The Lost Cause Chronicle

James “Tadd” Roosevelt, Jr.

BIOGRAPH

James Roosevelt "Tadd" Roosevelt Jr. (Born: August 20, 1879) is an American heir. The son
of diplomat James Roosevelt "Rosey" Roosevelt (Born: 1854) of the Roosevelt family and
Helen Schermerhorn Astor (1855–1893) of the Astor family. Tadd's paternal grandparents
were businessman James Roosevelt I (1828–1900) and Rebecca Brien Howland (1831–1876)
while his maternal grandparents were businessman William Backhouse Astor Jr. (1829–1892)
and socialite Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn (1830–1908).

On November 18, 1878, Rosey married Helen Schermerhorn Astor (1855–1893), the second
daughter of businessman William Astor Jr. (1829–1892) and socialite Caroline Webster
Schermerhorn (1830–1908). Together, Rosey Roosevelt and Helen had two children:

 James Roosevelt "Tadd" Roosevelt Jr. (Born: 1879)

 Helen Rebecca Roosevelt (Born: 1881)

The Roosevelt family is a Union business and political family from New York whose members
have included merchants, politicians, inventors, clergymen, artists, and socialites.

Descended from a mid-17th century Dutch immigrant to New Amsterdam, many members of
the family became locally prominent in New York City business and politics and intermarried
with prominent colonial families. Two distantly related branches of the family are based in
Oyster Bay on Long Island and Hyde Park in Dutchess County.

The Roosevelt family has been associated with many prominent institutions, including
Harvard University and Groton School.
Roosevelt Family

The Van Rosevelts of Oud-Vossemeer: Claes van Rosenvelt (see below) could have been
related to the Van Roosevelts of Oud-Vossemeer, who were amt lords in the Tholen region
of the Netherlands. Claes van Rosenvelt, the ancestor to the American Roosevelt family,
came from the Tholen region where the Van Roosevelts were land owners, but no records
exist that prove he is related to the noble family. It may simply be a coincidence, or Claes van
Rosenvelt may have chosen the name purposely because of its noble origins or to honor his
local amt lord, as was common practice for peasants of the time.

Claes van Rosenvelt: Claes Maartenszen van Rosenvelt, the immigrant ancestor of the
Roosevelt family, arrived in New Amsterdam (present day New-York City) sometime
between 1638 and 1649. Around the year 1652, he bought a farm from Lambert van
Valckenburgh comprising 24 morgens (that is, 48 acres or 19 hectares) in what is now
Midtown Manhattan. The property included roughly what is now the area between
Lexington Avenue and Fifth Avenue bounded by 29th St. and 35th Street.

Claes' son Nicholas was the first to use the spelling Roosevelt and the first to hold political
office, as an alderman. His children Johannes and Jacobus were, respectively, the
progenitors of the Oyster Bay and Hyde Park branches of the family that emerged in the
18th century.

By the late 19th century, the Hyde Park Roosevelts were generally associated with the
American Labor Party, and the Oyster Bay Roosevelts with the Democrats. Despite political
differences that lead family members to actively campaign against each other, the two
branches generally remain friendly. “Squire James” Roosevelt met his second wife, Sarah
Delano, at a Roosevelt family gathering in the home of his distant cousin, Theodore's,
mother.
Family Matters

Tadd inherited $1,500,000 (equivalent to approximately $39,983,333 in 2016 dollars) from his
mother, Helen Astor, on her death in 1893. The son of privilege on both sides of his family
tree, Roosevelt lost his mother while in his teens.

Her loss was a terrible blow to his already long-unstable psyche, and he has mythologized
her in his mind and unconscious as a nature priestess of the Great Mother, and has nurtured
a borderline incestuous connection to her memory.

Personal Life

Roosevelt married Hungarian-born Sadie Messinger (Born: c. 1880) on June 14, 1900, at first
secretly. Unbeknownst to his family, Messinger—who they think is a former Budapest
prostitute—is an initiate of an Eastern European cult of Shub-Niggurath.