Potus Geeks Summer Reruns: Theodore Roosevelt and His Brother Elliott
Elliott Roosevelt was the younger brother of Theodore Roosevelt, the father of Eleanor Roosevelt and the father-in-law of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Elliott Roosevelt was the third of four children born to Theodore Roosevelt Sr. and Martha Stewart "Mittie" Bulloch. In addition to his older brother Theodore Jr., he had a younger sister named Corinne and an older sister named Anna, who was known as "Bamie". Elliott struggled with alcoholism, and in 1892 he was admitted into an asylum in Virginia. There is some debate as to whether this was something Elliott did voluntarily or whether he was, as he claimed, "kidnapped" by his older brother and hospitalized against his will.
As a youth, Elliott was said to be better academically than Theodore and the two became quite competitive. Elliott enrolled at St Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire in September 1875 and he performed well scholastically until his drinking problem overtook his potential. In 1876 and 1877, he made two hunting trips into West Texas. On the second trip, he met the sportsman Andrew Jameson, whose family made a fortune in Irish whiskey. On a hunting trip there, raiders stole most of his party's horses, forcing them to walk 140 miles back to Fort Griffin.
When his father died in 1878, Elliott Roosevelt inherited a fortune and lived "the lifestyle of the idle rich." This included a trip to India to hunt tigers. When he returned, he married wealthy debutante Anna Rebecca Hall on December 1, 1883 in Calvary Church in New York City. The couple had three children. Eleanor, the oldest, was born on October 11, 1884.
Scandal struck the family in the early 1890s when Elliott fathered an illegitimate child with a young chambermaid. Her name was Katie Mann. The two had a short but passionate affair and Elliott referred to her as his “spirit wife." Eleanor Roosevelt wrote that her father had become attached to "one girl in particular of whom I was jealous." Elliott was forced to break off the affair when his wife found out. His older brother Theodore learned of the situation when a couple of lawyers showed up looking for money for Mann, threatening to expose the scandal otherwise. Theodore Roosevelt wanted to be sure that Elliott was the child's real father. He sent a police detective, having some sort of expertise in likenesses, to take a look at the baby boy when he was born. The detective's opinion was that the child looked like a Roosevelt. That wasn’t good enough of TR, and he personally went to Mann's tiny apartment to see the child for himself. When he did so, he came to the same conclusion that the police detective had. Teddy offered to pay Mann to keep the identity of the child's father a secret. The Roosevelts settled out of court for $10,000. The sum was placed in a trust, but according to Katie Mann, the child never received a dime of the funds, her lawyers kept it all.
Theodore Roosevelt had Elliott forcibly removed from his home in 1891. This was done in the presence of Elliott's children. Elliott referred to this action as a “kidnapping.” Elliott went to Europe. Theodore Roosevelt and his sister Anna conspired to have Elliott separated from his family. They told his wife Anna about Elliott's lovechild and arranged to her her and their children returned home to the United States while Elliott remained in Europe. Elliott was institutionalized under a doctor’s care in a sanitarium. Theodore Roosevelt acted as conservator for his brother's estate.
After being institutionalized in Europe, Elliott Roosevelt was able to arrange his return to the United States where he was able to undergo formal evaluation. He was declared sane and mentally competent by two different courts said he was mentally competent, and Theodore Roosevelt failed to gain official conservatorship over his brother. But Theodore was able to use his power to keep Elliott separated from his family, and prevented Elliott from visiting his children. Despite all his effort to hush the matter up, news of the situation got out, and headlines about Theodore Roosevelt's “insane” brother soon made the family scandal a public matter.
Things got worse for Elliott when, later in 1892, his wife Anna died in 1892. Their son Elliott Jr. died the next year from Scarlett Fever. Elliott's drinking became worse as he became despondent over both the loss of his wife and son, and the fact he still wasn’t allowed to see his remaining children. It is reported that he was drinking multiple bottles of champagne and brandy each day.
Eleanor Roosevelt was said to have been deeply traumatized by her separation from her father. The future First Lady later wrote, “I needed my father’s warmth and devotion more perhaps than the average child, who would have taken love for granted and not worried about it.”
After losing his family in this manner, Elliott's alcoholism and depression became progressively worse. Elliott attempted to commit suicide on August 13, 1894, by jumping out a window. He survived the initial fall, but the following day he suffered a seizure and died that evening of heart failure. At the time of his death, he was only 34 years old.