Anna Roosevelt Cowles (January 18, 1855 – August 25, 1931) was the older sister of
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
President
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*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
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Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
and an aunt of
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...
. Her childhood nickname was Bamie (), a derivative of ''bambina'' (
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
for "baby girl"), but as an adult, her family began calling her Bye because of her tremendous on-the-go energy ("Hi, Bamie! Bye, Bamie!"). Throughout the life of her brother, Theodore, she remained a constant source of emotional support and practical advice. On the death in childbirth of her sister-in-law,
Alice Hathaway Lee, Bamie assumed parental responsibility for T.R.'s daughter,
Alice Lee Roosevelt, during her early years.
Early life
Bamie was born in a
brownstone
Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material.
Type ...
home at
28 East 20th Street in New York City on January 18, 1855. She was the eldest child of businessman/philanthropist
Theodore "Thee" Roosevelt (1831-1878) and socialite
Martha Stewart "Mittie" Bulloch (1835-1884). In addition to brother
Theodore Jr. (T.R.) (1858-1919), Bamie's siblings were socialite
Elliott Roosevelt (socialite)
Elliott Roosevelt (February 28, 1860 – August 14, 1894) was an American socialite. He was the father of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and the younger brother of Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), the 26th president of the United States. Elliott and ...
(1860-1894) and writer/speaker
Corinne Roosevelt (1861-1933). Bamie was afflicted by a
spinal ailment that led to her being partially crippled and confined by corrective steel braces as a child.
Theodore Roosevelt's daughter Alice once remarked that had Bamie, with her incredible intelligence and energy, been born a 19th-century man, without the social restrictions that the era placed on women, she would have been president instead of her brother. Her niece,
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...
, stated in her
autobiography
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life.
It is a form of biography.
Definition
The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...
that Bamie had "an able man's mind." Although she was not seen as a stunningly gorgeous woman like her mother or her sisters-in-law, her natural intelligence and energy was magnetic to both men and women. She remained an emotional pillar of strength for all the Roosevelts.
Family responsibilities from a young age
Because Bamie's mother, Mittie, was often distracted by illness or by her busy social life, Bamie increasingly took a central role in running the Roosevelt household, particularly after the premature death of her father, Thee. In fact, T.R.'s elder daughter Alice remarked that Bamie almost seemed to be born into middle age, so significant were the adult responsibilities put into her hands from childhood. Unlike many children in a similar situation, Bamie had the natural maturity, judgment, and wisdom to "hold the family together," Alice said.
When T.R.'s first wife Alice died suddenly following childbirth, most probably of kidney failure (
Bright's Disease
Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that are described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It was characterized by swelling and the presence of albumin in the urine, and was frequently accompanied b ...
) or
toxemia, Bamie took custody of young Alice. Because her grieving father initially would not call her by his late wife's name, Alice was called "Baby Lee" for her mother's family, the Lees of Boston. Alice would say of Bamie that she was the most influential person in her entire life. When the young and vivacious Alice became more than her stepmother,
Edith Kermit Carow, or her father could handle, they would send her up to Auntie Bye for a dose of discipline and to give her the structure that the Roosevelts in the White House were not able to exert.
Elliott's wife,
Anna Rebecca Hall
Anna may refer to:
People Surname and given name
* Anna (name)
Mononym
* Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke
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* Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 1221)
...
, had wished for Bamie to have custody of her children,
Eleanor
Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It is the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages.
The name was introd ...
, Elliott Jr., and
Gracie Hall Roosevelt, upon her death. She was separated from her husband, and died young of
diphtheria
Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...
. Custody of the children was not immediately possible because Elliott was still alive—though exiled by the family because of his alcoholism—and could not be bypassed in the event of litigation. Bamie considered a custody suit but realized that Anna's mother, Mary Livingston Ludlow, would not be willing to give the children into Bamie's care. She did open her home to Eleanor, who was a welcome visitor and made extended stays. Bamie was successful, though, in getting Eleanor out of the oppressive and harrowing home situation by demanding that she be sent to
Allenswood School for girls in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, where Eleanor developed socially and emotionally. During Eleanor and Alice's childhood, Bamie kept them informed of each other's activities, helping to maintain something of a relationship between the two, though it was a vexing relationship, ranging from sometimes being very close and often a bitter and competitive relationship. She was close to both girls and contributed greatly to their development.
