Roosevelt family

Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt family (1903)
Current region New York and New England
Earlier spellings Rosevelt, van Rosenvelt, van Rosevelt
Etymology Dutch for "Rose field"
Place of origin Netherlands
England
Ireland
Scotland
Connected families Delano family
Du Pont family
Astor family
Livingston family
Longworth family
Hoffman family
Schuyler family
Goodyear family
Lowell family
de Peyster family
Motto Qui plantavit curabit
(He who planted [us] will care [for us])
Estate(s) Sagamore Hill (Oyster Bay, New York)
Springwood (Hyde Park, New York)

The Roosevelt family is an American business and political family from New York whose members have included two United States Presidents, a First Lady,[1] and various merchants, politicians, inventors, clergymen, artists, and socialites. Progeny of a mid-17th century Dutch immigrant to New Amsterdam, many members of the family became locally prominent in New York City business and politics and intermarried with prominent colonial families. Two distantly related branches of the family from Oyster Bay on Long Island and Hyde Park in Dutchess County rose to national political prominence with the elections of Presidents Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909) and his fifth cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945), whose wife, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, was Theodore's niece.

History

Van Roosevelts of Oud-Vossemeer

The earliest known ancestor of the family was a man from the Netherlands named Claes van Rosenvelt. It has been suggested that he was related to the Van Roosevelts of Oud-Vossemeer, who were amt lords in the Tholen region of the Netherlands. While evidence suggests that Claes van Rosenvelt indeed came from the Tholen region where the Van Roosevelts were landowners, no records exist that prove that he is related to the noble family. It may simply be a coincidence, or Claes van Rosenvelt may have chosen the name purposefully because of its noble origins or to honor his local amt lord, as was common practice for peasants of the time.[2][3]

Claes van Rosenvelt

Claes Maartenszen van Rosenvelt, the immigrant ancestor of the Roosevelt family, arrived in New Amsterdam (present day New York City) some time between 1638 and 1649. About the year 1652, he bought a farm from Lambert van Valckenburgh comprising 24 morgens (that is, 20.44 ha or 50.51 acres) in what is now Midtown Manhattan, including the present site of the Empire State Building.[4] The property included approximately what is now the area between Lexington Avenue and Fifth Avenue bounded by 29th St. and 35th St.

Claes' son Nicholas was the first to use the spelling Roosevelt and the first to have a political office, as an alderman. Nicholas' children Johannes and Jacobus were, respectively, the progenitors of the Oyster Bay and Hyde Park branches of the family. By the late 19th century, the Hyde Park Roosevelts were generally associated with the Democratic Party and the Oyster Bay Roosevelts with the Republican Party. President Theodore Roosevelt, an Oyster Bay Roosevelt, was the uncle of Eleanor Roosevelt later wife of Franklin Roosevelt. Despite political differences that caused family members to actively campaign against each other, the two branches generally remained friendly. Franklin Roosevelt married Eleanor Roosevelt, Theodore's niece and his own fifth cousin once removed.

Coats of arms

The coat of arms of the Roosevelt Family
Details
Adopted 17th century
Crest Upon a torse argent and gules, Three ostrich plumes each per pale gules and argent.[5]
Escutcheon Three roses one in pale and two in saltire gules barbed seeded slipped and leaved proper.[5]
Other elements The mantling, gules doubled argent.[5]

In heraldry, canting arms are a visual or pictorial depiction of a surname, and were and still are a popular practice. It would be common to find roses, then, in the arms of many Roosevelt families, even unrelated ones (the name Rosenvelt means roses-field). Also, grassy mounds or fields of green would be a familiar attribute.

The Van Roosevelts of Oud-Vossemeer in Zeeland have a coat of arms that is divided horizontally, the top portion with a white chevron between three white roses, while the bottom half is gold with a red lion rampant. A traditional blazon suggested would be, Per fess vert a chevron between three roses argent and Or a lion rampant gules.[5]

The coat of arms of the namesakes of the Dutch immigrant Claes van Rosenvelt, ancestor of the American political family that included Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt, were white with a rosebush with three rose flowers growing upon a grassy mound, and whose crest was of three ostrich feathers divided into red and white halves each. In heraldic terms this would be described as, Argent upon a grassy mound a rose bush proper bearing three roses gules barbed and seeded all proper, with a crest upon a torse argent and gules of Three ostrich plumes each per pale gules and argent. Franklin Roosevelt altered his arms to omit the rosebush and use in its place three crossed roses on their stems, changing the blazon of his shield to Three roses one in pale and two in saltire gules barbed seeded slipped and left proper.[5]

Family diagram

Members

Roosevelt family members

Oyster Bay Roosevelts

Oyster Bay Roosevelts

Hyde Park Roosevelts

Hyde Park Roosevelts

See also

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Moore, Frazier (September 10, 2014). "PBS' 'The Roosevelts' portrays an epic threesome". AP News. Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Amt lords". Ambachtsheerlijkheid. Archived from the original on 6 September 2008. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
  3. ↑ "Oud Vossemeer". Oudvossemeer.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2007. Retrieved 28 February 2008.
  4. ↑ "Lambert Jochemse van Valckenburch of New Amsterdam". VanValkenburg.org. Retrieved 2008-02-28.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 26th and 32nd Presidents of the United States". American Heraldry Society. Archived from the original on December 30, 2008. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Whittelsey, Charles (1902). The Roosevelt Genealogy, 1649-1902. Hartford, Conn., Press of J. B. Burr & co.
  7. ↑ Hough, Franklin B. (1858). The New York civil list. Albany, NY: Weed, Parsons & Co. p. 300. Retrieved November 27, 2009.
  8. ↑ http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/roosevelt.html#907.06.43
  9. ↑ Genealogical and Biographical Notes: Haring-Herring, Clark, Denton, White, Griggs, Judd, and Related Families. Peter Haring Judd. 2005. ISBN 978-0-88082-190-2.
  10. ↑ "Historic Pelham: Elbert Roosevelt, An Early Settler of the Manor of Pelham, and Other Members of His Family". historicpelham.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2016-05-02.
  11. ↑ Theodore Roosevelt Association (1990). Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal. The Association.
  12. ↑ Frances M. Smith (1909). Colonial Families of America. F. Allaben genealogical Company.
  13. ↑ Berger, Joseph (March 16, 2005). "Roosevelts and the Quirks of Destiny". The New York Times.
  14. ↑ John Lippert; Jim Efstathiou Jr.; Mike Lee (April 1, 2013). "Republican Born Roosevelt Digs Deep for Texas Oil Found With CO2". Bloomberg Markets Magazine. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
Further reading
  • Cobb, William T. (1946). The Strenuous Life: The Oyster Bay Roosevelts in Business and Finance. William E. Rudge's Sons.
  • Collier, Peter; David Horowitz (1994). The Roosevelts: An American Saga. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-65225-7.
  • Hubert, Philip G. (1903). The Merchants' National Bank of the City of New York.
  • Schriftgiesser, Karl (1942). The Amazing Roosevelt Family, 1613–1942. Wildred Funk, Inc.
  • Scoville, Joseph A. (1863). The Old Merchants of New York City. New York, NY: Carlton.
  • Whittelsey, Charles B. (1902). The Roosevelt Genealogy, 1649–1902.
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