Teddy Roosevelt First Wife’s Death – A Tragic Loss for the Roosevelt Family

Teddy Roosevelt’s first wife was Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt, a renowned American socialite and one of the most beautiful ladies then. The couple had been together for 22 years before they were married in 1861, and they shared one daughter.

Alice belonged to a wealthy family from Boston and was known for her bright personality, earning her the nickname “sunshine.” Theodore first met Alice when he was 19 years old and studying at Harvard College. 

She was just 17 years old then and related to his classmate Richard Saltonstall. When Theodore laid his eyes on Alice, he immediately fell in love with her and proposed to her soon after. However, it wasn’t until late 1880 that Alice eventually accepted his proposal.

On October 27, 1880, Roosevelt’s twenty-second birthday, Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt were married in Brookline’s First Parish Unitarian Church. 

After their marriage, the two went on a honeymoon at Tranquility, the Roosevelts’ home at Oyster Bay.

Alice became pregnant in 1883 and had to remain living with her mother-in-law during her pregnancy, while Theodore frequently worked in Albany due to his busy schedule. 

On February 12, 1884, Alice gave birth to their daughter Alice who weighed around 8¾ pounds. Although she was initially healthy after giving birth, Alice began to experience ill health due to Bright’s disease or kidney nephritis and eventually passed away on February 13.

Tragically, due to bad weather conditions, Theodore Roosevelt was unable to reach Alice before her death. 

He returned home to find that his wife had passed away, only hours after suffering from undiagnosed Bright’s disease. Coincidentally, Theodore’s mother, Mittie Roosevelt, had passed away the same day from typhoid fever.

On the day following Alice and their daughter’s birth, Alice was laid to rest at Green-Wood Cemetery next to Mittie Roosevelt. The families of each held a joint funeral for Alice and Mittie.

After Alice’s death, Theodore Roosevelt spent abundant time tending to his ranches in the Dakota Territory.

Knowing he could not manage his newborn daughter and complete Oyster Bay home construction alone, Roosevelt entrusted his eldest sister Bamie to help with these important tasks.

Theodore wrote in a personal diary entry after his wife’s death: “The light has gone out of my life.”

Alice Hathaway Lee was born on July 29, 1861, in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, to George Cabot Lee and Caroline Watts Haskell. 

Her father was a banker, and her brother George Cabot followed in his footsteps, becoming a banker. Alice’s grandfather was a key founder of Lee, Higginson, and Co.