Tadd Roosevelt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadd_Roosevelt

James Roosevelt "Tadd" Roosevelt, Jr., (August 20, 1879 – June 7, 1958) was an American automobile worker. He and his sister Helen Rebecca Roosevelt (1881–1962) were the children of diplomat James Roosevelt "Rosey" Roosevelt (1854–1927) of the Roosevelt family and Helen Schermerhorn Astor (1855–1893) of the Astor family.

Tadd's uncles were President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) and Colonel John Jacob "Jack" Astor IV (1864–1912), but nonetheless was three years older than Franklin. Tadd's paternal grandparents were businessman James Roosevelt I (1828–1900) and Rebecca Brien Howland (1831–1876) while his maternal grandparents were businessman William Backhouse Astor, Jr. (1829–1892) and socialite Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn (1830–1908).

Upon his mother's death in November 1893, Tadd inherited $1,500,000 (equivalent to approximately $39,372,222 in 2015 dollars). He and Franklin both attended Groton School and Harvard University, with Tadd being ahead of Franklin. Their kinship led to Franklin often being mockingly referred to as "Uncle Frank" while the two attended Groton together.

After Tadd dropped out from Harvard, he married Hungarian-born prostitute Sadie Messinger (c. 1880–1940) on June 14, 1900. Tadd's father Rosey, upon learning of the wedding, came down from Hyde Park and brought Tadd home. Their union sparked controversy, and Rosey ended up disowning Tadd. Grandmother Lina and Grandfather James also highly disapproved of his marriage to Sadie.

In February 1917, Tadd was arrested in Florida and required to stay in Florida pending a divorce suit. He had lived in Daytona under the name "M. S. King" with a different woman than Sadie. The Roosevelt family had reportedly opposed the marriage to Sadie and had prevailed in achieving a separation, in which Sadie was to receive a $10,000 (equivalent to approximately $184,078 in 2015 dollars) annual income. A court soon granted $625 (equivalent to approximately $11,505 in 2015 dollars) per month alimony to Sadie, pending settlement of the divorce. At the time, Tadd was reported to be the Floridian paying the highest income taxes, having a $12,000,000 wealth (equivalent to approximately $220,893,506 in 2015 dollars).

By October 1921, Tadd and Sadie were reportedly no longer living together. However, they remained married until her death. He died childless and left his money to the Salvation Army.

An unknown Son and heir of James "Rosy" Roosevelt II and Helen Schermhorn-Roosevelt... he removed himself from family association, after a love and romance with a 'Woman of Question', in which some Roosevelt-Astor Families disapproved their relationship. Due in part to the family issue and their later separation, James was deeply devastated and heart-broken. The result... he severed ties and became 'A Hermit-Recluse' and lived the rest of his remaining days at his house in The Bronx, New York.

Many relations of James were horrified by the choice of his lifestyle and choice to live in squalor, mostly in the garage area of his home. Over the years, various family relations tried to reconcile and befriend James back into the family fold, but James, completely rejected their good-natured overtures.

James "Rosy" Roosevelt III, died In 1958 and many felt displaced and self-embarrassed by 'The Lost Roosevelt Cousin'. Hoping that His Will and Testament and The Astor Fortune would transfer to a living member... but to everyone's surprise, it was clear that most of his fortune would be willed to The Salvation Army.

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In a recent article posted by www.Salon.com, it was suggested that Comic Book Writer, William Finger, who created the Comic Book Hero, Batman, was inspired by the Wild West Adventures and exploits of Theodore Roosevelt, but according to a cousin of not only Batman creator, Robert "Bob" Kane, but also Roosevelt Cousin, A. Edward Moch, The Dark Side of Batman's character (Bruce Wayne), may have been also based on James "Rosey" Roosevelt III, in which both Kane and Fingerman lived in The Bronx... near where James had once resided.