Theodore Roosevelt’s first American ancestor was Claes Martensen van Roosevelt, the sturdy Hollander who arrived on the continent two hundred and seventy-five years before his descendant became President. For seven generations these hard-working, sturdy landholders contributed to the development of the United States, fought in her wars, and served in her council chambers. His grandfather, Cornelius van Schaack Roosevelt, attained some local prominence in business. Of his father, the President had glowing memories, frequently remarking, “He was the best man I ever knew.”
His mother was from Georgia, and the men of her family cast their fortunes with the Confederacy in the Civil War. To this mixture in his make-up was due his broad, impersonal, national viewpoint.
Theodore was born in New York City, October 27, 1858, and was reared in the atmosphere of a cultured home of moderate affluence. Too delicate and anæmic to stand contact with the healthy average boys of a school, he received his education at home. As early as the age of nine, however, he resolved to be able to play and fight and be like other boys; so he mapped out for himself a schedule of exercise which he followed for many years, and which no doubt helped greatly toward the achievement of the physical perfection that came with manhood.
He entered Harvard when eighteen, and there, as in every other period of his life, his personality stood out. He fell in love with Miss Alice Lee, of Boston, and they were married a few months after his graduation in 1880. With the birth of a little daughter, Alice, Mrs. Roosevelt died. The young husband left his baby with her maternal grandparents, temporarily abandoned the study of law and his interest in politics, and went West, following the habit of childhood of seeking the solitude of field or forest when in distress or under great mental strain.
North Dakota attracted him, and he invested in a cattle ranch in the Bad Lands during 1884-1886. This was known as Elkhorn Ranch, Medora, N. D.
Soon the life of the cowboys lured him, and he learned their duties, their ways, and the best and worst sides of them. He spent a great deal of time hunting, it being claimed, not by him, however, that he had killed specimens of all of the game found on our prairies or in the mountains. Most of his hunting was done in search of first-hand information for his books, since he started authorship very early in his career, and no friends were more greatly cherished or more enjoyed than the little group of naturalists, John Burroughs among them, with whom he found congenial association. Practically all of his long hunting trips were those of exploration.
In his boyhood days at Oyster Bay, Theodore Roosevelt had made a pal of the young daughter of a neighbour of his parents, Edith Carew. Her tastes were much like his own, and in the gay parties, sleighing, skating, and dancing, he liked to have her for a partner. She also had known the girl he married, and though she had been living in England for some time when she heard of his wife’s death, she wrote him of her sympathy. This letter followed him out to Elkhorn Ranch. He answered; more letters followed, and soon other vistas of life more alluring than round-ups, branding cattle, shooting wildcats, and studying mountain lions, drew him back to the centres of civilization. A trip to London ensued, and a wedding in a little English chapel was solemnized December 2, 1886.
After a leisurely honeymoon about Europe, Roosevelt brought his wife back to New York. He entered the political field again.
President Harrison appointed him a member of the United States Civil Service Commission in 1889. President Cleveland continued him, but he resigned in 1895 to become Police Commissioner of New York City. In this capacity he instituted many reforms.
In 1897, President McKinley made him Assistant Secretary of the Navy. He had just begun to make his energy felt in the discharge of the duties of this position when war was declared with Spain.