Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt

Alice Hathaway Lee (née Lee) was born on July 29, 1861, in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, to George Cabot Lee, a banker, and Caroline Watts Haskell. She had a younger brother, George Cabot Lee Jr., and her grandfather was John Clarke Lee, the founder of Lee, Higginson & Co. She was described as being 5 feet 6 inches tall, with blue-gray eyes and long, wavy golden hair. Her family and friends nicknamed her "Sunshine" due to her cheerful demeanor.

She met Theodore Roosevelt, later the 26th President of the United States, on October 18, 1878, at the home of her relatives and neighbors, the Saltonstalls. Roosevelt was a classmate of her cousin, Richard Middlecott "Dick" Saltonstall, at Harvard University. Roosevelt recalled their first encounter, noting her appearance as "sweet" and her greeting as "prettily." In June 1879, Roosevelt proposed marriage to Lee, who took eight months to accept. Their engagement was announced on February 14, 1880. Alice Hathaway Lee married Theodore Roosevelt on October 27, 1880, her 19th birthday, at the Unitarian Church in Brookline, Massachusetts. The couple's honeymoon was delayed until the following summer due to Roosevelt's enrollment at Columbia Law School.

Following their marriage, they spent the initial two weeks at Roosevelt's family summer home in Oyster Bay, known as "Tranquility," before moving in with Roosevelt’s widowed mother, Martha Stewart "Mittie" Bulloch. In 1881, Roosevelt and Lee participated in the social life of New York's elite and traveled through Europe for five months. By October 1882, Lee moved to Albany to live at her husband's boardinghouse and become involved in New York state politics.

In the summer of 1883, she became pregnant, and the Roosevelts purchased land near Tranquility, planning to build a large residence. Later that fall, she moved back with her mother-in-law in New York City. On February 12, 1884, at approximately 8:30 p.m., Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt gave birth to their only child, a daughter named Alice Lee Roosevelt. Her husband was in Albany at the time, attending to legislative duties. Roosevelt was expected to be born on February 14, the fourth anniversary of their engagement, but was born two days earlier.

Following her daughter's birth, Lee became ill and was placed in a semi-comatose state. Theodore Roosevelt arranged to leave Albany that same day to be with her. She died on February 14, 1884, at the age of 22, from undiagnosed Bright's disease, a form of kidney failure complicated by her pregnancy. Her illness was not recognized during her lifetime. Roosevelt's reaction to her death was profound; he rarely spoke publicly of her afterward and edited his private writings, removing references to her. He expressed his grief in a brief tribute, describing her as beautiful, joyful, and unselfish, and lamenting the tragic timing of her death.

After her death, Theodore Roosevelt entrusted the care of their daughter, Alice Lee Roosevelt, to his sister, Bamie Roosevelt. Alice Lee learned about her mother chiefly from Bamie and her maternal grandparents. Roosevelt did not speak about his wife to his daughter and removed much personal documentation about her from his diaries. When Alice Lee was three years old, Theodore Roosevelt and his second wife, Edith Kermit Carow, took custody of her.

Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt was buried alongside her mother-in-law, Mittie Bulloch Roosevelt, in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. Their joint funeral was held at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, with each woman’s family participating in the ceremonies.