Alice Roosevelt Longworth - Childhood

Childhood

Alice Lee Roosevelt was born in the Roosevelt family home at 6 West 57th St. in New York City. Her mother, Alice, was a Boston banking heiress. Her father, Theodore, was then a New York State Assemblyman. Two days after her birth, in the same house, her mother died of undiagnosed Bright's disease; also, on the same day, her paternal grandmother, Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, died of typhoid fever.

Theodore was rendered so distraught by his wife's death that he could not bear to think about her. He almost never spoke of her again, would not allow her to be mentioned in his presence, and even omitted her name from his autobiography. Therefore, his daughter Alice was called "Baby Lee" instead of her name. She continued this practice late in life, preferring to be called "Mrs. L" rather than "Alice".

Seeking solace, Theodore retreated from his life in New York and headed west where he spent two years traveling and living on his ranch in North Dakota. He left his infant daughter in the care of his sister Anna Bamie Roosevelt, also known as "Bye". There are letters to Bamie that reveal Theodore's concern for his daughter. In one 1884 letter, he wrote, "I hope Mousiekins will be very cunning, I shall dearly love her."

Theodore's choice of his sister Anna "Bamie" Roosevelt was not an offhand choice. Bamie had been deeply involved in his life and had been managing the Roosevelt family household since her debut in 1873. She personally decorated his lodgings while Theodore attended Harvard. She was the only aunt with whom Longworth had a long-term relationship. Bamie was the one strong stabilizing influence on her. Longworth would later speak of her admiringly: "If auntie Bye had been a man, she would have been president." Bamie took Longworth under her watchful care, moving Longworth into her book-filled Manhattan house, until Theodore married again.

After Theodore's marriage to Edith Kermit Carow, Longworth was raised by her stepmother. During much of her childhood, Bamie was a remote figure who eventually married and moved to London for a time. But later, as Longworth became more independent and came into conflict with her father and stepmother, Aunt "Bye" provided needed structure and stability. Late in life, Longworth said of her Aunt Bye: "There is always someone in every family who keeps it together. In ours, it was Auntie Bye."

Increasingly, Longworth's parents would send her off to visit Bamie when they couldn't handle her. Likewise it would be Longworth's maternal grandparents in Boston with whom she would spend summers and holiday periods, including Thanksgiving.