48 
ROOSEVELT’S BIRTH AND EDUCATION. 
J. Roosevelt, great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, who 
was born in 1759, gave his services without compensation as com¬ 
missary during the War for Independence. A brother of this 
Revolutionary patriot, Nicolas J. Roosevelt, bom in New York 
city in 1767, was an inventor of ability, and an associate of Robert 
L. Livingston, John Stevens and Robert Fulton in developing the 
steamboat and steam navigation. 
The grandfather of Governor Roosevelt, Cornelius van Shaick 
Roosevelt, born in New York city in 1794, was an importer of 
hardware and plate glass, and one of the five richest men in the 
town. He was one of the founders of the Chemical Bank. One 
of his brothers, James J. Roosevelt, was a warm friend and ardent 
supporter of Andrew Jackson; served in the New York Legisla¬ 
ture and in Congress, and was a Justice of the Supreme Court of 
New York from 1851 to 1859. 
A DISTINGUISHED FAMILY. 
A cousin, James Henry Roosevelt, was distinguished for his 
philanthropies, and left an estate of a million dollars, which, by 
good management, was doubled in value, to found the famous 
Roosevelt Hospital in New York city. Cornelius V. S. Roosevelt 
married Mary Barnhill, of Philadelphia. Of their six sons the 
Hon. Robert B. Roosevelt was one of New York’s most distin¬ 
guished citizens, served in Congress and also as a United States 
Minister to the Netherlands. 
Theodore, another son, born in New York city, and deceased 
in 1878, was the father of President Theodore Roosevelt. He mar¬ 
ried Martha Bulloch, who, with four of their children, survived 
him. Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., continued in the business founded 
by his father, and became a controlling factor in the plate glass 
trade. He greatly augmented the family fortune, and at his deathV 
was reputed a millionaire. 
Thus President Roosevelt comes from a distinguished family. 
Good stock may turn out to be poor sometimes, but it makes a 
vast difference as to the kind of blood a man has in his veins, and 
good stock is much more likely to turn out well than stock of the 
