Edward L. Root was born around 1843 in Ohio to Timothy and Adeline Root. His father was a farmer who owned $4,500 of real estate and $2,050 of personal property by 1860. Root grew up and attended school in Austinburg, Ohio. He enlisted in the Union army on August 3, 1863, and he mustered in as a private in Company M of the 2nd Ohio Heavy Artillery on September 9. He mustered out on August 23, 1865. He moved to South Dakota sometime after the war. He applied for a federal pension in June 1899 and eventually secured one. He eventually returned to Ohio, and he died in Montgomery County, Ohio, on July 9, 1926.