Notable people · Business · Inventor · Beekeeping · Publisher
Amos Ives Root
Born in Medina, Root began as a jeweler, took up beekeeping, and in 1869 founded a company making hives and bee equipment. He published the ABC of Bee Culture and the magazine Gleanings in Bee Culture, and wrote the first published eyewitness account of the Wright brothers' flights.
At a glance
- Born
- 1839
- Died
- 1923
- Known as
- Business, Inventor, Beekeeping, Publisher
- Organizations
- A.I. Root Company
Life story
Amos Ives Root was born in Medina, Ohio, in 1839. He first made jewelry, then took up beekeeping as a hobby in his twenties and became one of the best-known beekeeping writers and suppliers of his day.
He worked out ways to harvest honey without destroying the hive. In 1869 he founded a Medina company to make beekeeping equipment; at its busiest it shipped four railroad cars of goods a day.
He wrote the ABC of Bee Culture (1879), which is still published today as The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture, and started the trade magazine Gleanings in Bee Culture, where he also wrote about daily life and his Christian faith.
Having read about the Wright brothers, he drove his 1903 Oldsmobile nearly 200 miles from Medina to Dayton in 1904. On September 20, 1904, he and Wright mechanic Charles Taylor watched Wilbur Wright fly a complete circle, and his report in Gleanings in Bee Culture, published January 1, 1905, is described as the first published eyewitness account of an airplane flight.
He died in 1923. His company later turned to candles and is now Root Candles, still family owned; a middle school in Medina carries his initials.
Timeline
What Amos is known for
- Founded the A.I. Root Company (1869)
- Published Gleanings in Bee Culture and the ABC of Bee Culture
- Published the first eyewitness account of Wilbur Wright's first circle flight, 1904 (printed January 1905)
- A.I. Root Company (1869)
- ABC of Bee Culture (1879)
- Gleanings in Bee Culture
Inventions and firsts
- A.I. Root Company and Gleanings in Bee Culture (1869)
- Root's eyewitness account of the Wright brothers' first circle flight (1904) credit is disputed
Honors and things named for them
- A.I. Root Middle School, Medina
- Medina High School's teams are the Battling Bees
Ohio places
Where Amos Ives Root was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.
- Born: Medina, Medina County ZIP 44256 · Medina · Medina County
- Worked: Medina, Medina County ZIP 44256 · Medina · Medina County
Further reading
Sources
Confidence. Medium: the main facts were confirmed, but some details (often an address or ZIP code) were not.
- Wikipedia: Amos Root birth, company 1869, ABC of Bee Culture, Gleanings, 1904 Wright eyewitness, Root Candles, Helen Keller friendship
- Library of America: A. I. Root, The First Successful Trip of an Airship first published eyewitness account; Sept 20 1904