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Sidney Root moved from Vermont to Lumpkin in 1847 as a young man to learn the mercantile business from his cousin, William Rawson, who had an established store here. Success here couldn’t contain him, and he moved to Atlanta in 1857. He became wildly successful in Atlanta before the war, so much so that Confederate President Jefferson Davis tapped him to run the Union blockades of the South’s eastern ports. (The South needed supplies from Europe for the troops and the citizens.) Root already had a shipping business at Wilmington, North Carolina and Charleston, South Carolina. By the end of the war, he had built his steamship fleet to 22 vessels and was a multi-millionaire. The Union seized much of his wealth after the war. Still, he had wisely split his holdings between banks in both the North and the South. He lived in New York immediately after the war so that his son could attend Columbia University to become an engineer. Later, Root and his wife moved back to Atlanta. Some of his accomplishments:

· Root was friends with both President Lincoln and President Davis.

· Root knew both General Grant and General Lee.

· He helped found Mount Olivet Church, a church for freed former slaves in New York.

· He wrote a children’s Bible study book which sold about 20,000 copies.

· He founded the Board of Direct trade in Atlanta before the war which helped establish Atlanta as an international city and became the predecessor of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.

· He designed Grant Park in Atlanta.

· He was an early advocate of prison reform and helped found a movement in Atlanta which eventually became the leading accreditation organization of corrections, the American Correctional Association.

· He was an early advocate of forestry and helped found the forestry profession.

· He was a trustee for Spellman College in Atlanta, guiding major contributions from his contacts.

· He is probably the only Stewart Countian ever to be mentioned on the front page of the New York Times. His obituary there called him Jefferson Davis’s closest friend. 

Checkout the History & Heritage page for more information!