| Martha Bulloch | |
|---|---|
 Mittie at the age of 20 |
|
| Born | July 8, 1835 Hartford, Connecticut |
| Died | February 14, 1884 (aged 48) New york City, New York |
| Occupation | Socialite |
| Spouse(s) | Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. |
| Children | Anna Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Elliott Roosevelt Corinne Roosevelt |
| Parents | James Stephens Bulloch and Martha (Stewart) Elliott |
Martha Bulloch Roosevelt (July 8, 1835 – February 14, 1884) was the mother of US President Theodore Roosevelt and the paternal grandmother of Eleanor Roosevelt. She married Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., and had four children. She was a descendent of Archibald Bulloch. A true southern belle, she was affectionately known as Mittie, and is thought to have been one of the inspirations for Scarlett O'Hara.[1]
Contents |
Childhood
Martha was born in Hartford, Connecticut on July 8, 1835, to Major James Stephens Bulloch and Martha (Stewart) Elliott Bulloch; the family had traveled north with Mittie's older brother, James Dunwody Bulloch, who was studying with tutors in preparation for boarding school. After a few months in Hartford, baby Mittie and her mother returned to their home in Savannah, Georgia.[2]
When Mittie was four, Major Bulloch moved the family to Cobb County, Georgia and the new village that would become Roswell, Georgia. It lies just north of the Chattahoochee River and the city of Atlanta, 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. As a significant antebellum structure, it has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Bullochs were a wealthy planter family, members of the Georgia elite. In 1850, they held thirty-one enslaved African-Americans, most of whom worked in their cotton fields.[3] 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.[4]
After Major Bulloch's death in 1849, the family's fortunes declined somewhat, but Mittie was given a grand wedding to Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. in 1853. Later, as was expected of young southern gentlemen, Mittie's brothers, James and Irvine, fought in the Civil War as Confederate officers. They both lived in England after the war.[2]
It is believed by some that the character of Scarlett O'Hara, in Margaret Mitchell's novel, Gone With the Wind, was based partly on Mittie.[1] (Another inspiration is said to have been Mitchell's own businesswoman grandmother.) Mittie was a true southern belle, a beautiful and spirited woman at her best, not unlike the fictional Scarlett. 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.[5] In that interview, Mittie's beauty, charm, and fun-loving nature were described in detail.[1]
During the war, Mittie was terrified for her brothers, James and Irvine. James was a confederate agent in Britain, and Irvine was the youngest officer on the CSS Alabama, firing the last gun before the ship sank in battle off the coast of Cherbourg, France. These emotional crises were mitigated somewhat by the maturity and management skills of Mittie's eldest 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 fight 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.
Marriage to Theodore Roosevelt, Sr.
Mittie married Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. on December 22, 1853 at the Greek Revival-style family mansion Bulloch Hall 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 28th East 20th Street, New York, a wedding present from CVS Roosevelt (Theodore's father). All four of CVS's sons lived near his own house at 14th Street and Broadway in Union Square. Shortly afterward, her mother, Martha, and sister, Anna Bulloch, moved north to join them in New York.
Mittie bore four children:
- Anna, nicknamed Bamie, (1855-1931)
- Theodore, nicknamed Teedie (T.D.), (1858-1919)
- Elliott, nicknamed Ellie, (1860-1893), the father of Eleanor Roosevelt
- Corinne, nicknamed Conie, (1861-1933), grandmother of Joseph and Stewart Alsop
During her children's education, the family traveled to Europe, predominantly spending time in England, France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, and Germany from May 1869 to May 1870. And then on a second trip, an extended boat trip down the Nile, 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 while Mittie and Bamie went to Paris and then the spa at Carlsbad so Mittie could restore her health.
Death
Martha Roosevelt died of typhoid fever on February 14, 1884, aged forty-eight, on the same day and in the same house as her son Theodore's first wife, Alice Lee Roosevelt, died of Bright's disease, and two days after the birth of her granddaughter Alice Roosevelt Longworth. She is buried at Green-Wood Cemetery located in Brooklyn, New York.
Mittie described in Theodore Roosevelt's Autobiography
Theodore Roosevelt, in his autobiography published in 1913, 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' (sympathetic to the Southern Confederate cause) to the day of her death."[6]
See also
- James Dunwoody Bulloch, half-brother
- Irvine Bulloch, brother
- Theodore Roosevelt, son
- Eleanor Roosevelt, granddaughter
- Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt, daughter-in-law
- Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth, granddaughter
- Anna Roosevelt Halsted, great-granddaughter
- Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr. great-grandson
Sources
Primary sources
- Roosevelt, Theodore. An Autobiography. (1913)
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
- ^ a b c McCullouch, p.47.
- ^ a b http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/familytree/Mittie.htm
- ^ http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ga/cobb/census/1850/1850slaveschedules
- ^ http://www.bullochhall.org/permanentexhibits.asp
- ^ Mitchell, Peggy. - Atlanta Journal. - June 10, 1923
- ^ http://www.bartleby.com/55/
External links
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