Edith Roosevelt

Edith Kermit Carow was Theodore Roosevelt's second wife, but his only First Lady. Edith came from one of New York City's premier families and had been trained since childhood in the ways of the society hostess. She had been a friend to Teddy since childhood. (she was not his first love, however; that place was held by his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee. Following the birth of their only child, Alice died of Bright's disease leaving a bereft husband and now-motherless child.) Two years after Alice's death, Teddy re-established contact with Edith and married her in 1886.

They were a well-suited pair with both enjoying hard physical activity. Together they raised their brood of six children (his one and their five.) Edith climbed the political ladder with her husband every step of the way. Teddy once remarked that whenever he went against her judgement, he would later regret it. She was elegant and quiet but she was certainly in charge of the family.

The assassination of William McKinley brought the Roosevelts to the White House. So boisterous and rambunctious a family had never before been seen in the Executive Mansion. The entire country delighted in the children's escapades as reported by the press. A high point of the White House years came with the wedding of Roosevelt's eldest daughter, Alice, to Congressman Nicholas Longworth.

Roosevelt mounted another (unsuccessful) campaign for the presidency in 1912, losing to Woodrow Wilson. The Roosevelts eventually returned to their beloved home, Sagamore Hill. Edith and Teddy endured the death of their beloved youngest son, Quentin, who fell in the First World War. The former President was to die in 1919. Two more of Edith's children would eventually predecease her.

Until her death in 1948, remained the quiet and elegant "grande dame" of the Roosevelt family.