Edith Roosevelt

Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt (August 6, 1861 – September 30, 1948) was the second wife of Theodore Roosevelt, the President of the United States. She acted as the First Lady of the United States from 1901 to 1909.

Edith Roosevelt
c. 1903 portrait by Frances Benjamin Johnston
First Lady of the United States
In role September 14, 1901 – March 4, 1909
President	Theodore Roosevelt
Preceded by	Ida McKinley
Succeeded by	Helen Taft
Second Lady of the United States
In role March 4, 1901 – September 14, 1901
Vice President	Theodore Roosevelt
Preceded by	Jennie Hobart (1899)
Succeeded by	Cornelia Fairbanks (1905)
First Lady of New York
In role January 1, 1899 – December 31, 1900
Governor	Theodore Roosevelt
Preceded by	Lois Black
Succeeded by	Linda Odell
Personal details
Born	Edith Kermit Carow (1861-08-06)August 6, 1861 Norwich, Connecticut, U.S.
Died	September 30, 1948(1948-09-30) (aged 87) Oyster Bay, New York, U.S.
Resting place	Youngs Memorial Cemetery
Spouse(s)	Theodore Roosevelt (m. 1886; died 1919)
Children	Theodore III, Kermit, Ethel, Archibald, and Quentin
Signature

She was born in Norwich, Connecticut. Her parents were Charles (1825-1883) and Gertrude Tyler Carow (1836-1895). She spent her childhood in old New York City. As small children, Edith Kermit Carow and Corinne Roosevelt Robinson (younger sister of Theodore Roosevelt) played together. During childhood, she and "Teedie" (nickname of Theodore Roosevelt) were in and out of each other's houses.

Edith went to Roosevelt's wedding with Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt in 1880. Soon Alice Hathaway died. In 1885, Rooservelt married Edith.

Theodore Roosevelt and Edith were married in London in December 1886. They settled down in a house on Sagamore Hill, at Oyster Bay, headquarters for a family that added five children in ten years: Theodore Jr., Kermit, Ethel Carow, Archibald Bulloch, and Quentin. Throughout Roosevelt's intensely active career, family life remained close and entirely delightful.

After assassination of President William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt became the President. Mrs. Roosevelt became the First Lady. She guarded the privacy of her family. Still she was an active First Lady. The White House became a social center of that time.

After her husband’s death in 1919, she spent more or less a retired life. She also traveled outside the USA. But, she always came back to Sagamore Hill as her home. In 1932, she briefly came out of her retirement. She gave a speech in support of Herbert Hoover’s re-election for the presidency of the United States. At that time, her nephew-in-law Franklin Delano Roosevelt was also a candidate for the post of the president of the United States. She died at her Oyster Bay home in New York on September 30, 1948, at the age of 87.