Martha Bulloch Roosevelt

Martha Stewart "Mittie" Roosevelt (née Bulloch) was born on July 8, 1835, in Hartford, Connecticut. She was the daughter of Major James Stephens Bulloch (1793–1849) and Martha "Patsy" Stewart (1799–1864), both residents of Georgia. She had an elder sister, Anna Louisa Bulloch (1833–1893), and two younger brothers, Charles Irvine Bulloch (1838–1841) and Irvine Stephens Bulloch (1842–1898), who was a Confederate veteran during the American Civil War. Through her father's first marriage to Hester Amarintha "Hettie" Elliott (1797–1831), Mittie had two elder half-brothers: John Elliott Bulloch (1818–1821) and James Dunwoody Bulloch (1823–1901). Her mother's first marriage to Senator John Elliott produced four half-siblings: Susan Ann Elliott (1820–1905), Georgia Amanda Elliott (1822–1848), Charles William Elliott (1824–1827), and Daniel Stewart "Stuart" Elliott (1826–1861), who died from tuberculosis while serving in the Confederate Army.

At the age of three, her family relocated from Savannah, Georgia, to Cobb County in north Georgia, where they settled in what would become Roswell. The family’s residence, Bulloch Hall, was built there and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Bulloch family was part of Georgia’s planter elite and owned enslaved African Americans; recent records indicate they held 33 enslaved individuals by 1850, engaged primarily in cotton farming and domestic work. Mittie was assigned an enslaved child, Lavinia, as her personal companion during her childhood.

Mittie was educated at the South Carolina Female Collegiate Institute in Columbia, South Carolina. Her family faced financial decline following her father’s death in 1849. In 1853, she married Theodore Roosevelt Sr., in a ceremony held at Bulloch Hall, her family’s estate, in Roswell. The wedding was officiated in the mansion's formal dining room. The couple subsequently moved to New York City, residing at 28 East 20th Street, a gift from Theodore Sr.’s family; the house was located near other family members’ residences.

They had four children: Anna "Bamie/Bye" Roosevelt (1855–1931), Theodore "T.R." Roosevelt Jr. (1858–1919), Elliott Roosevelt (1860–1894), and Corinne Roosevelt (1861–1933). Throughout her life, Mittie traveled extensively with her family, including trips to Europe in 1869–1870 and 1872–1873, and an additional voyage down the Nile and through the Holy Land.

During the American Civil War, Mittie was distressed by her brothers' involvement—Irvine was the youngest officer on the CSS Alabama, which sank off Cherbourg, France, and James was a Confederate agent in the UK. Her daughter Bamie, who assumed a leadership role during her parents' absences, managed affairs at home. Her husband, Theodore Roosevelt Sr., engaged in political and charitable activities during this period.

Mittie Roosevelt died of typhoid fever on February 14, 1884, at the age of 48. Her death occurred on the same day as the sudden death of her daughter-in-law, Alice Lee Roosevelt, and just two days after the birth of her granddaughter, Alice Roosevelt Longworth. She was laid to rest at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

In his 1913 autobiography, her son Theodore Roosevelt described her as a "sweet, gracious, beautiful Southern woman" and noted her unwavering Southern sympathies through her lifetime.