When Eleanor was 15 she attended Allenswood an all-girls school in London She spent three years there Eleanor’s grandmother was a strict guardian She hired private tutors for Eleanor and her brother to make sure they got a good education When Eleanor was 15 her grandmother sent her to London England to attend a private academy for girls Did you know Eleanor’s mother was a beautiful carefree woman who had a difficult time understanding her serious daughter who seemed much older than her years Anna even called her daughter Granny a nickname that made young Eleanor feel sad and ashamed
Learning to help others When Eleanor was 18 she returned to New York She had done well at the school in London and came home a much more confident person Teachers at the school had helped Eleanor understand the importance of courage independence and public service Eleanor joined the newly founded Junior League an association of women who worked to improve New York City through volunteering and education She also taught at a settlement house in the city A settlement house is a community center in a poor neighborhood that provides many types of services Eleanor also volunteered to inspect factories in the city making sure that conditions were safe for workers After her return Eleanor saw more of her distant cousin Franklin The two had known one another since childhood Eleanor’s father had been Franklin’s godfather But now Franklin a handsome young Harvard student set his sights on his younger cousin Eleanor was serious intelligent and shared many of Franklin’s interests The two became engaged in 1903 Franklin’s mother Sara Delano Roosevelt was against the marriage But the pair would not change their minds They married on March 17 1905
After returning from London Eleanor sought ways to help those who were less fortunate than she was Eleanor and Franklin wed in 1905 at the home of a cousin in New York City
Did you know President Theodore Roosevelt was the older brother of Eleanor’s father Elliott who had died At Eleanor’s wedding Uncle Ted gave the bride away a job usually performed by the bride’s father A young wife The newlyweds settled down in New York City where Franklin soon began practicing law In 1906 the couple welcomed their first child a daughter named Anna Eleanor Over the next ten years Eleanor and Franklin would have five more children all boys Franklin became involved in politics in 1910 when he was elected to New York’s state senate Eleanor helped him campaign His service in the senate attracted national attention and in 1913 he was appointed assistant secretary of the navy by President Woodrow Wilson The family moved to Washington D C When the United States entered World War I in 1917 Eleanor volunteered at the American Red Cross and the Navy Relief Society in Washington D C At the end of the war she traveled to Europe with Franklin In France she visited hospitals and toured battlefields These experiences made her strongly hate war of any kind
