James I. Roosevelt

For other persons with similar names, see James Roosevelt (disambiguation)

c.1855

James John Roosevelt, known as James I. (December 14, 1795 – April 5, 1875) was an American politician, jurist, businessman, and member of the Roosevelt family. His brother Cornelius Roosevelt was the father of James A. Roosevelt, Robert Roosevelt, and Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. as well as paternal grandfather of President Theodore Roosevelt.

Life and career

James I – the Roman numeral was used to distinguish him from others of the same name – was born on December 14, 1795 in New York City to James Jacobus Roosevelt and Maria Van Schaak and baptized at the Dutch Reformed Church. He was a great-grandson of Johannes Roosevelt, the founder of the Oyster Bay branch of the Roosevelt family.

Roosevelt graduated from Columbia College in 1815 and was admitted to the bar in 1818, becoming a partner of Peter Jay (son of John Jay), with a practice in New York City. An active Democrat, he campaigned for Andrew Jackson for president in 1828. He was elected alderman in 1828 and 1830, was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1835 and 1840, and served in the United States Congress from 1841 to 1843, but declined to seek reelection. As a jurist, he became a justice of the New York Supreme Court in 1851, and during one term was ex officio judge of the State Court of Appeals. From 1860 to 1861, he was United States District Attorney for Southern New York. He studied foreign law in the courts of England, the Netherlands, and France. In business, Roosevelt followed in the tradition of his father as a hardware merchant. He engaged in farming after retiring. He was the first president of Roosevelt Hospital, which was founded by his cousin James H. Roosevelt.

On May 30, 1831 in Paris, Roosevelt married Cornelia Van Ness, a daughter of Cornelius P. Van Ness and Rhoda Savage. Cornelia was celebrated for her beauty and grace. General Gilbert du Motier was among the guests. James and Cornelia had eleven children, all but three of whom died in childhood or early adulthood. Their son Charles Yates Roosevelt had a daughter Cornelia, who married Baron von Zedlitz of Austria, who was drowned in a collision with the German emperor's yacht in 1901. James Roosevelt died on April 5, 1875 in his home at 836-838 Broadway in New York City after he broke his thigh bone in a fall and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. Cornelia wife died on February 14, 1876 in Paris.

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Whittelsey, Charles B. (1902). The Roosevelt Genealogy, 1649–1902.
• "The Death of Judge Roosevelt; Action of the City and State Courts Tributes of Respect to his Memory". New York Times. 1875-04-07. p. 2.
• "Roosevelt Hospital Now 50 Years Old". New York Times. 1921-10-30. p. 25.
• United States Congress. "James I. Roosevelt (id: R000427)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
•  This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

External links

James I. Roosevelt at Find a Grave

•  Isa Carrington Cabell (1900). "Roosevelt, Nicholas I.". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography.