Martha Stewart "Mittie" Roosevelt ( Bulloch; July 8, 1835 – February 14, 1884) was an American socialite. She was the mother of U.S. President

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 the paternal grandmother 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 t ...

. She was a great-granddaughter of

Archibald Bulloch Archibald Stobo Bulloch (January 1, 1730 – February 22, 1777) was a lawyer, soldier, and statesman from Georgia during the American Revolution. He was the first governor of Georgia. He was also a great-grandfather of Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, ...

, grandniece of William Bellinger Bulloch, and granddaughter of General Daniel Stewart. A true

Southern belle Southern belle () is a colloquialism for a debutante in the planter class of the Antebellum South. Characteristics The image of a Southern belle is often characterized by fashion elements such as a hoop skirt, a corset, pantalettes, a wide-b ...

raised in Georgia, Roosevelt is thought to have been one of the inspirations for

Scarlett O'Hara Katie Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler is a fictional character and the protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel '' Gone with the Wind'' and in the 1939 film of the same name, where she is portrayed by Vivien Leigh. She also is the ...

.McCullouch, pg. 47.

Childhood

Mittie was born in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

on July 8, 1835, to Major James Stephens Bulloch (1793–1849) and Martha "Patsy" Stewart (1799–1864). She had an elder sister, Anna Louisa Bulloch (1833–1893), and two younger brothers, Charles Irvine Bulloch (1838–1841) and

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policie ...

Confederate veteran Irvine Stephens Bulloch (1842–1898). Through her father's first marriage to Hester Amarintha "Hettie" Elliott (1797–1831), she had two elder half brothers: *John Elliott Bulloch (1818–1821) *

James Dunwoody Bulloch James Dunwoody Bulloch (June 25, 1823 – January 7, 1901) was 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 Confe ...

(1823–1901), Civil War Confederate veteran Through her mother's first marriage to Senator John Elliott (father of Hettie), she also had four elder half siblings: *Susan Ann Elliott (1820–1905) *Georgia Amanda Elliott (1822–1848) *Charles William Elliott (1824–1827) *Daniel Stewart "Stuart" Elliott (1826–1861), who died of tuberculosis while serving in the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

during the Civil War. When Mittie was four, Major Bulloch moved the family to

Cobb County, Georgia Cobb County is a county in the U.S. state of Georgia, located in the Atlanta metropolitan area in the north central portion of the state. As of 2020 Census, the population was 766,149. Its county seat and largest city is Marietta. Along with ...

and the new village that would become

Roswell, Georgia Roswell is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia, United States. At the official 2010 census, the city had a population of 88,346. The 2020 estimated population was 94,884, making Roswell the state's ninth largest city. A close suburb of Atla ...

. It lies just north of the

Chattahoochee River The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida - Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chattah ...

and the city of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

, Georgia, and Major Bulloch had gone there to become a partner in a new cotton mill with Roswell King, the town's founder. Bulloch had a mansion built, and soon after it was completed in 1839, the family moved into

Bulloch Hall Bulloch Hall is a Greek Revival Plantation house in the Southern United States, mansion in Roswell, Georgia, built in 1839. It is one of several historically significant buildings in the city and is listed on the National Register of Historic Pl ...

. As a significant

antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern United States ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum a ...

structure, it has been listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. The Bullochs were a wealthy planter family, members of the Georgia elite. In 1850, they held thirty-one negro slaves, most of whom worked in their cotton fields. Others were assigned to such domestic tasks as cooking, sewing, and related work. Recent research in Bulloch records identified 33 slaves who were owned by the family. They have been commemorated on a plaque on the mansion grounds. Mittie, like all her siblings, was assigned a personal "shadow", to act as companion. Mittie's companion, Lavinia, went everywhere with her, stopping outside the classroom when Mittie went inside, and sleeping on a mat by her side at night. Mittie was a student at the South Carolina Female Collegiate Institute in

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-largest ...

. After Major Bulloch's death in 1849, the family's fortunes declined somewhat, but Mittie was given a grand wedding to

Theodore Roosevelt Sr. Theodore Roosevelt Sr. (September 22, 1831 – February 9, 1878) was an American businessman and philanthropist from the Roosevelt family. Roosevelt was also the father of President Theodore Roosevelt and the paternal grandfather of First Lady ...

in 1853. Later, as was expected of young southern gentlemen, Mittie's brothers Irvine and James fought in the

as Confederate officers. They both lived in England after the war. Her half brother, Daniel Elliott, died early in the war from tuberculosis. It is believed by some that the character of

, in

Margaret Mitchell Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell (November 8, 1900 – August 16, 1949) was an American novelist and journalist. Mitchell wrote only one novel, published during her lifetime, the American Civil War-era novel '' Gone with the Wind'', for which she wo ...

