Alice Hathaway Roosevelt

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Hathaway_Lee_Roosevelt

Alice Hathaway Roosevelt (née Lee; July 29, 1861 – February 14, 1884) was an American socialite and the first wife of President Theodore Roosevelt. Less than two days after giving birth to their only child, she died from Bright's disease.

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"...Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt (July 29, 1861 – February 14, 1884) was the first wife of Theodore Roosevelt. They had one child, Alice Lee Roosevelt..."

"...Born in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, the daughter of Caroline Watts (née Haskell) and George Cabot Lee, a prominent banker, Alice was tall for the era at 5'7", charming, athletic, strikingly beautiful and intelligent..."

"...Roosevelt, aged 22, married Alice Lee, aged 19, on October 27, 1880 (his 22nd birthday), at the Unitarian Church in Brookline, Massachusetts..."

"...Alice Roosevelt died in New York on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1884, on the fourth anniversary of their engagement, from Bright's disease, and childbirth complications. She was 22 years old. (On the same day and in the same house, Roosevelt's mother, Martha "Mittie" Bulloch Roosevelt also died, of typhoid fever.) T.R. was so distraught by Alice's death that except for a diary entry ("The light has gone out of my life") he hardly ever spoke of her again..."

"...The Roosevelts had one daughter: Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1884–1980). According to a number of historians, Roosevelt's need to leave behind or suppress his experiences with his first wife were a source of deep resentment by his daughter. She was unable to get him to talk about her mother in any meaningful way. Her rebellious life finds some explanation in this sad aspect of her relationship with her father..."

"...In the immediate aftermath of his wife's death, Theodore turned the care of their newly-born infant daughter to his elder sister Anna, also known as Bamie, and embarked on a journey of personal discovery to his ranch in the Badlands of North Dakota. From this interlude Roosevelt would emerge a renewed man and would go on to the Presidency of the United States in 1901..."

Alice Hathaway Roosevelt was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, next to her mother-in-law..."

SOURCE: Wikipedia contributors, 'Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2 August 2011, 22:09 UTC, <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alice_Hathaway_Lee_Roosev...> [accessed 25 October 2011]

Alice Hathaway Roosevelt is Anne (Hathaway) Shakespeare's first cousin 9 times removed.

Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt

Born Alice Hathaway Lee
July 29, 1861 Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, U.S. Died February 14, 1884 (aged 22) Manhattan, New York, U.S. Cause of death: Bright's Disease Spouse(s) Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. (m. 1880–1884; her death) Children Alice Lee Roosevelt Parents George Cabot Lee Caroline Watts Haskell Relatives Paulina Longworth (granddaughter)

Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt (July 29, 1861 – February 14, 1884) was an American socialite.[1] She was the first wife of President Theodore Roosevelt. They had one child, Alice Lee Roosevelt.

Contents

   1 Early Life and Courtship by Theodore Roosevelt

   2 Marriage to Theodore Roosevelt

   3 Death

       3.1 Burial

   4 References

   5 External links

Early Life and Courtship by Theodore Roosevelt

Alice was born in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts to banker George Cabot Lee and Caroline Watts Haskell. She was tall for the era at 5'6", and seen as charming and strikingly beautiful. With "blue-gray eyes and long, wavy golden hair", she was called "Sunshine" by her family and friends, because of her cheerful disposition.[2][3] Theodore was quickly smitten by her.

She met Theodore "T.R." Roosevelt, Jr. on October 18, 1878, at the home of her next-door neighbors, the Saltonstalls; T.R. was a classmate of young Richard Middlecott "Dick" Saltonstall (her cousin) at Harvard University. Of their first encounter, he would write, "As long as I live, I shall never forget how sweetly she looked, and how prettily she greeted me."

For young T.R. it was "love at first sight." By Thanksgiving (only a month after meeting her), he had decided Alice was to be his wife; the following June he proposed. She put T.R. off, however, taking another eight months before saying "yes".[4] It is unknown why she declined Theodore's first offer, but a classmate's fiancé later described him as being, "studious, ambitious, eccentric — not the sort to appeal at first." Theodore then recruited his popular mother and sisters, whom he was very close to, to help court her.[5] Marriage to Theodore Roosevelt Alice left, with her sisters-in-law, Corinne and Anna (Bamie) Roosevelt

On February 13, 1880, an ecstatic Roosevelt recorded in his diary his great joy that the woman of his dreams, whom he had actively courted for more than a year, had finally accepted his proposal of marriage. Knowing that his love was reciprocated and that he could now "hold her in my arms and kiss her and caress her and love her as much as I choose" gave the enraptured young Roosevelt enormous satisfaction. They announced their engagement on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1880.