T.R.'s lifelong confidante
Throughout his life, Bamie's brother Theodore often turned to her for counsel in letters and personal conversations. In fact, it was said by their niece Eleanor that T.R. made few important significant political decisions and even fewer personal decisions without getting the input of his sister. She remained a trusted confidante for his entire career. As president, he would walk down to her residence at 18th and I in Washington so often that Bamie's house was sometimes called the "other White House." As she became more infirm, T.R. turned more and more to his daughter Alice for advice and to act as a go-between in delicate political situations.
Marriage
In 1895 at age 40, Anna Roosevelt married US Navy Lt. Commander (later Rear Admiral)
William Sheffield Cowles (1846–1923), a divorcé who was 49. They had a son, William Jr. (1898–1986), who married Margaret Alwyn Krech (1900–1982) in 1920.
Later life
When niece
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...
campaigned against T.R.'s eldest son,
Theodore "Ted" Roosevelt III, she publicly broke with her niece after the ordeal. In a letter to her son, Bamie wrote of Eleanor:
:''"I just hate to see Eleanor let herself look as she does. Though never handsome, she always had to me a charming effect. Alas and alack, ever since politics have become her choicest interest, all her charm has disappeared!"''
T.R.'s elder daughter
Alice also broke with Eleanor over this highly distasteful (to Theodore's family) political activity that included Eleanor's riding up to Ted's speaking engagements with a teapot on her car to remind voters of Ted's supposed (but later disproved) connections to the
Teapot Dome Scandal
The Teapot Dome scandal was a bribery scandal involving the administration of United States President Warren G. Harding from 1921 to 1923. Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall had leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyomin ...
. Eleanor dismissed Bamie's criticisms by referring to her as an "aged woman." Despite all these intra-family discords, long after Bamie's death, Alice and Eleanor would later reconcile after Eleanor wrote Alice a comforting letter upon the death of Alice's daughter, Paulina Longworth.
Eleanor Roosevelt on her Aunt Bamie
Bamie and her niece, Eleanor Roosevelt, eventually reconciled, and in an article in the ''
Ladies Home Journal
''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In 18 ...
'', "How to Take Criticism," Eleanor referred to her Aunt Bamie, saying, "I can honestly say that I hate no one, and perhaps the best advice I can give to anyone who suffers from criticism and yet must be in the public eye, would be contained in the words of my aunt, Mrs. William Sheffield Cowles. She was President Theodore Roosevelt's sister and the aunt to whom many of the young people in the family went for advice. I had asked her whether I should do something which at that time would have caused a great deal of criticism, and her answer was: 'Do not be bothered by what people say as long as you are sure that you are doing what seems right to you, but be sure that you face yourself honestly.'"
Death
Alice and Eleanor's warmest link to their fathers' generation died on the night of August 25, 1931, aged 76. Her last words, "Never mind, it's all right," were reportedly spoken to her friend
Sara Delano
Sara Ann Roosevelt ( Delano; September 21, 1854 – September 7, 1941) was the second wife of James Roosevelt I (from 1880), the mother of President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, her only child, and ...
, President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
's mother, before Bamie slipped into a
coma
A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...
and died.
Notes
Sources
Primary sources
* Roosevelt, Theodore. ''An Autobiography.'' (1913)
* Caroli, Betty Boyd. ''The Roosevelt Women'', Basic Books (1998)
Secondary sources
*
Beale Howard K. ''Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of America to World Power'' (1956).
* Brands, H.W. ''Theodore Roosevelt'' (2001)
* Dalton, Kathleen. ''Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life.'' (2002)
* Harbaugh, William Henry. ''The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt.'' (1963)
* McCullouch, David. ''Mornings on Horseback, The Story of an Extraordinary Family. a Vanished Way of Life, and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt'' (2001)
*
Morris, Edmund ''The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt'' (1979)
* Morris, Edmund ''Theodore Rex''. (2001)
* Mowry, George. ''The era of Theodore Roosevelt and the birth of modern America, 1900-1912.'' (1954)
External links
Women in history of Scots descent
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roosevelt, Bamie
1855 births
1931 deaths
American socialites
Bulloch family
Bamie
Schuyler family
New York (state) Republicans