Theodore Sr. Meets Mittie
It was on a Thursday evening in 1853 three days before Christmas when an 18-year southern belle married a 23-year-old Yankee from NYC. What ended in Georgia, began in Philadelphia.
Theodore’s older brother Silas married Mary West the sister of Philadelphia Doctor Hilbourne West. One summer Theodore accompanied Silas and Mary on a visit to the Wests’ where he was introduced to the doctor’s wife Susan, the daughter of former Georgia Senator John Elliott. She was fond of entertaining guests with stories of growing up on a plantation, her family adventures and her beautiful younger half-sister Mittie Bulloch.
Theodore Sr. was captivated and wanted to see everything for himself. In 1850 the Wests asked if he wanted to join them on their next visit to Bulloch Hall. He accepted.
When Mittie and Theodore met for the first time, she was only 15 and found the 19-year-old Roosevelt a stick in the mud. He was too serious and too boring. He insisted on referring to plants by their Latin names and showed little acceptance of the Bulloch sense of southern humor, or their life with slavery.
The Bulloch children each were assigned their own personal slave, or shadow. Mittie's "Lavinia" went everywhere with her and at night she slept on the floor on a mat next to Mittie’s bed.
In comparison Theodore was the youngest of five rough and tumble sons. There’s a family story claiming one of the sons rode a pig down 5th Avenue. The kid’s constant mischief gave the family a raucous reputation. In New York’s polite society their mother Margaret was described as that “lovely Mrs. Roosevelt with those five horrid boys."
Whatever happened, it was clear Mittie had made a permanent impression. According to the family Theodore sent Mittie a gold thimble after returning to New York.
In June 1851 he sailed on a Grand Tour of the continent traveling with John Carow the father of Edith Kermit Carow.
While Theodore was in Europe, Mittie and her older sister Anna attended a lady's academy in South Carolina. Anna would eventually home school Mittie’s children; Anna, Theodore, Elliott and Corinne. She’d married James King Gracie whose family-owned Gracie Mansion. They moved to Oyster Bay and lived in a home at the base of Sagamore Hill called Gracewood.
Following two years of study the sisters traveled north to visit the Wests. When Theodore learned Mittie was in Philadelphia, he wasted no time securing an invitation to visit Hilbourne and Susan. This time a more mature Mittie began to take notice. He invited her to NYC where she stayed with Silas and Mary Roosevelt and was introduced to Theodore's parents.
In New York Mittie caught a glimpse of the spirit, vitality and charity that became Theodore’s trademark. The visit turned into romance. Mittie kept postponing her return to Georgia. On May 15th only days after she was back home Theodore wrote her mother asking for her permission to marry Mittie. There’s nothing in print to suggest Martha harbored any ill will toward the Roosevelts being northerners and she said she wouldn’t interfere with the marriage leaving the decision to her daughter.
Theodore quickly arranged a trip to Roswell and within a few weeks the two were officially engaged.