's novel, '' Gone With the Wind'', was based partly on Mittie. Mitchell had, in fact, interviewed Mittie's closest childhood friend and bridesmaid, Evelyn King, for a story in the ''Atlanta Journal'' newspaper in the early 1920s. During that interview, Mittie's beauty, charm, and fun-loving nature were described in detail.

Marriage to Theodore Roosevelt Sr.

Mittie married Theodore Roosevelt Sr. on December 22, 1853 at the

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

-style family mansion

in Roswell; they were wedded in front of the pocket doors in the formal dining room. After their honeymoon, the couple moved into their new home at 28 East 20th Street,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * ...

, a wedding present from C.V.S. Roosevelt. Each of C.V.S.'s elder sons lived near his own house at 14th Street and Broadway in Union Square. Shortly afterward, her mother, Patsy, and sister, Anna Bulloch, moved north to join Thee and Mittie in New York. Mittie bore four children: * Anna "Bamie/Bye" Roosevelt (1855–1931) * Theodore "T.R." Roosevelt Jr. (1858–1919) *

Elliott Bulloch Roosevelt 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) * Corinne Roosevelt (1861–1933)

Life after Roswell

During the war, Mittie was terrified for her brothers, Irvine and James. Irvine was the youngest officer on the CSS ''Alabama'', firing the last gun before the ship sank in battle off the coast of

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 ...

, France while James was a Confederate agent in England, Scotland, and Wales. These emotional crises were mitigated somewhat by the maturity and management skills of Mittie's elder daughter, Bamie, who stepped into a leadership role at a young age, especially when her father, "Thee", was out of town in Washington, visiting Lincoln and lobbying Congress for programs to support the northern troops in the field and their families back home. "Thee", a Northerner himself, left his conflicted home situation to serve for the Union cause, acting as an Allotment Commissioner for New York and traveling to persuade soldiers to send a percentage of their wages to their families. During her children's education, the family traveled to Europe, predominantly spending time in England, France, Switzerland, Italy,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populou ...

, and Germany from May 1869 to May 1870, then on a second trip, an extended boat trip down the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest ...

, a trip through the Holy Land, and on to Vienna, Germany and France from October 1872 to November 1873. On this second tour, Theodore Sr. returned to America to go back to work and oversee the building of the new family home at Number 6 West 57th Street. The three youngest children stayed in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth l ...

while Mittie and Bamie went to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and then the spa at Carlsbad so Mittie could restore her health.

Death

Mittie Roosevelt died of

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several d ...

in the early morning of February 14, 1884, aged forty-eight. On the afternoon of the same day and in the same house, her son Theodore's first wife, Alice Lee Roosevelt, unexpectedly died of

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 accompanie ...

Alice Roosevelt Longworth Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth (February 12, 1884 – February 20, 1980) was an American writer and socialite. She was the eldest child of U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt and his only child with his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt. L ...

, Mittie's granddaughter, had been born two days earlier. Mittie is buried at

Green-Wood Cemetery Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope/ Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park, and lies several b ...

located in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, beh ...

Mittie described in her son's autobiography

In his autobiography published in 1913, her elder son T.R. described his mother with these words, "My mother, Martha Bulloch, was a sweet, gracious, beautiful Southern woman, a delightful companion and beloved by everybody. She was entirely 'unreconstructed' .e., sympathetic to the Southern Confederate causeto the day of her death."

Gallery

Image:Bulloch Hall Roswell GA.JPG,

, the

home of the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

, is where Mittie grew up and was married. Image:Bulloch Hall, Dining Room.jpg, The fireplace mantle in the room where

and Mittie Bulloch were married. Image:Chapel-at-Green-Wood.jpg, Chapel at Green-Wood Cemetery, in Brooklyn, where Mittie is buried.

Sources

Primary sources

* Roosevelt, Theodore. ''An Autobiography.'' (1913) * Huddleston, Connie M. and Gwendolyn I. Koehler. "Mittie & Thee: An 1853 Roosevelt Romance." (nonfiction) (2015) * Huddleston, Connie M. and Gwendolyn I. Koehler. "Between the Wedding & the War: The Bulloch/Roosevelt Letters 1854–1860) (2016)

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)

References

External links

Bulloch Hall: Official Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roosevelt, Martha Bulloch 1835 births 1884 deaths American socialites Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery Bulloch family Deaths from typhoid fever Infectious disease deaths in New York (state) Mothers of presidents of the United States Mothers of vice presidents of the United States People from Hartford, Connecticut People from Roswell, Georgia

Martha Martha (Hebrew: מָרְתָא‎) is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She was witness to ...