He was born June 22, 1846, on a farm in Guilford Township, Chenango County, N. Y., son of George and Mary (Bush) Root. as a youth he attended the district school of his neighborhood, Harpersville Seminary in Broome County, N. Y. Oxford academy in Chenango County, N. Y. and Wadsworth South School at Hartford, Conn., and with this preparation became a teacher, a profession which he followed for five years.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, he strongly desired to enlist in the federal army, but was prevented by his youth and the objections of his parents. He later, however, received military training for five years as a member of the New York National Guard. In 1869, he came west, with the idea of securing a position as principal of a school while taking up land. But upon reaching the Black River district, he decided to engage in logging. With headquarters at Greenwood, he secured his experience in various camps, driving team, cooking and working as a woodman. In 1874, he formed a partnership with B. F. Thompson, and in eleven years this firm logged some 55,000,000 feet of pine. In all Mr. Root was connected with the lumber and logging industry for nineteen years. In the meantime, he had developed a farm at Greenwood and served the town of Eaton ten years as town clerk. In 1888, he was elected county clerk, and the following year moved to Neillsville. so efficiently did he serve that he was three times re-elected, serving in all four terms of two years each. With this experience in county business, he became deputy registrar of deeds. Later he was elected to his present office as member of the county board from the Second Ward of Neillsville, in which he has served for eleven consecutive years. Since his first arrival in the county he has taken a prominent part in Republican politics, and was especially active in the old convention days, serving at county, district and state conventions. In 1886 he was chairman of the Republican State Central Committee, and in addition to this has occupied various committeeships at different times. In 1898, Mr. Root entered the banking business, in a private bank, which on July 1, of that year was incorporated as the Commercial State Bank of Neillsville, with Mr. Root as its first cashier, a position he held until 1916, when he assumed the duties of his present position as president.

Mr. Root is an estimable citizen in every way, a real force for good in the community, ever standing for the better and higher things of every aspect of life.. A man of broad mind and liberal thought, he is exceptionally well versed in philosophy, science and literature, with a keen and appreciative eye for the beautiful in nature. His home is one of the prettiest and most hospitable in the city. To gratify his esthetic tastes, he cultivates a fine garden, being especially fond of flowers of which he has some beautiful specimens. His library is well stocked with books to which he devotes much of his time, and he takes a keen interest in every practical enterprise for the betterment of the community in which he has spent so many happy years of his life. Mr. Root was married in 1891, to Mary J. Huntzicker, widow of Jacob Huntzicker, by whom she had five children: Frederick, Victor E., Olive T., Francis U (deceased), and Jacob (deceased). 
 

Census Records