FDR Mentioning Teddy "Roosevelts came up to Ulster the year the British hauled down the Dutch flag...cannot imagine where T.R. got the idea" Unique Association!

[8.5” x 11”] 1p TLS boldly Signed, “Franklin D. Roosevelt,” as a New York Lawyer on one sheet of Roosevelt's personalized Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland stationery, and dated December 30,1921. Extremely rare content from a future President. Lightly toned, a few small punctures and creases to edges expertly repaired with usual folds from mailing.

Franklin Roosevelt discusses one of his favorite subjects, family genealogy, with Judge Alphonso T. Clearwater. Roosevelt begins the letter by referencing an interesting conversation the Judge had with his brother James Roosevelt one day on a train. Judge Clearwater had been a frequent correspondent with Theodore Roosevelt in the past, and later expresses interest in his “Cousin’s remark to you that the Roosevelts came up to Ulster the year the British hauled down the Dutch flag on Manhattan Island. This is a point in the family history which I have in vain sought to shed light on, and I cannot imagine where T.R. got the idea.” Two distantly related branches of the Roosevelt family, one from Oyster Bay and the other from Hyde Park, New York, rose to national political prominence with the presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt and later his fifth cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The incredible TLS was written in 1921, the year his paralytic illness symptoms began. Just four months earlier, Roosevelt came down with an illness characterized by fever, ascending paralysis, facial paralysis, prolonged bowel and bladder dysfunction, and numbness and hypersensitivity of the skin which would leave him left permanently paralyzed from the waist down. FDR reports that he is “…getting on extremely well and though I am not yet able to go down to the office I am glad to say that I can see my friends”.

Very few letters during this challenging period of FDR’s life exist, yet alone a letter that also mentions his famous cousin, former President Theodore Roosevelt.

The recipient, Alphonso T. Clearwater was admitted to the bar in 1871. He served as the district attorney of Ulster County, NY, and as judge on the New York supreme court and court of appeals.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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