A Biography of Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt

Alice Hathaway Roosevelt was an American socialite and the first wife of the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt. She was born on July 29, 1861, in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, to banker George Cabot Lee and Caroline Watts Haskell. Alice was known for her cheerful personality and striking beauty. She had blue-gray eyes and long, wavy golden hair. Her family and friends called her “Sunshine.”

Alice met Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., in 1878, at the home of her relatives, the Saltonstalls. Roosevelt was a classmate of her cousin, Richard Middlecott “Dick” Saltonstall. After their first encounter, Roosevelt was smitten with Alice’s beauty and charm, and they eventually began courting. In June 1879, Roosevelt proposed marriage to Alice, but she waited eight months before accepting. Their engagement was announced on February 14, 1880.

On October 27, 1880, Alice married Roosevelt at the Unitarian Church in Brookline, Massachusetts, when she was 19, and he was 22. Their “proper” honeymoon was delayed until the following summer due to Roosevelt’s acceptance into Columbia Law School. After spending the first two weeks of their marriage at the Roosevelt family summer rental in Oyster Bay known as “Tranquility,” the couple went to live with Theodore’s widowed mother, Martha Stewart “Mittie” Bulloch.

Alice and Theodore participated in the social world of elite New York and toured Europe for five months in 1881. In October 1882, they moved to Theodore’s Albany boardinghouse, and Alice learned about New York state politics. When Alice became pregnant in the summer of 1883, the Roosevelts planned for a large family and bought land near Tranquility for a large home. She returned to live with her mother-in-law in New York City later that fall.

On February 12, 1884, Alice gave birth to the couple’s daughter, Alice Lee Roosevelt. Theodore was in Albany attending to business on the Assembly floor at the time of the birth. He had been convinced their child would be born on Valentine’s Day, the fourth anniversary of their engagement. After receiving a telegram the morning of the 13th notifying him of the birth, he made arrangements to leave that afternoon and be with his wife. Another telegram was sent and received regarding her ill health, and she was in a semi-comatose state by the time he arrived home, around midnight. Alice languished for several hours while Theodore held her, dying the afternoon of February 14, 1884, from undiagnosed kidney failure. It was determined that her pregnancy had masked the illness. Alice Roosevelt was 22 years old at the time of her death.

Theodore was devastated by Alice’s death and hardly spoke of her again. He revealed following his wife’s death only a diary entry and a short, privately published tribute, tearing pages from his diary and burning almost all the letters they had written to each other over the years. Theodore turned the care of their newborn daughter, Alice Lee Roosevelt, over to her aunt Anna “Bamie” Roosevelt, the older sister of Theodore Roosevelt, because it was already clear that his sister would remain unmarried. Theodore and his second wife, Edith Kermit Carow, took custody of their daughter when she was three years old.

Alice Hathaway Roosevelt was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, next to her mother-in-law, Mittie, who had died just hours before her. The families of each held a joint funeral for the two women. Despite her brief life, Alice Hathaway Roosevelt left an indelible mark on the life of the future President.

Indeed, Alice Hathaway Roosevelt’s memory continued to influence her husband’s life even after her death. Theodore Roosevelt never forgot his love for her, and he often spoke of her with great affection throughout his life. He even had a lock of her hair with him when he died in 1919.

After Alice’s death, Roosevelt went through a period of deep mourning. He withdrew from public life and devoted himself to his infant daughter, Alice Lee Roosevelt, whom he called “Baby Lee.” Roosevelt’s grief was compounded by the death of his mother, Mittie, just two days after Alice passed away.

Roosevelt later remarried, to his childhood sweetheart, Edith Kermit Carow. They went on to have five children together and remained married until Roosevelt’s death. However, despite his happy second marriage, Roosevelt never forgot Alice and often wrote about her in his letters and memoirs.

Alice Hathaway Roosevelt’s life was tragically short, but she made a lasting impact on the man who would become one of America’s most iconic presidents. Her memory serves as a reminder of the fragility of life and the enduring power of love.

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