Cornelius Van Schaack "C.V.S." Roosevelt (January 30, 1794 – July 17, 1871) was an American businessman from New York City. He was a member of the prominent Roosevelt family and the paternal grandfather of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.
Cornelius Roosevelt | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Cornelius Van Schaack Roosevelt January 30, 1794 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | July 17, 1871 (aged 77) Oyster Bay, New York, U.S. |
| Education | Columbia College |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Employer | Chemical Bank |
| Spouse |
Margaret Barnhill
(m. 1821; died 1861) |
| Children | |
| Parent(s) | James Jacobus Roosevelt Maria Van Schaack |
| Relatives | See Roosevelt family |
Early life
editRoosevelt was born on January 30, 1794, in New York City, to James Jacobus Roosevelt and Maria Helen Van Schaack.[1] He was the last full-blooded Dutch Roosevelt of his line.[2] His great-grandfather was Johannes Roosevelt, the founder of the Oyster Bay branch of the Roosevelt family. Through his grandfather Cornelius Van Schaack Jr., he was a grandnephew of Peter van Schaack and great-great-grandson of Maria Schuyler from the Schuyler family.[1] Through Maria, he was a great-great-great-grandnephew of Dutch-American settler Philip Pieterse Schuyler[3] and a great-great-great-grandson of David Pieterse Schuyler.
Cornelius's younger brother, James John Roosevelt, served as a United States Congressman from New York from 1841 until 1843.[4] He attended Columbia College but academic life did not suit him, and he did not graduate.[5][6]
Career
editIn 1818, after leaving college, Roosevelt became his father's partner in importing hardware.[5] "Economy is my doctrine at all times," he once said, "at all events till I become, if it is to be so, a man of fortune." At his insistence, the focus of the business changed from hardware to plate glass.[7] After his father's death in 1840, he inherited a large fortune and was one of the five richest men in New York City.[8][9] He continued to work in the business until his retirement in 1865.[5]
In the Panic of 1837, he bought many lots in Manhattan for building.[7]
In 1844, when New York Chemical Manufacturing Company's original charter expired, the chemical company was liquidated and was reincorporated as a bank only, becoming the Chemical Bank of New York in 1844.[10] Roosevelt was among its first directors under its new charter, along with John D. Wolfe, Isaac Platt and Bradish Johnson, and the bank's president John Q. Jones.[11] The company sold all remaining inventories from the chemical division as well as real estate holdings by 1851 and later became the present day Chase Bank.[8]
Personal life
editOn October 9, 1821,[12] Roosevelt married Margaret Barnhill (1799–1861), a daughter of Robert Craig Barnhill and Elizabeth Potts.[13] She was a descendant of English and Irish Quakers[7] and of Thomas Pott of Wales. They had six sons: Silas Weir Roosevelt, James Alfred Roosevelt,[14] Cornelius Van Schaack Roosevelt Jr., Robert Barnhill Roosevelt, Theodore "Thee" Roosevelt Sr., and William Wallace Roosevelt. When each of his sons married, he gifted them houses in New York.[15]
On July 17, 1871, Roosevelt died at his home in Oyster Bay, New York. The New York Times memorialized him as a "merchant of the old school".[5] His estate was valued at between $3 million and $7 million.[16]
Descendants
editRoosevelt's grandchildren include John Ellis Roosevelt (1853–1939), president of the Elkhorn Valley Coal Land Company, William Emlen Roosevelt (1857–1930), a banker and president of Roosevelt & Son, Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), the President of the United States from September 14, 1901 until March 4, 1909,[17] and Granville Roland Fortescue (1875–1952), an author and soldier. One of Roosevelt's great-granddaughters was First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. A great-great-grandsons was Sir Humphrey Clarke, 5th Baronet (1906–1973).[18]
References
editCitations
- ^ a b "Theodore Roosevelt Family". www.theodore-roosevelt.com. Alamanac of Theodore Roosevelt. Archived from the original on 22 November 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
- ^ Schriftgiesser, Karl (1942). The Amazing Roosevelt Family, 1613–1942. Wildred Funk, Inc.
- ^ Jonathan Pearson, Chap. 9, "Burning of Schenectady", History of the Schenectady Patent in the Dutch and English Times, 1883, pp. 244-270
- ^ "ROOSEVELT, James I. - Biographical Information". bioguide.congress.gov. United States Congress. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
- ^ a b c d "OBITUARY | Cornelius V.S. Roosevelt". The New York Times. July 18, 1871. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
- ^ Cogan, Neil Howard (March 5, 2020). Theodore Roosevelt : a manly president's gendered personal and political transformations. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-01713-2. OCLC 1144794492.
- ^ a b c McCullough 2001, p. 24.
- ^ a b Meyers, Cornelius V. (1902). Theodore Roosevelt, Patriot and Statesman: The True Story of an Ideal American. P.W. Ziegler & Co.
- ^ Hubert, Philip G. (1903). The Merchants' National Bank of the City of New York.
- ^ Chemical National Bank of New York to Pay Interest on Deposits. Bankers Magazine, Volume 94, 1917
- ^ History of the Chemical Bank 1823–1913. Privately Published by The Chemical National Bank, 1913
- ^ "Cornelius Van Schaak Roosevelt/Margaret Barnhill". latrobefamily.com.
- ^ "Barnhill family". melissagenealogy.stormpages.com. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
- ^ "WILL OF JAMES A. ROOSEVELT.; Mrs. Roosevelt Receives Half of the Real Estate, Besides Other Property. Trust Funds for Heirs" (PDF). The New York Times. July 28, 1898.
- ^ McCullough 2001, p. 20.
- ^ McCullough 2001, p. 126.
- ^ Murray, Robert K; Blessing, Tim H (2004). Greatness in White House. Pennsylvania State U.P. pp. 8–9, 15. ISBN 978-0-271-02486-8.
- ^ "The Blacketts of North East England". Theblacketts.com. Archived from the original on May 8, 2014. Retrieved August 17, 2013.
Sources
- McCullough, David (2001). Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0671227114.
External links
edit- Almanac of Theodore Roosevelt Family Tree
- Isa Carrington Cabell (1900). . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography.