Books and Manuscripts

Albany, Mar(ch) 26th, (1884). One sheet folded to make four pages, 8 x 4 3/4 in. (203 x 121 mm). Autograph letter, on mourning stationery, signed by Theodore Roosevelt, as a member of the New York State Assembly, likely less than a month after the death of his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee, and his mother, Martha Stewart "Mittie" Buloch: "Dear Sir/Many/thanks for your/kind words. I/shall certainly/support the measures/you refer to./yours truly/Theodore Roosevelt." Creasing from original folds. In fine condition.

Roosevelt suffered an immeasurable tragedy on February 14, 1884, when his wife, Alice Lee, and his mother, Mittie, died, only hours apart. Roosevelt was in the New York state legislature working on a government reform bill when he was summoned home. Upon his arrival, he learned the news that his mother had passed away from typhoid fever, and only hours later, his wife would pass from Bright's disease, a severe kidney ailment. Their daughter, Alice, was born only a few days before. The deaths devastated Roosevelt. In his journal that day, he memorably wrote the words, "The light has gone out of my life." In his state of bereavement, he abandoned politics, left his daughter in the care of his sister, and moved to the Dakota Territory to become a rancher. Two years passed before he returned to New York to resume his political career.