Isaac Roosevelt

Isaac Roosevelt (December 19, 1726 – October 1794) was an American merchant and Federalist politician. He served in the New York State Assembly and the state Constitutional Convention and achieved the most political success of any Roosevelt before Theodore Roosevelt. Isaac was the patrilineal great-great-grandfather of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Jacobus (b. 1721), Christoffel (b. 1724), Abraham (b. 1729), Sara (b. 1730), and Adolphus Roosevelt (b. 1735). Sugar cultivation also entailed an especially high death rate among slaves, due to difficult conditions and disease. During that time, slavery remained legal in New York, and New York City became a center of sugar refining and of the global sugar trade: Roosevelt built one of the first sugar refineries in the city, and originally had his store on Wall Street, later removing to St. George's Square.

Active in the community, he was one of the first members of the New York City Chamber of Commerce, organized in 1768, and he was one of the original incorporators of the first public hospital in New York in 1770. In 1784, together with Alexander Hamilton, he was a cofounder of the Bank of New York, one of the oldest banks in America. In 1786, he succeeded Jeremiah Wadsworth to become the bank's third president, a post he held until 1791. Roosevelt was succeeded by Gulian Verplanck, Speaker of the New York State Assembly.

Political office A noted patriot, he was elected to the New York Provincial Congress on April 22, 1775. He was one of the Committee of One Hundred that took control of the state government in May 1775. Though he felt no allegiance to England, he was initially a moderate, hoping to prevent conflict. However, he withdrew from New York when the British occupied the city, and spent the period of occupation at his wife's home in Dutchess County, serving with the Sixth Regiment of the Dutchess County Militia. and Robert R. Livingston), he took part in the New York State Convention at Poughkeepsie on June 18, 1788, that deliberated on the adoption of the United States Constitution. He was a member of the New York State Senate (Southern District) from 1777 to 1786, and from 1788 to 1792.

Personal life On September 22, 1752, he married Cornelia Hoffman (1734–1780), great-granddaughter of one of the first Estonians in the United States and daughter of Tryntje (née Benson) (1712–1765) and Martinus Hoffman (1706–1772), a prominent Dutchess County landowner and member of the Hoffman family. She was the sister of Anthony Hoffman (1739–1790) and the aunt of Josiah Ogden Hoffman (1766–1837). Together, Isaac and Cornelia had ten children:

Abraham Roosevelt (b. 1753), who died young Cornelia Roosevelt (b. 1761), who died young Cornelia Roosevelt (1767–1818), who married Dr. Benjamin Kissam (1759–1803) on January 10, 1786. Helen Roosevelt (b. 1768), who died unmarried.

Descendants Through his son, James, he was a grandfather to Isaac Roosevelt (1790–1863) who married Mary Rebecca Aspinwall (1809–1886), Grace Roosevelt (1792–1828), who married Guy Carlton Bayley (1786–1859), James Roosevelt (1794–1823), Walton Roosevelt (1796–1836), Edward Roosevelt (1799–1832), Richard Varick Roosevelt (1801–1835) who married Anna Maria Lyle, Hamilton Roosevelt (1805–1827), Henry Walton Roosevelt (1809–1827), Susan Barclay Roosevelt (1813–1867), and James Barclay Roosevelt (b. 1815). and Ameila Charlotte Kissam (b. 1799).