Samuel M. Roosevelt

Samuel Montgomery Roosevelt (February 20, 1857 – August 19, 1920)[1] was an American artist and merchant from New York City.

Samuel M. Roosevelt
BornFebruary 20, 1857
New York City, New York, U.S.
DiedAugust 19, 1920
Knickerbocker Club, New York City, New York, U.S.
EducationArt Students League of New York
Spouse(s)
Augusta Eccleston Shoemaker Boylston
​
​
(m. 1885; his death 1920)​
Parent(s)Samuel Roosevelt
Mary Jane Horton
RelativesSee' Roosevelt family
AwardsLegion of Honour

Early life

Roosevelt was born on February 20, 1857 in New York City.[1] He was the son of prominent businessman Samuel Roosevelt (1813–1878) and Mary Jane (née Horton) Roosevelt (1823–1901).[2] His brother was Nicholas Latrobe Roosevelt, the father of Henry Latrobe Roosevelt, who served as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy under their distant cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt.[3]

His paternal grandparents were Nicholas Roosevelt, an inventor involved with the steamboat, and Lydia Sellon (née Latrobe) Roosevelt, daughter of his grandfather's friend and business partner, architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe.[3]

He was educated at St. John's School in Ossining, New York and studied art at the Art Students League of New York and in Paris, and studied painting under Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant and Jean-Paul Laurens.[4][5]

Career

A wine merchant by trade,[6] he was also an accomplished portrait artist, he is remembered for his portraits of his distant cousin Theodore Roosevelt, Oliver Belmont, Antonio de La Gandara, Hudson Maxim, Henry Shoemaker, and others.[5] His work was exhibited at the Paris Salon[7] and the National Academy of Design and in Philadelphia and Chicago.[6] He was President of the National Association of Portrait Painters from 1912 until his death. He was also New York City Commissioner of Schools.[5]

Roosevelt was also an active sportsman, skilled at fencing and interested in yachting.[8] He went to Colorado in 1878 on ranching and scouting expeditions with the ninth cavalry against the Ute Indians,[6] and was described as having been a "cowboy" for a period by a cousin upon his death.[5] He entertained frequently and gained notoriety for once serving a whole roasted baby lion to guests.[5] He was a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor.[5]

Personal life

He married Augusta Eccleston (née Shoemaker) Boylston of Baltimore on May 5, 1885.[9] She was a daughter of Samuel Moor Shoemaker (1821–1884), a vice president and key figure in the Adams Express Company whose great-grandfather Samuel Shoemaker and great-great-grandfather Benjamin Shoemaker were mayors of Philadelphia.

In 1899, he bought a 25-room mansion on Skaneateles Lake in Skaneateles, New York (on land that his grandfather had sold, land that made up part of the town). Theodore Roosevelt visited in 1915, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt twice; Robert F. Kennedy considered buying the house when he was running for the U.S. Senate in 1964.[10]

Roosevelt died at the Knickerbocker Club in New York City on August 19, 1920.[1] After his death, he left practically his entire estate, including Roosevelt Hall in Skaneateles, New York, to his nephew, Henry.[11]

References
  1. "SAML. M. ROOSEVELT DROPS DEAD IN CLUB | Artist and Sportsman Stricken with Hemorrhage of the Brain at Knickerbocker. | COUSIN OF LATE COLONEL | President of National Association of Portrait Painters Gained Fame at His Roast Lion Dinner" (PDF). The New York Times. August 20, 1920. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  2. Whittelsey, Charles Barney (1902). The Roosevelt Genealogy, 1649-1902. Press of J.B. Burr & Company. p. 46. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  3. Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York (1905). The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York: History, Customs, Record of Events, Constitution, Certain Genealogies, and Other Matters of Interest. V. 1-. p. 135. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  4. Whittelsey, Charles B. (1902). The Roosevelt Genealogy, 1649-1902.
  5. "Saml. M. Roosevelt Drops Dead in Club". New York Times. 1920-08-20. p. 8.
  6. Herringshaw, Thomas W. (1914). Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography. American Publishers' Association. p. 56. samuel montgomery roosevelt.
  7. The portrait of La Gandara was exhibited in 1906 at La Nationale des Beaux-arts and met a great success. At this date tis work is not localized
  8. "COLLISION IN THE SOUND.; Yacht of the President's Cousin Badly Damaged by the Fishing Steamer Falcon". The New York Times. 14 August 1903. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  9. "An Accident and a Wedding". The New York Times. 6 May 1885. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  10. Doherty, John (2005-08-16). "CNY Rewound: Presidential past". The Post-Standard. Retrieved 2008-03-11.
  11. "S.M. ROOSEVELT WILL FILED; Widow Gets Town and Country Places; Nephew Chief Beneficiary" (PDF). The New York Times. August 26, 1920. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
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