Josiah Goodrich Root

JOSIAH G. ROOT.

Josiah Goodrich Root, manufacturer, was born in Pittsfield, Mass., May 28, 

1801. He was descended from an old Northamptonshire (England) family. His 

father being a farmer, the boy worked on the farm in the intervals of attendance at 

the town schools. At this period Pittsfield was becoming a home of woolen manu- 

facture, looms for the making of broadcloth having been set up there in 1804. Mr. 

Root entered one of these mills and soon acquiring a practical knowledge of the 

business he started for himself, setting up a small mill for dyeing and finishing 

goods. When wool spinning and weaving were transferred from the homes of the 

people to large establishments, Mr. Root devoted himself to setting up machinery 

and starting mills for other parties. 

In 1833 he was employed to set up the machinery of a new woolen mill at Water- 

vliet, N. Y. , of which he became manager, operating it with success for the next 

three years. This was the nucleus of the extensive establishment of James Roy & 

Co. In 1836 Stephen Van Rensselaer of Albany, the patroon, who had been running 

flour mills, desired to engage, instead, in woolen manufacture, and built the Tivoli 

Mills, engaging Mr. Root as manager, a position the latter continued to hold until 

1839, when he became proprietor. For sixteen years thereafter he was well known 

as a woolen manufacturer. Then the city of Albany purchased the control of the 

water of the patroon' s creek for the purpose of supplying the city of Albany with 

pure water, and this necessitated the closing of his mills. 

He purchased the hosiery business and machinery of Thomas Fowler, at Cohoes, 

about the same time and became the largest manufacturer of knit underwear in the 

United States. He made many improvements in this manufacture by the introduc- 

tion of new machinery, and about 1859 erected a new and larger building, called the 

Tivoli Knitting Mills, one of the best appointed in the country, and received his 

sons, Andrew J. and Samuel G., into partnership under the firm name of J. G. Root 

& Sons. In 1869 the senior partner retired, the business being thereafter continued 

under the firm name of J. G. Root's Sons. Samuel Gilbert Root, the elder son, was 

born in Pittsfield, Mass., June 26, 1826, and Andrew Josiah Root, the younger, in 

Albany, January 12, 1834. 

The panic of 1857 caused a general stoppage of the cotton and hosiery mills at 

Cohoes, but only for two weeks. In 1874 the firm suffered a loss of nearly §200,000, 

as well as a grave interruption of their business by the complete destruction of their 

mills by fire. This fire occurred when the operatives, about 350 in number, were all 

at work, but fortunately the fire escapes proved entirely adequate, and no employee 

was in any way injured. A new building was immediately erected, called like its 

predecessor, the Tivoli Hosiery Mill. It was built in the most substantial manner, 

provided with every reasonable safeguard in case of fire, and furnished with all the 

improved appliances for heat, light and ventilation. 

January 1, 1875, the concern was reorganized as a corporation under the name of 

the Root Manufacturing Company, with Josiah G. Root president; Andrew J. Root, 

treasurer and general manager; Samuel G. Root, superintendent; George Water- 

man, jr., secretary. New facilities have since been added through the purchase of 

the Mohawk mill. 

85 

The subject of this sketch established, in 1859, the bank which is now the National 

Bank of Cohoes; he was one of the original directors and afterwards vice-president 

and acting president. He enjoyed in the highest degree the respect of the com- 

munity in which he resided. Josiah G. Root died February 2, 1883. 

In 1881 S. G. Root withdrew and A. J. Root succeeded to the entire business, 

which has since been again enlarged by the addition of another mill to the plant, 

making in all three mills with an annual production of 81,000,000, and giving em- 

ployment to 550 operatives. The Root Manufacturing Company manufactures ex- 

tensively the famous "Tivoli Standard" all wool and merino knit underwear, which 

is unrivalled for quality, finish, durability and uniform excellence, and has no superior 

in the American or European markets. The present officers of the company are 

Andrew J. Root, president and treasurer; Charles H. Douglas, secretary; Charles F. 

Root, superintendent.  Josiah Goodrich Root has a mausoleum as substantial and imposing as his name. It stands out for its size and grandeur and makes a statement even amid so-called "Millionaires' Row," a clutch of large mausoleums that is the most concentrated spot of conspicuous displays of wealth in the entire cemetery.

Root's mausoleum is made of large blocks of gray granite, fronted by a curved wall of polished granite and a formal stairway. The roof is topped by a large angel in white marble, with upturned face.

Root was born in Pittsfield, Mass., at the beginning of the 19th century. He left formal schooling early and went to work in a woolen mill, where he spent many years and developed a working knowledge of all aspects of the business. He married Martha Washington Meade.

He was tapped to start up a new mill in Watervliet in 1833 and managed the operation for three years before he was recruited by Stephen Van Rensselaer, known as the last patroon and one of the wealthiest men in the region, to run Van Rensselaer's Tivoli Woolen Mills in Albany. He worked for Van Rensselaer for several years before he struck out on his own. He set up a plant in Cohoes and amassed a fortune knitting thermal underwear. In 1859, he opened Tivoli Knitting Mills in Cohoes and brought his two sons, Andrew and Samuel, into the family business, which he renamed J.G. Root & Sons.

The business prospered and in 1875 it became Root Manufacturing Company, the pride of Cohoes and a huge financial success. The patriarch was in his mid-70s when he turned over day-to-day control of the company to his sons, but he remained active in the management of National Bank of Cohoes, which he founded.

Root and family members are interred in the grandiose mausoleum, Section 29, Lot 10. The Tivoli hosiery mills were established by Mr. R., in the year 1855. In the year 1860, by the admission to partnership of his sons, the firm name became J.G. Root & Sons. This business alliance continued until the year 1869, when Mr. Josiah Root retired from active business, and the firm name was changed to J.G.Root’s Sons. Among the knitting mills of Cohoes, this institution stands third in order of establishment, and in its capacity, appointments, and appurtenances, ranks with the best in the United States. The firm operates eleven sets of machinery, and employs 250 hands, whose wages aggregate $5,500 per month. All kinds of ladies’, gents’, and children’s knit goods are made here. The annual product is 40,000 dozen of goods, and the yearly sales reach $350,000."