Page images
PDF
EPUB
[graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small]

The issue of Major James S. Bullock by his second wife is as follows: 1. Martha Bullock, who married at her father's home in Roswell, Cobb county, Ga., December 22, 1853, Theodore Roosevelt, of New York, and had as their issue Theodore Roosevelt, now President of the United States, who married first Alice Lee and second Edith Carew and had issue by both.

Theodore Roosevelt and Alice Lee had one child, Alice Lee Roosevelt, now a young lady.

Theodore Roosevelt and Edith Kermit Carew had Theodore Roosevelt, Kermit Roosevelt, Ethel Roosevelt, Archibald Bullock Roosevelt, the latter born April 9, 1894.

Martha Bullock, the mother of President Roosevelt, formerly lived in Liberty county, Georgia, and in Savannah. Her father, with Dr. John Dunwody, his brother-in-law, and the Kings, built elegant summer homes in Roswell, Ga., and erected and capitalized the Roswell factory in about 1850. These old mansions are still in Roswell, and the house in which Martha Bullock, who was called "Millie," was married belongs to Mr. Bartow Wing, of Roswell. The Bullock family is related to several prominent families in Georgia and South Carolina, including the Bellingers, Elliots, Dunwodys and others, who are all related to President Roosevelt. He has two second cousins in Georgia, viz., Colonel John Dunwody of the Seventh Georgia Regiment and Major Charles Dunwody of Roswell. In South Carolina his second cousin is Rev. James Bullock Dunwody, a Presbyterian minister, who lives in Wadesboro, S. C., and who is now 86 years old. The President is a third cousin to several younger members of the Dunwody family, including in Atlanta John Elliot Dunwody, Jeff Davis Dunwody, Miss Alice Dunwody, Henry M. Dunwody, besides others of the family in different parts of Georgia and South Carolina."

The nephew of Nicholas J. Roosevelt, the Mississippi navigator, was Cornelius V. S. Roosevelt, born in 1794 at Oyster Bay, was an important merchant, and lived eight-seven years. His son, Robert Barnell Roosevelt, served in Congress as a Democrat, and was prominent as one of the organizers and promoters of game laws. He was one of the State Fish Commissioners, and was active on the committee which succeeded the downfall of Tweed. In 1888 he was appointed Minister to the Netherlands. This gentleman, upon urgency, submitted to the United Service Monthly Review, a memorandum relating to the President's father, who was born in New York, September 22, 1831, and died February 9, 1878. He was a glass importer with James A. Roosevelt. The firm was Roosevelt & Son. His brother describes him as a man "possessed of great energy and original ideas." He thought he could serve the country better as an organizer of citizens to help the army, than by military service, and was one of the founders of Loyal National Leagues.

His most important work was the Allotment Commission, enabling men at the front to "allot" their pay, or any portion of it, to their families. In this service he visited as Allotment Commissioner, all the New York regiments in the field. His brother says:

"No law that was ever devised was more valuable and beneficial to the soldiery, and no man ever worked harder to carry out a noble purpose. In the cold of winter and the heat of summer, through dust, mud and slush, in rain and snow and storm the commission struggled and plodded and rode; often far into the wilderness, away from comfort and even the means of subsistence, with uncertain prospects of a meal or a lodging place, they went, he sometimes alone, sometimes with one and then with the other of his patriotic companions, but always ready to do his appointed work with every power of his untiring mind and body."

The President's father was active in charities, and devoted to the reform and redemption of criminals who had paid the penalty of their crime to the State and on their discharge from prison were almost sure to fall into their old ways unless some one gave them a helping hand. That hand he reached. out, and got others interested in doing the same, till he had the prison reform committee permanently established in its good work. Then he founded the "Newsboys' Lodging House," a free home and shelter for the waifs of the press and a charity whose usefulness is surpassed by none.

Mr. Robert Roosevelt confirms in particulars the happy reputation of his brother in works of public good will, and concludes with this pleasing summary of his amusements and home life:

"Mr. Roosevelt was withal of a most genial, happy temper, fond of society and a great leader of the best social functions of the city, where his family had been prominent since it was founded, and well known to, and connected by marriage with all the best families. His principal recreation was in riding and driving horses. He rode animals that could take a "five-barred gate" with any hunter, and he often made them do it. His horses were of the purest strain, some of them coming from the stud farm of Mr. Gibbons at Madison, who was the leading breeder of fast horses among the gentlemen of his day. He also drove one of the first "four-in-hands" of New York, and was particularly fond of guiding the perilous tandem through the streets and parks of the city. At home he was a loving and devoted husband and father and the best of citizens in private and public. He married Miss Martha Bullock of Georgia, the sister of Captain James Bullock, who was the head of the secessionist navy during the rebellion and fitted out the Alabama and the Shenandoah from England. He had four children, among them his son, named after him, who became President of the United States and possesses not a few of his characteristics."

His brother, Theodore Roosevelt, born in the City of New York, was short lived as compared to the rest of his family. He was born in 1831, and died in 1878. He was a merchant and banker; noted for extensive charities and public spirit. President Roosevelt is his son.

James John Roosevelt, great uncle of the President, was born in New York, in 1795, and lived to be eighty years old; a lawyer and a Democrat; he was twice a member of the State Legislature, Justice of the State Supreme Court, and United States District Attorney in New York.

Another relative of Theodore Roosevelt, a cousin of Cornelius, was James Henry Roosevelt, who was born in New York in 1800, and died in 1863. He accumulated a large fortune through unusual thrift, and his object in saving money was explained when his will was read. It left the bulk of his estate to found Roosevelt Hospital, one of the greatest charities of New York.

Hilborne Lewis Roosevelt, also born in New York, was a noted organ builder and inventor.

It is related of Archibald Bullock, first Governor of Georgia, that immediately after his inauguration, he found a soldier guarding his home. The man explained that he had been stationed there by order of General McIntosh to protect him from harm. The Governor sent the guard about his business, saying he was able to take care of himself, that he relied on the people, and had no fear of harm. His father was a Scotchman, who served the Revolutionary cause with distinction. He was related to the Douglas family. In addition to his Holland blood, the President has the Scotch and the Huguenot, for the great-grandmother of his mother was Mary DeVeaux, grand-daughter of a Huguenot.

Mr. Jacob S. Riis contributed to the Review of Reviews, August, 1900, a sketch of the father of the President, saying: "There hangs in his study at Oyster Bay the picture of a man with a strong bearded face. Passing it with Governor Roosevelt, he said, 'That is my father,' and added: 'He was the finest man I ever knew. He was a merchant, well-to-do, drove his fourin-hand through the park, and enjoyed life immensely. He had such a good time, and with cause, for he was good man. I remember seeing him going down Broadway, staid and respectable business man that he was, with a poor little sick kitten in his coat-pocket, which he had picked up in the street.'

"The elder Theodore Roosevelt was a man with the same sane and practical interest in his fellow-man that his son has shown. He was the backer of Charles Loring Brace in his work of gathering the forgotten waifs from the city's streets, and of every other sensible charity in his day. Dr. Henry Field told me once that he always, occupied as he was with the management of a successful business, on principal gave one day of the six to visiting the poor in their homes. Apparently the analogy between father and son might be

« PreviousContinue »