My Genealogy Hound

Maj. P. K. Roots. Among the well-known and highly esteemed citizens of Little Rock, Mr. Roots, cashier of the First National Bank, stands pre-eminent. He comes of a good old New England family, the founder of whom was Josiah Roote, who first settled on American soil in 1634. The descent is traced in a direct line down to the principal of this sketch, Mr. P. K. Roots, who was born in Wilmington, Tolland County, Conn., in 1838. When quite young, his father moved to the State of Illinois, where he was reared and received a thorough training in the English branches of education. When seventeen years of age, the desire to enter upon a career of his own was too strong to permit of his remaining at home, so he joined a corps of engineers on the New Orleans & Ohio Railroad, with whom he remained until the outbreak of the Rebellion, when he was employed by the United States Government as civil engineer, and was engaged in maintaining and constructing the railroads managed by the military authorities. When these duties were no longer called for, he served as United States deputy surveyor general in Nevada, and from there came to Arkansas, where, in 1871, he was appointed chief engineer of the Cairo & Fulton Railroad. He held this position until the consolidation of that line with the Iron Mountain Railroad, when he accepted the position of cashier of the National Bank of Western Arkansas, located at Fort Smith. By a judicious and conscientious discharge of his duties, his talents as a financier were so well shown, that in 1880 he was tendered the post of cashier of the First National Bank at Little Rock, which position he accepted and immediately assumed the duties of that office. His success has justified the trust reposed in him, and with his brother, Col. Logan H. Roots, the president of the bank, he takes a justifiable pride in keeping that institution in the rank it holds as the principal bank in the State. Maj. Roots is a gentleman of social worth and business integrity. In commercial life he has prospered through his legitimate methods of doing business and keenness of judgment. He has always been economical, the basis upon which all successful men have laid the foundation of their fortunes, yet is ever willing to lend a helping hand to the needy and distressed. Those generous sisters, Charity and Benevolence, find continuous lodgment in his breast, nor is their call ever unheeded. His tastes are strongly domestic, and he finds his only true comfort in the society of his interesting family. Maj. Roots was married in 1866 to Miss Fannie M. Blakeslee, a native of Laona, N. Y., and they are now the proud parents of three children, two sons and one daughter: Willard H. (the oldest, was born in 1867, and is now attending the Institute of Technology at Boston, Mass.), Logan Herbert (born in 1870, is attending Harvard College) and Mary Emily (the youngest, born in 1873). She was attending school in Utica, N. Y., but has been obliged to give up her studies on account of prostration, resulting from overwork, and is now recuperating at home.