Roosevelt, Ethel Carow (b. 13 AUG 1891, d. 3 DEC 1977)

Note: Theodore Roosevelt's younger daughter and only daughter of his marriage to Edith.

Ethel's indomitable spirit in the face of tragedy has been chronicled, and a number of triumphs.

During World War I, Ethel, now a nurse served in France in the same hospital as her husband served as a surgeon. Later, she became involved with the Red Cross, and served as Nassau County Chairman during World War II, and then as Chairman of the Nassau County Nursing Service. Her long involvement, even while traveling, is shown by her correspondence still residing in the Nassau County Red Cross archives. When the Red Cross recently brought her Fifty Year Service Pin to Sagamore Hill, they had to correct themselves - it was not fifty years of service, it was sixty. When it came time to have her portrait painted, she did not choose to wear an evening gown and jewels, she wore her Red Cross uniform.

She put in many years of work to turn Sagamore Hill into a National Historic Site.

Ethel was one of the first two women to serve on the Board of Trustees of the American Museum of Natural History.

Census: Date: 1900
Place: Oyster Bay, Nassau, New York

Census: Date: 1910
Place: 5-Dist Oyster Bay, Nassau, NY

Note: Born 9 April 1893, Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt graduated from Harvard in June of 1916 and found his first employment at the Bigelow Carpet Company, Thompsonville, Connecticut. After being wounded and earning the Croix de Guerre while serving with the US Army in World War I, Archie became, for a time, an executive with the Sinclair Oil Company and thereafter held various positions with the family investment firm, Roosevelt & Son.

Archie was wounded once more and earned the Silver Star with Oak Leaf Clusters while serving as a Lt. Colonel with the US Army in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Thereafter he co-founded the investment firm Roosevelt and Cross, a highly-successful brokerage house specializing in municipal bonds.

Archie married Grace Lockwood, of Boston, on 14 April 1917. The couple spent most of their married life in a pre-Revolutionary house on Turkey Lane in Cold Spring Harbor, NY, not far from Oyster Bay, where they raised four children. Grace Lockwood Roosevelt died in an automobile crash near her home in Cold Spring Harbor in 1971, her husband Archie at the wheel. Archie died eight years later - on 13 October 1979 - of a stroke, at his winter home in Hobe Sound, Florida. He is buried with his wife in the Roosevelt family plot at Youngs Cemetery, Oyster Bay. His tombstone reads: "The old fighting man home from the wars."

Census: Date: 1900
Place: Oyster Bay, Nassau, New York

Census: Date: 1910
Place: 5-Dist Oyster Bay, Nassau, NY

Note: Quentin, the youngest Roosevelt, quickly became known for his humorous, and sometimes philosophical, remarks. To a reporter trying to trap the boy into giving information about his father, Quentin admitted, "I see him occasionally, but I know nothing of his family life."

The family soon learned to keep him quiet during dinners where important guests were present. In Washington, Quentin developed many friends of all ages and from all walks of life, but his best friends became known as the "White House Gang." Laughter rang through the White House halls, surprising the more "stuffy" visitors - though at times the boys did get carried away in their antics. When Archie was terribly ill, it was Quentin (with the help of Charles Lee, coachman) who brought the pony Algonquin to his room by elevator, sure that this would make his brother well.

Quentin was a sophomore at Harvard and showing promise as a writer when World War I made him decide to join the Air Force. Just engaged to Flora Payne Whitney, he set out, winning admiration from fellow flyers.

On July 14, he was shot down by two German fighters, and he died behind enemy lines. There his body was buried, though his grave was later moved to rest beside that of his brother Ted, in France.

Census: Date: 1900
Place: Oyster Bay, Nassau, New York

Census: Date: 1910
Place: 5-Dist Oyster Bay, Nassau, NY

Note: Martha, or "Mittie" as she was more commonly known, was born in Hartford where her mother (also Martha) was visiting a step-son and escaping the blazing summer heat of the family's early home in Savannah. Mittie was initially raised in Savannah, but the family moved to Roswell when she was about five.

Roswell, Georgia, located about about 20 minutes north of Atlanta, was and is the site of Bulloch Hall, the Bulloch Family estate. Mittie's southern roots, her two brothers fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War, brought an added dimension to the Roosevelt household. Theodore Roosevelt's father did not fight actively in the War, although he supported the Union war effort in many other ways, largely, it is believed out of sensitivity to his wife's relatives. Mittie, surreptitiously sent "care packages" of medicine and supplies to the southern effort.

