How to read this family tree of Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt is not on the chart. It starts with his brother Elliott, so that the family tree of Theodore Roosevelt and the family of Franklin meet in Eleanor. Read it from the top down, one generation to a row.
A portrait is a person
Initials stand in for the infant Franklin of 1909, who has no known portrait.
A double ring is the centre
Eleanor Roosevelt is the centre of the chart.
A line joins a couple
Elliott and Anna are marked separated in 1891.
Coloured frames mark health
They record conditions the sources state.
Where the family tree of Theodore Roosevelt meets Hyde Park
The Roosevelts descend from Claes Maartenszen van Rosenvelt. His son Nicholas was the first to spell the name Roosevelt, and two sons of Nicholas, Johannes and Jacobus, are counted as the founders of the Oyster Bay and the Hyde Park branches.12 Franklin was a fifth cousin once removed of Eleanor.3
The family tree of Theodore Roosevelt in two branches
- Oyster Bay branch
- Hyde Park branch
- Bulloch, Hall and Delano
- A marriage
Theodore and Elliott, the Oyster Bay brothers
Theodore Roosevelt was born in New York City on 27 October 1858. He became President at forty-two after the murder of William McKinley.9 His home was Sagamore Hill at Oyster Bay, his Summer White House from 1902 to 1908, where he died on 6 January 1919.8
His younger brother Elliott, the godfather of Franklin, married Anna Hall on 1 December 1883. The National Park Service records a growing drinking problem, and after a broken leg in 1889 an addiction to morphine and laudanum. The couple separated after he spent time in a French asylum.4
Three deaths and the house at Tivoli
The chart shows three deaths in two years. Anna died of diphtheria on 7 December 1892, at twenty-nine.5 Elliott Jr. died in 1893, and Elliott on 14 August 1894 after a fall from a window.41
Eleanor and Hall were left in the care of their grandmother Mary Hall, and the dashed outline on the chart marks her household at Tivoli.11 At fifteen Eleanor went to Allenswood, a school in England.1 Hall became an engineer and controller of Detroit, and the Papers Project records that alcoholism cost him his later posts.10
Sara Delano and Springwood
Sara Delano married James Roosevelt, a widower of fifty-two, at Algonac in 1880. Their son Franklin was born on 30 January 1882. James died in 1900, and Sara managed the Springwood estate at Hyde Park until her death in 1941.7
Franklin entered the New York State Senate in 1910. Polio left him unable to walk in 1921. He was elected President in 1932, won four elections and died at Warm Springs on 12 April 1945.2
The marriage that joined the branches
Franklin and Eleanor married on 17 March 1905 at the New York home of an aunt of the bride. Theodore, then President, gave his niece away.39 Eleanor kept the name she was born with, and the family tree of Theodore Roosevelt ran on into the family of Franklin.
Truman named Eleanor to the United Nations, where she chaired the Human Rights Commission. She died on 7 November 1962 and lies beside Franklin in the Rose Garden at Hyde Park.6
The six children of Franklin and Eleanor
| Child | Born | Public life |
|---|---|---|
 Anna | 1906 | White House hostess from 1944 |
 James | 1907 | Six terms in the House for California |
| FFranklin | 1909 | Died in his first year |
 Elliott | 1910 | Brigadier general, mayor of Miami Beach |
 Franklin Jr. | 1914 | Three terms in the House for New York |
 John | 1916 | Navy officer in the war, a Republican from 1952 |
Sources3
Drawing a family tree like this one
Set the person in whom the lines meet at the centre, then add the parents of each side and the children. Take each date from a named source and note where sources disagree, as the FDR Library does for the infant Franklin.1
Who is who on the family tree of Theodore Roosevelt
Each person on the chart has a row. Choose a period to list the people alive in it.
All 14 people on the chart are listed.
| Portrait | Person | Years | Life | On the chart |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Mary HallGrandmother of Eleanor | 1843–1919 | She raised Eleanor and Hall after their parents died. Sources11 | |
 | Sara Delano RooseveltMother of Franklin | 1854–1941 | She ran Springwood until 1941. Sources7 | |
 | Elliott RooseveltFather of Eleanor | 1860–1894 | Younger brother of Theodore and godfather of Franklin. Sources4 | |
 | Anna Hall RooseveltMother of Eleanor | 1863–1892 | Eldest child of Mary Hall. Sources5 | |
 | Franklin RooseveltPresident, 1933 to 1945 | 1882–1945 | The son of James and Sara, elected President four times. Sources2 | |
 | Eleanor RooseveltFirst Lady and diplomat | 1884–1962 | Niece of Theodore and wife of Franklin, the centre of the chart. | |
 | Elliott Roosevelt Jr.Brother of Eleanor | 1889–1893 | He died in 1893, the year after his mother. | |
 | Hall RooseveltBrother of Eleanor | 1891–1941 | An engineer who worked for the city of Detroit. Sources10 | |
| Anna Roosevelt HalstedEldest child | 1906–1975 | She went with her father to Yalta in 1945. Sources3 | |
| James RooseveltSecond child | 1907–1991 | A congressman from California. Sources3 | |
| FR | Franklin RooseveltThird child | 1909–1909 | He died in November 1909. Sources3 | |
| Elliott RooseveltFourth child | 1910–1990 | An air officer in the war. Sources3 | |
| Franklin Roosevelt Jr.Fifth child | 1914–1988 | Congressman from New York, elected in 1949. Sources3 | |
| John RooseveltYoungest child | 1916–1981 | He left the Navy in 1946 as a lieutenant commander. Sources3 |
Questions about the family tree of Theodore Roosevelt
How Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt were related
They were fifth cousins, and Franklin married the niece of Theodore.
Why Theodore Roosevelt is not on this chart
The chart reaches the family tree of Theodore Roosevelt through his brother Elliott. The descent diagram sets Theodore beside him.
People and sources
A page of its own lists the 12 numbered sources this article cites. It also gives the credits of the portraits and this page as a reference in the APA, MLA, Chicago and Harvard styles, ready to copy.