James Alfred Roosevelt (June 13, 1825 – July 15, 1898) was an American merchant, a member of the Roosevelt family, and an uncle of United States President Theodore Roosevelt. He became a member of his father Cornelius Roosevelt's mercantile firm at the age of twenty, and eventually succeeded him as its head. In 1878, he established the banking house of Roosevelt & Son, which marked the full abandonment of the Roosevelts' traditional plate-glass business. He was connected with many other institutions, including as vice president of the Chemical Bank of New York; president of the Broadway Improvement Company; vice president of the Bank of Savings; member of the board of managers of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company; director of the New York Life Insurance Trust, among others; member of the Board of Park Commissioners; and trustee to the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children. He was a president of Roosevelt Hospital, founded by his distant cousin James H. Roosevelt. He married Elizabeth Norris Emlen on December 22, 1847 and had four children, including W. Emlen Roosevelt. He died near Mineola NY while riding a train on his way home to Oyster Bay.
One of his grand-daughters, the daughter of his son Alfred Roosevelt, Elfrida Roosevelt,[1] married Sir Orme Bigland Clarke, 4th Baronet.