Lanaii Kline has provided us with the following article, reprinted from the 2008 STFA Annual Newsletter. We very much appreciate the information contained here, but more especially the personal reflection. It reminds us that all of this seemingly “dry history” is about real people who had real lives and hopes and dreams and even family and friends whose lives they impacted and continue to impact down to this very day.
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt and Her Father Elliot in 1889
by Lanaii Kline
When we think of Hyde Park, we often think of Franklin Roosevelt. He had died before I was born, while as a young girl, I often heard of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt. She was very active supporting her many causes. In the pictures that I saw of her in the newspaper she looked so much like my great grandma–whose name was Anna too. Eleanor Roosevelt came to Minneapolis once when I was about 10 and my mother took me downtown to see her.
Eleanor’s early life was quite sad. Eleanor’s parents had both died by the time she was ten. She was a shy, private girl who wasn’t attractive like her parents. When Franklin was struck with polio, she forced herself to change to help support his political ambitions. She became more outgoing and as a result made a big impact on our American life. I was in my early teens when she died in 1962. I recall being saddened by the news of her death.
President Theodore Roosevelt (1904)
Later I learned that she and her uncle, Theodore Roosevelt, were my cousins. He was elected President as a Republican in 1900, and it was he who gave her hand in marriage to Franklin Roosevelt in 1905. She and Franklin were Democrats. What a combination! Before Theodore’s death in 1919, I am sure that interactions between Eleanor and him were much like those between Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwartzenegger! Wouldn’t I love to be a fly on the wall!
Pieter and Aefje van Tienhoven’s daughter, Engeltje Stoutenburg, married Willem Waldron. Their son, Pieter, was the father of Rebecca Waldron. Johannes Yates and Rebecca married and had a daughter, Engeltje. Engeltje Yates married Cornelius Van Schaick and their daughter, Maria, married Jacobus Roosevelt. Maria’s son, Cornelius Van Schaack Roosevelt was the father of Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. Theodore had two sons, Elliott and Theodore. Elliott, father of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, and Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., the 26th president of the United States.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Pieter Stoutenburg married Aefje Van Tienhoven in 1649
Their daughter Engeltje Stoutenburg married Willem Waldron in 1671
Their son Pieter Waldron married Tryntje Vandenburg in 1698
Their daughter Rebecca Waldron married Johannes Yates in 1737
Their daughter Engeltje Yates married Cornelis Van Schaick in 1772
Their daughter Maria Van Schaick married James Roosevelt in 1793
Their son Cornelius Van Schaick Roosevelt married Margaret Barnhill in 1821
Their son Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. married Martha Bulloch in 1853 and had two sons, Theodore (Teddy) and Elliott
Their son Elliott Roosevelt married Anna Hall in 1883
Their daughter Anna Eleanor Roosevelt married Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1905
