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Theodore Roosevelt, Sr.. (September 22 , 1831 – February 9 , 1878 ) was the father of US President Theodore Roosevelt and the paternal grandfather of American first lady Eleanor Roosevelt A 4th generation Dutch New Yorker and participant in the Roosevelt family business of plate glass importing, Roosevelt and Son, Theodore was a noted New York City philanthropist. He helped found the New York City Children's Aide Society, the Metropolitan Museum of Art , the American Museum of Natural History, and the New York Children's Orthopaedic Hospital. A participant in the dazzling New York society life, one historian described him as a man of both "good works and good times."
Philanthropic works
Among the useful works, Roosevelt founded was the New York Orthopaedic Hospital. Roosevelt's daughter, Corinne would later write an account of its origins. When Roosevelt's daughter, Bamie, was found to have a curved spine, and Roosevelt found a young doctor, Charles Fayette Taylor, who had developed groundbreaking methods of treating physical defects in children including braces and other equipment, Roosevelt organized what appeared to be a social party for the upper crust of New York City. When the would-be revellors arrived, however, what they saw to their great surprise, were small children in new braces specially constructed for them. Moved to tears by the sight, one of the wealthiest socialites, Mrs. John Jacob Astor III leaned over one of the unfortunate children and turned to Roosevelt and said, "Theodore, you are right; these children must be restored and made into active citizens again and I for one will help you in your work." That same day enough money was collected to start the hospital. Friends of Roosevelt used to see him coming and note the look in his eyes only to say to him, "How much is it this time, Theodore?"
An orphan given a start
Another example of the far-reaching nature of Roosevelt's work for the less fortunate of New York City was his influence on a young orphan boy, found on the streets of New York City. When this boy grew up, he approached Roosevelt's son, Theodore, by that time governor of New York at a conference in Portland, Oregon in 1900 when the younger Roosevelt was running for US vice president. When introduced to the young governor from New York, the former orphan said to him, "Governor Roosevelt, the other governors have greeted you with interest, simply as a fellow governor and a great American, but I greet you with infinitely more interest, as the son of your father, the first Theodore Roosevelt." When asked by Governor Roosevelt why and in what special way he had been interested in his father, Governor Brady replied, "Your father picked me up on the streets of New York, a waif and an orphan, and sent me to a Western family, paying for my transportation and early care. Years passed and I was able to repay the money which had given me my start in life, but I can never repay what he did for me, for it was through that early care and by giving me such a foster mother and father that I gradually rose in the world until I greet his son as a fellow governor of a part of our great country." That former orphan was John Green Brady, governor of Alaska from 1897 to 1906
Support for the Union during the Civil War
Theodore Sr. was an active supporter of the Union during the Civil War. He was one of the Charter Members of the Union League Club, which was founded to promote the Northern cause. He has not been listed as such, probably because his wife was a loyal supporter of the Confederacy. It was because of her active support of the Confederate Army that Theodore Sr. did not enlist in the Army of the Potomac, although he very much wanted to do so. Instead, he and two friends, William E. Dodge, Jr. and Theodore B. Bronson, drew up an Allotment System, which amounted to a soldier's payroll deduction program to support families back home. He then went to Washington, lobbied for, and won acceptance of this system, with the help of Abraham Lincoln himself. Theodore Sr. and Mr. Dodge were appointed Allotment Commissioners from NY State. At their own expense, the two men toured all NY divisions of the Army of the Potomac in the field to explain this program and sign interested men up, with a significant degree of success. In 1864, the Union League Club recruited money and food to send Thanksgiving Dinner to the entire Army of the Potomac. Theodore Sr. served as Treasurer for this generous outpouring of support for the troops. The elder Roosevelt meticulously listed every donation received in a Union League Report dated December, 1864
During one of Thee's (Theodore Sr) many trips to Washington, he took along his young son Theodore, Jr, and young Teedie, as he was called, got to sit on President Lincoln's lap and run through the White House. Little did this young child dream, or indeed did his father, that young Teedie would occupy the White House as its youngest sitting President and one of its most successful. Thee was so popular with first lady, Mary Todd Lincoln , that she insisted he accompany her on bonnet-hunting shopping trips in the capital.
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