James A. Roosevelt

James Alfred Roosevelt was born on June 13, 1825, to Cornelius Van Schaack Roosevelt (1794–1871) and Margaret Barnhill (1799–1861). He was a member of the Roosevelt family from Oyster Bay, and he was an uncle of President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt had several siblings, including Silas Weir Roosevelt (1823–1870), Cornelius Van Schaack Roosevelt Jr., Robert Barnhill Roosevelt (1829–1906), Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. (1831–1878), who was married to Martha "Mittie" Bulloch (1835–1884), and William Wallace Roosevelt (1834–1835).

At the age of twenty, Roosevelt became involved in his father's mercantile enterprise, Roosevelt & Son, and eventually assumed its leadership. His career included roles in various financial and civic institutions: he served as vice president of the Chemical Bank of New York; was president of the Broadway Improvement Company; held the position of vice president at the Bank of Savings; served on the board of managers for the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company; and was a director of the New York Life Insurance Trust. Roosevelt was also active in philanthropic and civic organizations, including serving as a trustee for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and participating in the New York Board of Park Commissioners during William Lafayette Strong’s administration. Additionally, he was a president of Roosevelt Hospital, an institution founded by his distant relative James H. Roosevelt.

On December 22, 1847, Roosevelt married Elizabeth Norris Emlen (1825–1912), daughter of William Fishbourne Emlen (1786–1866) and Mary Parker Norris (1791–1872). Together, they had four children: Mary Emlen Roosevelt (1848–1885), Leila Roosevelt (1850–1934), who married Edward Reeve Merritt (1850–1931), James Alfred Roosevelt (1856–1891), who married Katherine Lowell (1858–1925), and William Emlen Roosevelt (1857–1930), who married Christine Griffin Kean (1858–1936).

James Alfred Roosevelt died on July 15, 1898, near Mineola, New York, while riding a train on his way home to Oyster Bay. His descendants include his grandson Elfrida Roosevelt, through his son Alfred, who married Sir Orme Bigland Clarke, 4th Baronet. Elfrida was the mother of Sir Humphrey Clarke, 5th Baronet.

References for his biography can be found in William T. Cobb's "The Strenuous Life: The Oyster Bay Roosevelts in Business and Finance" (1946) and Charles B. Whittelsey's "The Roosevelt Genealogy, 1649–1902" (1902).