CHAPTER II 
Boyhood and Early Life 
T HEODORE ROOSEVELT comes to us from good old Amer¬ 
ican stock, the family of the Roosevelts tracing their career 
on this continent to the days of the sturdy old Dutch governor, 
Peter Stuyvesant. Klass Martenson Van Roosevelt, the first of the 
name in this country, landed in New Amsterdam in 1649. From that 
time on the family occupied a position of prominence in New York City, 
taking an active part in the war for independence, and later on becom¬ 
ing energetic and wealthy members of the mercantile community. 
• Born in New York City October 27, 1858, Theodore Roosevelt 
was given his father's name and inherited some of his father's char¬ 
acteristics, especially his love of outdoor life and his interest in the 
doings of the “common people." 
A thin, pale, delicate lad, weak and short-sighted, he did not seem 
a hopeful case for the building of a strong man. Indeed, to keep him 
from the rough play of the public schools, which he seemed unfit to 
bear, he was taught at home and in private schools. Yet the boy had 
under this pale exterior the inborn energy from which strong men are 
made. Determined to be the equal of his fellows, “to make a man of 
himself," as he has said, he took part in all sorts of boyish sports and 
exercises. He learned to swim, to row, to ride; he tramped over hill 
and dale. In this way the delicate child grew up to be a hardy boy 
and developed into a man with muscles of steel and indomitable vim 
and endurance. 
Stories of animals and adventure interested him from early boy¬ 
hood. The favorite pursuits of the man began to declare themselves 
in the child when he was but six years of age. And his love for a 
good, hard fight in later life manifested itself as early. There are 
several stories extant of his boyhood contests, one of which may be 
worth telling. 
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