Theodore Roosevelt's mother, Mittie, and his first wife, Alice Lee died in the same home, on the same day, a few hours apart. Mittie died of typhoid. This double tragedy, 2 days after the birth of his first child, also named Alice, affected Theodore Roosevelt greatly. At the time, Theodore Roosevelt was an Assemblyman in the State Legislature of New York State. He returned there for a few months and then made a temporary career and life change. Leaving his infant daughter in the capable hands of his older sister Bamie, he headed west to Medora North Dakota and for a few years lived his life as a rancher.

Both the impact of Theodore Roosevelt's southern roots and his experiences after the tragedy of his mother's death, contributed to his understanding of the dynamics of Americans of many walks of life as he served in the various national offices he held during his lifetime.

Census: Date: 1860
Place: New York Ward 18 District 3, New York, New York

Census: Date: 1870
Place: New York Ward 18 District 2, New York, NY

Note: The oldest child of President Roosevelt, and the only child of his first marriage to Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt. Infant Alice was born only two days before her mother died of Bright's disease, a kidney ailment that had not been diagnosed as it was masked by the pregnancy.

Shortly after baby Alice's birth, Theodore Roosevelt retreated to his ranch land in the Badlands of North Dakota. In his grief, and his ranching profession, and by the standards of the day, he could hardly be expected to tend to his infant daughter himself. So Alice's earliest year's were spent living in Cove Neck, in the capable care of her Aunt Bamie, also called "Auntie Bye", TR's older sister. She also spent holiday's with her mother's family, the Lees, of Chestnut Hill, MA.

After an appropriate mourning period when TR married his childhood companion and sweetheart, Edith Carrow, Edith insisted that the now 3 year old toddler Alice must come to live with them. Relations were sometimes difficult between stepmother and stepdaughter, perhaps partly because of the tremendous personality differences between the two women. Alice was always outgoing, taking risks and head strong. A somewhat more feminine version of her father. Edith, while a bright and also head strong woman, was more reserved.

Alice soon had several siblings. The next child born was Theodore, Jr. Alice and Theodore, Jr. were close as children, and as the oldest, they enjoyed their positions of leadership in the growing family. Alice was good at "mothering" the younger children, but she herself was "allergic to discipline."

At the time her father became President, Alice was a teenager. She was cool and spirited and posessed a quick wit. From the time of her "debut" to her death, Alice remained a high profile society figure. Hundreds of Americans sang or listened to the songs, "Alice Blue Gown" and "Alice, Where Art Thou?". Alice became a popular baby name. The color, "Alice Blue" was highly fashionable, a light blue with a hint of gray to match her eyes.

Alice married Nicholas Longworth of Cincinnati on February 17, 1906, when theirs became a most brilliant White House wedding. She went on to become one of the most outspoken women of the century, dazzling the public when her much sought-after opinion was expressed.

More About ALICE LEE ROOSEVELT:

1932-Wrote "Crowded Hours," her autobiography, after her husband's death
1960-1963, Assisted Jacqueline Kennedy in restoring the White House
Had a pillow embroidered "If you can't say something nice, then sit next to me."

About NICHOLAS LONGWORTH:

Harvard University, Cincinnati Law School
1894 - Admitted to the Ohio Bar
1899-1901 - Ohio House of Representatives
1901-1903 - Ohio State Senate
1903-1913 - U.S. House of Representatives
1915-1931 - U.S. House of Representatives
1923-1925 - Republican Floor Leader, U.S. House of Representatives
1925-1931 - Speaker of the House, U.S. House of Representatives


Sources:
Theodore Roosevelt Association Office; Sagamore Hill - Old Orchard Museum label copy

Census: Date: 1900
Place: Oyster Bay, Nassau, New York

Occupation: Date: 1850
Place: Lawyer

Census: Date: 1850
Place: New York Ward 15 Eastern half, New York, NY

Census: Date: 1850
Place: New York Ward 15 Eastern half, New York, NY

Census: Date: 1850
Place: Hyde Park, Dutchess Co, New York

Census: Date: 1850
Place: Hyde Park, Dutchess Co, New York

Census: Date: 1850
Place: Hyde Park, Dutchess Co, New York