1820-1895
1864 edition

Au­gust 30, 1820, Shef­field, Mas­sa­chu­setts.

Au­gust 6, 1895, Bai­ley Isl­and, Maine.

North Read­ing, Mas­sa­chu­setts.

George F. Root (1820-1895)

Root’s mu­sic­al tal­ents were ev­i­dent at an ear­ly age. By the time he was 13, he was proud that he could play a tune on as ma­ny in­stru­ments as his age. In 1838, Root moved to Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts, where he stu­died un­der George Webb. In 1845, he moved to New York Ci­ty, play­ing the or­gan at the Church of the Stran­gers, and teach­ing mu­sic at the Ab­bott In­sti­tute for Young La­dies. In 1850, he toured Eur­ope for a year. Af­ter­ward, he start­ed work­ing with Low­ell Ma­son, at Bos­ton’s Acad­e­my of Mu­sic. In 1851, Root be­gan com­pos­ing. In 1859, he be­gan work at his bro­ther’s com­pany, Root and Ca­dy, in Chi­ca­go, Ill­i­nois. In 1872, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Chi­ca­go award­ed him an hon­o­rary Doc­tor of Mu­sic de­gree. He had two sons, Fred­er­ick and Charles T. Some of his best known se­cu­lar songs are The Bat­tle Cry of Free­dom; Just Be­fore the Bat­tle, Mo­ther; The Old Folks Are Gone; A Hun­dred Years Ago; Old Po­to­mac Shore; Ro­sa­lie, the Prair­ie Flow­er; The Va­cant Chair; Ha­zel Dell and There’s Mu­sic in the Air. His other works in­clude:

  1. Along the Riv­er of Time
  2. Altogether Love­ly
  3. Behold the Bride­groom Com­eth
  4. Clear as Crys­tal
  5. Come to the Sav­ior
  6. Inasmuch
  7. O the Way Is Long and Wea­ry
  8. On This Plea­sant Sab­bath Day
  9. She On­ly Touched the Hem of His Gar­ment
  10. Thou Art My Rock
  11. Why De­lay?
  12. Why Do You Wait?
  1. Coventry
  2. Ellon
  3. From the Deep Star-La­den Sky
  4. Jacinta
  5. Jewels
  6. Knocking, Knock­ing, Who Is There?
  7. Lowry
  8. My Fa­ther Knows
  9. O Where Are the Reap­ers?
  10. Rialto
  11. Ring the Bells
  12. Rosedale
  13. Savior’s Face, The
  14. Shining Ci­ty
  15. Sinclair
  16. Suffer Lit­tle Child­ren
  17. Suffer the Child­ren
  18. Tramp, Tramp, Tramp
  19. Turn Not Away
  20. Varina
  21. We Are Watch­ing
  22. We Come in Child­hood’s Joy­ful­ness
  23. Yes, We’ll Meet in the Morn­ing