FIRST LADY EDITH K. ROOSEVELT - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 07/06/1932 - HFSID 276890

EDITH K. ROOSEVELT
Teddy Roosevelt's widow orders a supply of envelopes so that she can correct letter writers who connect her to "the Democratic nominee" (FDR).
Autograph Letter signed: "Edith K. Roosevelt",, 1p, 6x6¾. Mortlake, Brooklyn, Windham County, Connecticut, 1932 July 6. On personal letterhead to F. Vernon Smith, Indianapolis, Indiana. In full: "I shall find your envelopes most useful & wish to place an order for a hundred. So many send congratulatory letters under the misapprehension of my relationship to the Democratic nominee, - Who is in fact merely a distant connection of my husbands, - That your envelopes will enclose my reply appropriately with thanks. Very truly yours". Connecticut-born Edith Kermit Carow (1861-1948) grew up near the Roosevelts in Manhattan and was a constant companion of the Roosevelt children. She even attended kindergarten in their East 20th Street home. Throughout their childhood, Edith and Theodore often went hiking, swimming and rowing together. They quarreled while TR was in college and shortly thereafter, he met Alice Lee. When 19-year-old Alice and 22-year-old Theodore married in 1880, a heartbroken Edith attended the wedding. After Alice died in 1884, a chance meeting of Edith and Theodore in 1885 rekindled their friendship. They were married in 1886 and had five children. Connecticut-born Edith Kermit Carow (1861-1948) grew up near the Roosevelts in Manhattan and was a constant companion of the Roosevelt children. She even attended kindergarten in their East 20th Street home. Throughout their childhood, Edith and Theodore often went hiking, swimming and rowing together. They quarreled while TR was in college and shortly thereafter, he met Alice Lee. When 19-year-old Alice and 22-year-old Theodore married in 1880, a heartbroken Edith attended the wedding. After Alice died in 1884, a chance meeting of Edith and Theodore in 1885 rekindled their friendship. They were married in 1886 and had five children. Theodore Roosevelt died in 1919. Edith Roosevelt may have had legitimate partisan reasons for distancing herself from the Democratic Party Roosevelts, but her comment in the above letter is accurate but incomplete. Franklin Roosevelt was only a fifth cousin of Theodore, but FDR's wife Eleanor, also a Roosevelt by birth, was Theodore's niece. Mounting adhesive on verso shows through faintly at top edge and lower corners. Otherwise, fine condition.