Eleazer Root

{{short description|American politician, 1st Superintendent of Public Instruction of Wisconsin}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = Eleazer Root

|image =

|order = 1st

|office = Superintendent of Public Instruction of Wisconsin

| governor = Nelson Dewey

| term_start = January 1, 1849

| term_end = January 5, 1852

| predecessor = Position established

| successor = Azel P. Ladd

|state1 = Wisconsin

|state_assembly1 = Wisconsin

|district1 = Marquette–Waushara

| term_start1 = January 5, 1852

| term_end1 = January 1, 1853

| predecessor1 = Charles Waldo

| successor1 = Edwin B. Kelsey
and Ezra Wheeler

|birth_date = {{birth date|1802|3|6}}

|birth_place = Canaan, New York

|death_date = {{death date and age|1887|7|25|1802|3|6}}

|death_place = St. Augustine, Florida

|restingplace = Evergreen Cemetery
St. Augustine, Florida

|spouse = {{unbulleted list

| Harriet Dayton

| Laura

}}

|children = {{unbulleted list

| Cornelia Fanning (Ingraham)

| {{sup|(b. 1831; died 1898)}}

| Mary Marvin Root

| {{sup|(b. 1836; died 1929)}}

| George W. Root

| {{sup|(b. 1840; died 1863)}}

| Anna Locke (Durlin)

| {{sup|(b. 1844; died 1933)}}

}}

|party = Whig

|education = Williams College

}}

Eleazer Root (March 6, 1802{{spaced ndash}}July 25, 1887) was an American educator and Episcopalian priest from New York, who moved to Wisconsin as a young man and spent much of his career and adult life there. He served a term in the Wisconsin Assembly and was appointed as the first Superintendent of Public Instruction.{{cite web|url= https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Newspaper/BA2945 |title= Biographical notice of eleazer root, d. d. |website= Wisconsin Historical Society |date= January 2012 |accessdate= April 3, 2020}}The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Rossiter Johnson and John Howard Brown: The Biographical Society: 1904. Because of his health, in his last years he moved to St. Augustine, Florida, serving as rector of Trinity Parish from 1874 to 1884. Root is considered as one of the founding fathers of Wisconsin and was also instrumental in organizing the University of Wisconsin as a member of the first board of regents.Memorial Record of the Fathers of Wisconsin: Containing Sketches of the Lives and Career of the Members of the Constitutional Conventions of 1846 and 1847-8. With a History of Early Settlement in Wisconsin