Mike Meidel

Mike Meidel is a descendant of Charlotta Root and her husband, John Root, Sr. He can also trace two other branches of his ancestry back to other residents of the Bishop Hill Colony who are outlined below in purple:

After the Bishop Hill Colony was officially dissolved in 1860,  Charlotta Root 's son, John Root, Jr., a lawyer, was involved in dividing up the land from the commune. Much of the Roots' family stayed in the area of Bishop Hill. ¹  In 1959, Mike Meidel, the great-great-great-grandson of Charlotta Root, was born in Springfield Illinois.

Mike’s story and his connection to Bishop Hill show the positive remnants of Janssonism, the radical religion of Erik Jansson, that still exist to this day:

While Mike's personal religion is not the Janssonism (Erik Jansson's version of Pietism) of his ancestors, there are still traces of his relatives' religion in his everyday life that show up in his valuable, personal relationship with God.