James Roosevelt

James Roosevelt (July 16, 1828 – December 8, 1900) was a businessman and father of James Roosevelt "Rosey" Roosevelt and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He was born in Hyde Park, New York to Isaac Roosevelt (1790–1863) and Mary Rebecca Aspinwall (1809–1886).

James with his son Franklin in 1895

Isaac was the son of Jacobus Roosevelt III and Catherine Welles. Mary was the daughter of John Aspinwall and Susan Howland.

James Roosevelt graduated from Union College (NY) in 1847. He was an eligible bachelor: tall, slender and wealthy, with considerable society connections. In 1853, he married his first-cousin-once-removed Rebecca Howland (1831—1876. They had one son, James Roosevelt "Rosey" Roosevelt. Howland died in 1876, leaving James a widower.

Four years later, at a party celebrating graduation of his cousin Theodore Roosevelt from Harvard University, he met Sara Delano; they were married on October 7, 1880 and became parents of Franklin D. Roosevelt. James was reportedly a good father to Franklin; however, his recurring heart problems eventually turned him into an invalid. Franklin reacted by becoming fiercely protective of his father.

Roosevelt's business interests were primarily in coal and transportation. He was vice president of the Delaware and Hudson Railway, and president of the Southern Railway Security Company.

James died twenty years after he married Sara, and left the bulk of his estate to her, with only a modest inheritance for Franklin.