Roosevelt Lovingly Inscribes a Book to His Wife, Eleanor, Citing Her Great American Lineage

Eleanor Roosevelt, whose first name was Anna, descended from a great American family, the Livingstons.  Robert Livingston was the first Chancellor of New York, then the highest judicial office in the state.  He would retain the title Chancellor for life.  He went on to serve as Secretary of Foreign Affairs under the Articles of Confederation and administered the oath of office to George Washington.  Livingston also helped to negotiate the Louisiana Purchase as US Minister to France.  Most famously, he helped develop the first viable steamboat with Robert Fulton.  His brother, Philip, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence from New York.

The relationship between Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt is among the more famous relationships between President and First Lady, rivaled only by John and Abigail Adams.  And Franklin’s interest in American history is memorialized in his collection of historical documents from the Founders and his predecessors in office. He held a particular interest in material related to his family and his state of New York.  Clermont was the Hudson River seat of his wife’s politically and socially prominent Livingston family for more than 230 years. It is also just 30 minutes from Hyde Park, the home of the Roosevelts. 

Book inscribed, to Eleanor, “A Historical Sketch of the Town of Clermont,” by Thomas Hunt, privately printed, The Hudson Press, Hudson, N.Y.,1928, illustrated with two folding maps. “To my wife Anna Eleanor Roosevelt descendant of the Chancellor and reared on these acres, from Franklin D. Roosevelt.”

Remarkable and a very uncommon piece. Public records show just 2 other pieces from Franklin to Eleanor having been sold in the last 40 years, the last one being an inscribed photograph that sold a decade ago for $15,000.