ROOSEVELT MARTHA: (1835-1884) American Socialite, mother of American President Theodore Roosevelt and the paternal grandmother of Eleanor Roosevelt. A true southern belle, she is considered to have been one of the inspirations for Margaret Mitchell's character Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With The Wind. A good, lengthy A.L.S., Mittie, six pages, 8vo, Henderson, Herkimer County, 28th September 1882, to [Captain James D. Bulloch] 'My darling Brother', on mourning stationery. Roosevelt commences her letter stating 'I think of you tenderly & most lovingly as seated in that little room at Irvine's writing & thinking & looking so far away in yr. dear brown eyes', adding that she shall 'eagerly look for your book & read it with mingled feelings of pride, interest, love, all deeply permeated with the patient, thoughtful, painstaking truthful writer who tho' the revival of most of the incident must be painful in one sense must still remember thy interest such incidents will lend his book'. Roosevelt continues her charming letter with family news of their recent activities and many references to relatives and mutual friends, in part, '…the four or five months Theodore, Elliott & Corinne spent in Dresden in 1873 is always fresh in their memory - & it gave them such a spur in their German. Nannie being near Linlie will be a great comfort & advantage to her. I long to hear of her departure & first impressions….Bamie & I spend October at Tranquillity - hoping that Alice & Teddie, Corinne & Douglas & Elliott will spend some Saturdays & Sundays with us - November will find us all in the City for the winter. I wish you all could see the glorious view from The Mansion & the Farm House….clear atmosphere with every distant point & range, tree farm in view & blue either overall, then all in melting haze & great soft masses of clouds. Purple & gold sunsets, golden sun sets - then the heavens flecked with soft pink clouds & the distant hills steeped in depths of saphire (sic) blue….We took Tea with old Mr & Mrs Ward yesterday in their most comfortable Farm House which had the usual bead baskets large Bible in the best parlour & our tea was exquisite in its daintiness & brightly cleaned real silver….the Pastor of the primitive little church at the village of Henderson is a most agreeable man, a scholar & very fine preacher - Their House most pretty, cake & home made wine they refreshed us with when we called…..Douglas has gone in his dog cart for our mail at Jordanville. He is also ordering potatoes, buckwheat & maple syrup for all of our tables in the winter….Elliott is seated by Corinne reading Sidney Smith's Memoirs & Letters to her….& they are both laughing at some of the bon mots. Mr. Robinson rises at four a.m. after his toilette, he makes a little fire in his room, boils his water & makes his tea & partakes of it with bread & butter, reads & then has prayers at 7 am for the farmer….He again has prayers for us at half past eight after which we breakfast. Our table is waited on by a young girl formerly Mrs. R's Sunday School schooler. Her little brother Willie follows in John Martin's wake in overhauls far too large for him…..Elliott has been unfortunate in the illness of his horse Jack who foundered the other evening after coming in from the ride….the poor old Horse has his two feet done up & in saw dust while the Vet (as D & E say) from Utica visits him….' Roosevelt concludes by sending her love to Hariott, Jessie, Linlie, Jimmie and Stuart. A letter of wonderful content and quite scarce as a result of Roosevelt's untimely death at the age of 48 from typhoid fever. Some light creasing and very minor age wear, otherwise VGJames Dunwoody Bulloch (1823-1901) American Naval Officer, half-brother of Martha Roosevelt. Bulloch served as the Confederacy's Chief Foreign Agent in Great Britain during the American Civil War. Based in Liverpool, he operated blockade runners and commerce raiders that provided the Confederacy with its only source of hard currency. Bulloch arranged for the unofficial purchase of Confederate cotton, and the despatch of armaments and other war supplies to the South. His secret service funds are alleged to have been used for the planning of Lincoln's assassination. Never pardoned by the American Government for his role in the Civil War, he spent the rest of his life living in exile in England. The book which Roosevelt refers to in the present letter was Bulloch's The Secret Service of the Confederate States in Europe which was published in two volumes in 1883. Hariott Foster (1829-1897) Second wife of Bulloch from 1857. They had five children together, James ('Jimmie'), Jessie, Henry, Stuart and Martha Louise. Irvine Stephens Bulloch (1842-1898) American Naval Officer, brother of Martha Roosevelt. Bulloch served with the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War and was the youngest officer on the famed warship CSS Alabama, firing its last shot before it was sunk off the coast of France at the end of the Civil War. Anna Roosevelt Cowles (1855-1931) American Socialite, eldest daughter of Martha Roosevelt. Nicknamed 'Bamie', she was the older sister of Theodore Roosevelt and an aunt of Eleanor Roosevelt. Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American President 1901-09, eldest son of Martha Roosevelt. Elliott Bulloch Roosevelt (1860-1894) American Socialite, third child of Martha Roosevelt. Father of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and the younger brother of Theodore Roosevelt. Corinne Roosevelt Robinson (1861-1933) American Poet & Writer, the youngest child of Martha Roosevelt. Sister of Theodore Roosevelt and an aunt of Eleanor Roosevelt. Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt (1861-1884) American Socialite, the first wife of Theodore Roosevelt from 1880-84. Less than two days after giving birth to their only child, Roosevelt tragically died at the age of 22 from Bright's Disease. Her mother-in-law, Martha Roosevelt, somewhat remarkably died on the same day and in the same house.
