Life is unfair (reading time: 3 minutes)
I think Roosevelt is a Dutch name, isn’t it?
You are right and they were proud of it. In "The Dutchness of the
Roosevelts" the author Frank Freidl explains their relationship to (this part of) their ancestry:
"Two of the most notable of American Presidents in the twentieth
century, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt, took
intense pride in their Dutch ancestry. It was the first topic that Theo-
dore Roosevelt wrote about in the opening pages of his Autobiography.
Franklin sketched the family line in a paper he wrote as a student at
Harvard University, and at the beginning of each of his unprecedented
four terms as President took his oath of office on the old Dutch family
Bible.1
Yet both Roosevelts were Dutch more in name and in tradition
than in origins. Theodore, a fifth cousin of Franklin, was less than a
quarter Dutch; Franklin had only a trifling percentage of Dutch an-
cestry. Both Roosevelts, despite their name, were predominantly Eng-
lish in origin.
There were sound reasons, both political and social, for their
pride in their Dutch name. Socially there was no more prestigious
pedigree in New York than to be a member of one of the old Knicker-
bocker families, tracing descent from the founders of New Amsterdam.
The Roosevelts enjoyed a secure position in New York society.
The political worth of a Dutch name was rather less tangible but
nevertheless seemed consequential to both the Roosevelts. It was well
to give the impression that one was somehow not an unadulterated
blue blood of English colonial aristocracy, but rather a product of
the American melting pot. Both Roosevelts had a tendency to claim
as varied an ancestry as possible depending upon the ethnic origins of
the group whose votes they were soliciting at a given moment."
Thanks for pointing out, Alex.
Thank you Henk, that’s very interesting!
I think Roosevelt is a Dutch name, isn’t it?
You are right and they were proud of it. In "The Dutchness of the
Roosevelts" the author Frank Freidl explains their relationship to (this part of) their ancestry:
"Two of the most notable of American Presidents in the twentieth
century, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt, took
intense pride in their Dutch ancestry. It was the first topic that Theo-
dore Roosevelt wrote about in the opening pages of his Autobiography.
Franklin sketched the family line in a paper he wrote as a student at
Harvard University, and at the beginning of each of his unprecedented
four terms as President took his oath of office on the old Dutch family
Bible.1
Yet both Roosevelts were Dutch more in name and in tradition
than in origins. Theodore, a fifth cousin of Franklin, was less than a
quarter Dutch; Franklin had only a trifling percentage of Dutch an-
cestry. Both Roosevelts, despite their name, were predominantly Eng-
lish in origin.
There were sound reasons, both political and social, for their
pride in their Dutch name. Socially there was no more prestigious
pedigree in New York than to be a member of one of the old Knicker-
bocker families, tracing descent from the founders of New Amsterdam.
The Roosevelts enjoyed a secure position in New York society.
The political worth of a Dutch name was rather less tangible but
nevertheless seemed consequential to both the Roosevelts. It was well
to give the impression that one was somehow not an unadulterated
blue blood of English colonial aristocracy, but rather a product of
the American melting pot. Both Roosevelts had a tendency to claim
as varied an ancestry as possible depending upon the ethnic origins of
the group whose votes they were soliciting at a given moment."
Thanks for pointing out, Alex.
Thank you Henk, that’s very interesting!