Roosevelt family

Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt and family in 1903.
Ethnicity Dutch American
Current region New York, United States of America
Information
Earlier spellings Van Rosenvelt and Van Rosevelt
Place of origin The Netherlands
Notable members Theodore Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Connected families Delano family
Du Pont family
Astor family
Alsop family
Arnold family
Longworth family
Estate Sagamore Hill and Top Cottage
Name origin and meaning "From rose field."

The Roosevelt family is a prominent American business and political family of Dutch descent whose members include United States Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and his fifth cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Contents

History

Van Rosevelts of Oud-Vossemeer

It has been suggested that Claes van Rosenvelt could have been related to the Van Rosevelts of Oud-Vossemeer, who were amt lords in the Tholen region of the Netherlands. While evidence suggests that Claes van Rosenvelt, the ancestor to the American Roosevelt family, indeed came from the Tholen region where the Van Rosevelts were land owners, no records exist that prove any definitive relation of the two families. It may simply be a coincidence, or Claes van Rosenvelt may have chosen the name purposely because of its noble origins or to honour his local amt lord, as was common practice for peasants of the time.[1][2]

Claes van Rosenvelt

Claes Maartenszen van Rosenvelt, the immigrant ancestor of the Roosevelt family, arrived in Nieuw Amsterdam (present day New York City) some time between 1638 and 1649. Around the year 1652, he bought a farm from Lambert van Valckenburgh comprising twenty-four morgens (forty-eight acres) in what is now Midtown Manhattan, including the present site of the Empire State Building.[3] The property included roughly 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 hold political office, as an alderman. His children Johannes and Jacobus were the progenitors of the Oyster Bay and Hyde Park branches of the family that emerged in the 18th century, respectively. 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 President Franklin Roosevelt's fifth cousin. Despite political differences that led family members to actively campaign against each other, the two branches generally remained friendly. James Roosevelt, Sr. met his wife at a Roosevelt family gathering in the home of Theodore's mother, and James' son Franklin married Theodore's niece Eleanor.

The Roosevelt Family is generally associated with the state of New York. Harvard University educations have been common among many members of the Roosevelt Family.

Coats of arms

The coat of arms of Franklin D. Roosevelt
Information
Date of origin 17th century
Shield Three roses one in pale and two in saltire gules barbed seeded slipped and leaved proper.[4]
Crest and mantle Upon a torse argent and gules, Three ostrich plumes each per pale gules and argent, the mantling gules doubled argent.[4]

In heraldry, canting arms are a visual or pictorial play on a surname, and were and still are a popular practice. It would be common to find roses, then, in arms of many Roosevelt families, even unrelated ones. Also, grassy mounds or fields of green would be a familiar attribute.

The Van Rosevelts 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.[4]

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 rid of 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 leaved proper.[4]

Family tree

 
 
 
 
Claes Maartenszen van Rosenvelt
immigrated to America c. 1649
(died 1659)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Nicholas Roosevelt
(1658–1742)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Johannes Roosevelt
Oyster Bay branch
(1689–1750)
 
Jacobus Roosevelt
Hyde Park branch
(1692–1776)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jacobus Roosevelt
(1724–1777)
 
Isaac Roosevelt
(1726–1794)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
James Roosevelt
(1759–1840)
 
James Roosevelt
(1760–1847)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Cornelius Roosevelt
(1794–1871)
 
Isaac Roosevelt
(1790–1863)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Theodore Roosevelt, Sr.
(1831–1878)
 
James Roosevelt
(1828–1900)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Theodore Roosevelt
(1858–1919)
 
Elliott Roosevelt
(1860–1894))
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Eleanor Roosevelt
(1884–1962)
 
Franklin D. Roosevelt
(1882–1945)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Anna Roosevelt Halsted
(1906-1975)
 
James Roosevelt
(1907-1991)
 
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. I
(1909-1909)
 
Elliott Roosevelt II
(1910-1990)
 
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. II
(1914-1988)
 
John Aspinwall Roosevelt
(1916-1981)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Franklin Delano Roosevelt III
(b. 1938)
 
 
 

Members

Oyster Bay Roosevelts

  • Nicholas Roosevelt (b. 1717), merchant
  • Nicholas Roosevelt (b. 1747)
  • Cornelius Roosevelt (b. 1731), New York City alderman
  • Elbert Roosevelt (1767–1857)
  • Clinton Roosevelt (1804–1898), pro-labor economic reformer of the Democratic Party
  • Jacobus Roosevelt (1724–1777)
  • Samuel Roosevelt (1813–1878)
  • Nicholas Latrobe Roosevelt (1847–1892)
  • Jacobus "James" Roosevelt (1759–1840), founder of the Bank of New York, m. Maria Van Schaak
  • Silas Weir Roosevelt (1823–1870)
  • Cornelius Roosevelt (1847–1902), m. Anais Julia Carmencita Piorkque (1848–1941), m. Anastacia Anderpoll (1879–1962)
  • Andre Roosevelt (1879–1962), film director, m. Adelheid Lange (1879–1962), sculptress
  • Hilda Roosevelt (dates unknown), Parisian opera singer
  • Kermit Roosevelt, Jr.
  • Eleanor Roosevelt, politician, First Lady of the United States, delegate to the United Nations (1884–1962), m. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  • Elliott Roosevelt, Jr. (1889–1893)
  • Gracie Hall Roosevelt (1891–1941), m. Margaret Richardson, m. Dorothy Kemp
  • James I. Roosevelt (1795–1875), politician, businessman and jurist
  • William Henry Roosevelt (1806–1869), politician, land speculator (Illinois)

Hyde Park Roosevelts

  • Helena Roosevelt (1719–1772), m. Andrew Barclay
  • Christopher Roosevelt (b. 1739)
  • James Christopher Roosevelt (1770)
  • Grace Roosevelt, m. Guy Carleton Bayley (himself a grandson of Andrew Barclay and Helena Roosevelt)
  • John Aspinwall Roosevelt (1840–1909), m. Ellen Murray Crosby

References

Notes
Further reading

External links