At age 19, Alice married Theodore on October 27, 1880 (his 22nd birthday), at the Unitarian Church in Brookline, Massachusetts. Among the guests at their wedding, and at the reception in the home of the bride's parents, was Edith Carow, later to become Roosevelt's second wife. The couple's "proper" honeymoon was delayed until the following summer by Theodore's acceptance into Columbia Law School and after two weeks at the family home in Oyster Bay the couple went to live with Theodore's widowed mother, Martha Stewart "Mittie" Bulloch.[6] Death

Alice gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Alice Lee Roosevelt at 8:30pm on the night of February 12, 1884. Theodore was in Albany attending business on the Assembly floor because he was positive that the baby would be born on Valentine's Day, the four-year anniversary of their engagement. He received a telegram the next morning notifying him of the birth, and made arrangements to take leave from his duties that afternoon. When he later received another telegram informing him that Alice had taken ill, the commute was such that he did not arrive to his home until midnight, by which time Alice was in a semi-comatose state. He held her for two hours until alerted to his mother's deteriorating condition, two floors below in the Roosevelts' Manhattan home. Theodore's mother Mittie had been ill for several days with what would later be determined to be typhoid fever and died February 14, 1884 at 3:00 am. Theodore then rushed upstairs to his wife, whom he held for several hours until she died that afternoon from a case of undiagnosed kidney failure. Her pregnancy had masked the illness.[7] Her death occurred on Valentine's Day, the four-year anniversary of when their engagement was announced. She was 22 years old.

Theodore was so distraught by Alice's death that except for a diary entry ("The light has gone out of my life"), he hardly ever spoke of her again, much to the frustration of their daughter. In a short, privately published tribute to Alice, Roosevelt wrote:

   She was beautiful in face and form, and lovelier still in spirit; As a flower she grew, and as a fair young flower she died. Her life had been always in the sunshine; there had never come to her a single sorrow; and none ever knew her who did not love and revere her for the bright, sunny temper and her saintly unselfishness. Fair, pure, and joyous as a maiden; loving, tender, and happy. As a young wife; when she had just become a mother, when her life seemed to be just begun, and when the years seemed so bright before her—then, by a strange and terrible fate, death came to her. And when my heart's dearest died, the light went from my life forever.[8]

Richard Nixon made reference to these comments upon his resignation from the presidency in 1974. Paying tribute to Roosevelt and his inner courage, he remarked that "only when you have been in the deepest valley can you know how magnificent it is to reach the highest mountain".

Their daughter Alice primarily got information on her from Theodore's elder sister Anna "Bamie" Roosevelt. So final was his decision to try to put Alice's loss out of his life, that she is not even mentioned by name in his autobiography.[9] Her own daughter, Paulina, was coincidentally born on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1925.

In the immediate aftermath of his wife's death, Theodore turned the care of their newly-born infant daughter to his sister Bamie, and embarked on a period of self recovery. He went to his ranch in the badlands of Dakota Territory. From this interlude Roosevelt would emerge a renewed man and would go on to the Presidency of the United States in 1901. He and his second wife Edith Kermit Carow would take custody of young Alice at three years old.[10] Burial

Alice Hathaway Lee was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, next to her mother-in-law Mittie, after a double funeral. References

   Commire, Anne (1999). Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Yorkin Publications.

   Carol Felsenthal (31 December 2003). Princess Alice: The Life and Times of Alice Roosevelt Longworth. Macmillan. pp. 15–. ISBN 978-0-312-30222-1. Retrieved 21 May 2012.

   Stacy A. Cordery (30 September 2008). Alice: Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House Princess to Washington Power Broker. Penguin. pp. 6–. ISBN 978-0-14-311427-7. Retrieved 21 May 2012.

   Cordery, S. A.:"Alice: Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House Princess to Washington Power Boker, page 10, Viking Penguin Viking, 2007.

   Felsenthal, C.: "Princess Alice: The Life and Times of Alice Roosevelt Longworth, page 17, St. Martin's Press, 1988.

   Pringle, H. F.:"Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography" page 45, Blue Ribbon Books, 1931.

   Felsenthal, C. "Princess Alice: The Life and Times of Alice Roosevelt Longworth, p. 29-32.

   Miller, Nathan, (1992) Theodore Roosevelt - A Life, pg 158, ISBN 978-0-688-13220-0, ISBN 0-688-13220-0, New York, Quill/William Morrow

   Monk, William Everett. Theodore and Alice: The Life and death of Alice Lee Roosevelt. Interlaken, N.Y.: Empire State Books, 1994, pp. 51-68

   Miller, Nathan (1992). Theodore Roosevelt: A Life.

External links

   The White House Presidents

   Alice Roosevelt Longworth page at the Theodore Roosevelt Association web site

   Theodore Roosevelt Association family biographies

Authority control

   WorldCat

   VIAF: 27870388

   LCCN: n88230782

   GND: 118920707

Categories:

   1861 births

   1884 deaths

   Bulloch family

   People from Norfolk County, Massachusetts

   Roosevelt family

   Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery

   Deaths from nephritis

   American socialites

Source: Wikipedia