Alice Hathaway Roosevelt
(1861-1884)
BIRTH
July 29, 1861
PLACE
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
NAME
Alice Hathaway Lee
DEATH
February 14, 1884
PLACE
New York, New York
FAMILY
HOMES
NICKNAMES
Sunshine
RELIGIOUS VIEWS
RELIGION NOT DOCUMENTED
DENOMINATION NOT DOCUMENTED
MEMBERSHIPS
AWARDS
Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt was the first wife of Theodore Roosevelt and mother of Alice Roosevelt Longworth, and her death two days after giving birth, on the same day as his mother's, devastated him. She grew up in a wealthy Boston Brahmin family in the suburbs of Boston. She was suffering from undiagnosed kidney disease. Roosevelt wrote in his diary that the light had gone out of his life. She was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.
EARLY LIFE
Alice Hathaway Lee was born on July 29, 1861, in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, the daughter of George Cabot Lee, a Boston banker with the firm of Lee, Higginson and Company, and Caroline Haskell. She grew up in a wealthy Boston Brahmin family in the suburbs of Boston. In October 1878 she met Theodore Roosevelt, then a Harvard student, at the nearby home of her relatives, the Saltonstalls, whose son Richard was Roosevelt's classmate. Roosevelt was immediately smitten and courted her persistently for more than a year. She accepted his proposal in January 1880, and they announced their engagement that February.
Alice married Theodore Roosevelt on October 27, 1880, his 22nd birthday, in Brookline, Massachusetts. The couple settled in New York City, where Roosevelt studied law and was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1881.
On February 12, 1884, Alice gave birth to a daughter, also named Alice, at the Roosevelt family home in Manhattan. She was suffering from undiagnosed kidney disease.
Alice died there on February 14, 1884, hours after Roosevelt's mother died of typhoid fever in the same house. Roosevelt wrote in his diary that the light had gone out of his life. She was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.
CAREER
DEATH
Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt was suffering from undiagnosed kidney disease. Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt was suffering from undiagnosed kidney disease. Alice married Theodore Roosevelt on October 27, 1880, his 22nd birthday, in Brookline, Massachusetts. The couple settled in New York City, where Roosevelt studied law and was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1881. On February 12, 1884, Alice gave birth to a daughter, also named Alice, at the Roosevelt family home in Manhattan. Alice died there on February 14, 1884, hours after Roosevelt's mother died of typhoid fever in the same house. Roosevelt wrote in his diary that the light had gone out of his life. She was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. The available biographical account does not describe a continuous final medical course. It gives no dependable sequence of treatment and last symptoms from which to reconstruct a more detailed bedside narrative.
POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES
Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt’s first wife, distinct from their daughter Alice Roosevelt Longworth. Monk is joint biography; Cordery’s Alice concerns the daughter. Five dedicated biographies were not identified. These editorial selections include biographies where available, with personal writings, collective biography, reference works and related studies clearly labelled.
1. Theodore and Alice: A Love Story: The Life and Death of Alice Lee Roosevelt — William Everett Monk. [Joint biography] Find on Amazon
2. The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt — Edmund Morris. [Related biography of her husband] Find on Amazon
3. Theodore Roosevelt: A Life — Nathan Miller. [Related biography of her husband] Find on Amazon
4. The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President — Edward F. O’Keefe. [Collective family biography] Find on Amazon
5. Alice: Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House Princess to Washington Power Broker — Stacy A. Cordery. [Related biography of her daughter] Find on Amazon
103121