Theodore Roosevelt for Kids: His Life and Times, 21 Activities
Roosevelt would wear strands of Abraham Lincoln's hair in a ring on his right hand Theodore and Elliott Roosevelt watch from the second floor window of their grandfather's home as Abraham Lincoln's funeral procession passes below Sagamore Hill National Historic Site National Park Service
Teedie IN THE dark hours of night in the mid 1860s a gas lamp flared in an upstairs room There in bed a small boy sat up gasping Asthma had attacked him and he could not breathe The little boy's father a wealthy New Yorker ordered servants to the livery stable nearby The father scooped up his son bun dled him warmly and carried him downstairs and outside In moments a carriage and horses appeared The father got in and placed the little boy beside him Taking the reins himself the father flicked his whip and urged his horses into action The open carriage rumbled down the Manhattan streets through the fresh night air Block after block they drove as the little boy wheezed trying to catch his breath Then more miles to travel the horses clopping a steady calming beat until the lit tle boy’s gasps gave way to puffs and finally gulps as air filled his lungs Teedie Roosevelt could breathe Again his father had come to his aid as only a boy's father could To Teedie his father seemed like the strong minded Great Heart whom he had read about in a book called Pilgrim's Progress Teedie's name was Theodore Roosevelt just like his father's Theodore Roosevelt Sr was one of New York's leading citizens the seventh Roosevelt to make his home on the island of Man hattan The family had its roots in Holland and its members
pronounced their name in the same way the flower is pro nounced Roosevelt means field of roses Martha Bulloch Mittie Roosevelt In his Autobiography Theodore Roosevelt wrote My mother Martha Bulloch was a sweet gracious beautiful Southern woman a delight ful companion and beloved by everybody She was entirely unreconstructed sympathetic to the Southern Confederate cause to the day of her death Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site National Park Service Theodore Roosevelt Sr About his father Theodore Roo sevelt recalled My father Theodore Roosevelt was the best man I ever knew He combined strength and courage
with gentleness tenderness and great unselfishness He would not tolerate in us children selfishness or cruelty idle ness cowardice or untruthfulness Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site National Park Service Teedie's mother Martha Bulloch Roosevelt came from a dif ferent background Mittie as her family knew her hailed from the Deep South a rural culture of large plantations and smaller farms Like many farmers rich or not the Bulloch family depended on their African American slaves to grow their crops and work in their homes Teedie's parents married in 1853 and his mother became mis tress of their New York brownstone home In less than a year their first child arrived They named her Anna but called her Bamie rhyming with Tammy Then on October 27 1858 their first son was born Soon the little boy had his pet name Teedie The house at 28 East Twenti eth Street filled quickly with more children Elliott called Ellie in 1860 and Corinne Conie in 1861 As a small child Teedie heard grownups talk about the Civil War and its furious battles between North and South Teedie was three when the war began in 1861 By the time it ended in 1865 he was six and a half and firmly for the Union like his father In the Roosevelt home however there was little war talk Mittie's mother and sister lived with the Roosevelts The three Southern ladies fretted about Mittie's two brothers who fought in the Confederate States Navy There could have been arguments about the war in the Roo sevelt home but there were none Teedie's father out of respect for Mittie's family hired a substitute to fight for him in the Union Army Such payments were common among elite families in the North during the Civil War America's very wealthy fami lies did not take part in politics The dirty wrangling of political life they felt was below them Nor did they fight in battle Nonetheless Teedie watched as his father reached out to
