Roosevelt Roots in the Netherlands

 

Did you know that FDR had Dutch roots? I did not but I learned that factoid on my spring 2024 trip to Holland. 

The forefather of the Roosevelt family of New York was a man named Claes Martenszen van Rosevelt. Five of his children were baptized in the Reformed Dutch Church in Amsterdam, although the family probably lived in what we'd today call a suburb, Oud-Vossemeer.  In 1655, Claes had moved his family to Manhattan and bought a farm. 

The website for the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum lists the complete ancestral pedigree of FDR as well as listing his descendants. 

The little town of Oud-Vossemeer is very proud of its connection to the American Roosevelt presidential family. They have established a website (www.rooseveltoudvosemeer.nl) and here's what I learned: 

The Roosevelt Foundation of Oud-Vossemeer was established on September 17, 2015.

Its goal is to set up and maintain an information centre that allows visitors to discover more about the place of origin of the American presidential family Roosevelt. Exchanging and spreading information on this subject to organizations and persons is also part of our objective. Amongst other things, the foundation organizes exhibitions in order to realize this goal.

A continuing big question is were FDR and "Teddy" related? Well, distantly.

Theodore, 1858-1919, s/o            FDR, 1882-1945, s/o

Theodore, 1831-1876, s/o            James, 1828-1900, s/o

Cornelius, 1794-1817, s/o            Isaac, 1790-1863, s/o

James, 1759-1840                        James, 1760-1847

Why the discrepancy with dates for James???? Well, that's what Google found for me.............. you check it out. :-)