Elihu Root, secretary of war of the United States and one of the
most successful lawyers of his generation, was born at Clinton,
New York, February 15, 1845. His father was Orin Root, who was for
many years professor of mathematics at Hamilton college, from which
institution young Root graduated in 1864. For a year or more he was
a teacher in Rome, New York, academy. Coming to New York, he studied
in the University law school until 1867, when he was admitted to the
bar, beginning to practice forthwith. He lost no time in getting
into the current of affairs in the metropolis, and soon began to
attract attention on account of his earnestness and ability, and
so, while still a very young man, was retained on important cases.
President Arthur appointed him United States attorney for the southern
district of New York in 1883. He was delegate-at-large at the state
constitutional convention in 1894, was appointed secretary of war,
August 1, 1899, by President McKinley, and was reappointed in 1901. As
a corporation lawyer he has had to do with some historical legal cases,
such as the Hocking Valley suit, in which the amount involved was
$8,000,000. A few years ago he erected in the Hamilton college grounds
the Root Hall of Science as a memorial to his father. He is married and
has three children—two boys and a girl.