Sidney Dwight Root (1824-1897) was born in Montague, Massachusetts, to Eliza Carpenter (1786-1849) and Salmon Root (1780-1849). In 1840, he moved to Lumpkin, Georgia, to become a merchant. In 1849, he married Mary Harvey Clark (1831-1886) and they had three children: John (1850-1891), Florence (1854-1918), and Walter (1859-1925). The family moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in the summer of 1857. In 1861, Root enlisted in the Minutemen of Fulton County. To further support the war effort, he organized the Board of Direct Trade to ensure Confederate trade to Europe would not be disrupted. After the Civil War, Root and his family moved to New York City, but returned to Atlanta in 1878. He served as a trustee of the Atlanta Baptist and Spelman Seminaries, became the director of the International Cotton Exposition of 1881, and played a prominent role in the establishment of Grant Park.