Quentin Roosevelt II

Quentin Roosevelt II (November 4, 1919-December 21, 1948) was the fourth child of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. and Eleanor Butler Alexander-Roosevelt. He was the namesake of his uncle Quentin Roosevelt who was killed in action during World War I in 1918. (The family never used the name Quentin II, but it appears on the memorial stone in the Roosevelt section of the Youngs Memorial Cemetery, Oyster Bay, to distinguish the two Quentins).

Contents

Life

He published a paper through the American Museum of Natural History in 1934, describing a new species of fossil pronghorn antelope that he and a boyhood friend, Joseph W. Burden, had found in a cave in southern Arizona.[1] He attended Harvard University, where he wrote his senior thesis on some Nakhi (Naxi) manuscripts he had collected while visiting Western China at the border of Tibet.[2][3] Life magazine published images from his journey, which he made at the age of 19. [4]

He graduated from Groton School followed by Harvard University in 1941 and soon after joined the Army. He was wounded at the Battle of Kasserine Pass in February, 1943 and was a recipient of the Purple Heart, Croix de Guerre and Silver Star.[5] Captain Quentin Roosevelt was among the first wave of soldiers to land at Omaha beach while his father Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. landed with the first wave at Utah Beach on D-day. <ref: Ike, Michael Korda>

While serving as the Director of the China National Aviation Corporation, he was killed in a plane crash near Hong Kong, on December 21, 1948. He died just 47 days after his 29th birthday. His C-54 plane crashed on a mountain on Basalt Island in Sai Kung. All on board were killed instantly.[6] His body was on Basalt Island, but a memorial gravestone for him is located at his wife's grave in Youngs Cemetery in Oyster Bay, New York. [7] [8]

Family

On April 12, 1944, he married Frances Blanche Webb, (1917–1995)[9] an American Red Cross worker, at Blandford Forum. They had three daughters: Anna, Alexandra, and Susan. Anna C. Roosevelt, a noted archaeologist specializing in Amazonia, won a MacArthur Fellowship. Alexandra married Ronald W. Dworkin.[10] Susan Roosevelt Weld graduated from Harvard University with a JD and PhD, and was married to former Massachusetts Governor William Weld; they had five children: David Minot Weld, Ethel Derby Weld, Mary B. Weld, Quentin Roosevelt Weld and Frances Wylie Weld. [11]

Works

References

  1. ^ Roosevelt, Q., and J. W. Burden. 1934. A new species of antilocaprine, Tetrameryx onusrosagris, from a Pleistocene cave deposit in southern Arizona. American Museum Novitates 754:1–4.
  2. ^ Selections from the Naxi Manuscript Collection: Quentin Roosevelt II, Library of Congress
  3. ^ http://memory.loc.gov/intldl/naxihtml/roosevelt.html
  4. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=mj8EAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA30&ots=JRwFqi9uBu&dq=Buddhism%20-%20study%20of%20its%20history%20takes%20Quentin%20Roosevelt%20to%20Tibet.&pg=PA30#v=onepage&q=Buddhism%20-%20study%20of%20its%20history%20takes%20Quentin%20Roosevelt%20to%20Tibet.&f=false
  5. ^ http://www.cnac.org/roosevelt01.htm
  6. ^ "Quentin Roosevelt Killed in Air Crash". New York Times, December 22, 1948
  7. ^ "Circumstances of the Crash on Balsalt Island, Flight originated in Shanghai", Crash of Airplane carrying Quentin Roosevelt II on December 21, 1948, www.cnac.org, http://www.cnac.org/accident015.htm, retrieved 2008-09-30 
  8. ^ http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Roosevelt&GSiman=1&GScnty=2007&GRid=17653540&
  9. ^ "Frances Roosevelt, Portrait Artist, 78", The New York Times, September 13, 1995
  10. ^ "Alexandra Roosevelt Wed To Dr. Ronald W. Dworkin", The New York Times, March 6, 1988
  11. ^ "The Weld's of Harvard Yard", Harvard Magazine, Craig A. Lambert

External links