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Letter from Mrs.Theodore Roosevelt - Oyster Bay, NY

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Political Memorabilia Start Price:350.00 USD Estimated At:700.00 - 2,000.00 USD
Letter from Mrs.Theodore Roosevelt - Oyster Bay, NY
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Holabird-Kagin Americana Office
3555 Airway Drive Suite#309
Reno, NV 89511
Thursday Feb 20th, 10am-6pm
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Feb 20 & 21, 2014
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Reno, NV 89502

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Holabird-Kagin Americana Office
3555 Airway Drive Suite #309
Reno, NV 89511
Sunday February 23rd, 10am-1pm

1935 Lot of 2. This is a personal letter written by Edith Kermit Roosevelt, widow of President Theodore Roosevelt to one Mrs. Andre Marsaudon (Florentine) of Ithaca, New York. The contents of the handwritten and signed on Sagamore Hill, Oyster Bay personalized stationery, revolves around a photo of the Roosevelt`s youngest son`s resting place in Chemery, France that Mrs. Marsaudon sent to Mrs. Roosevelt, hoping she could help her find the final resting place of her brother who, like Quentin Roosevelt, was a fatality of The Great War. Quentin Roosevelt was shot down over this small French village on July 14, 1918 and laid to rest with full military honors by the Germans. In 1944, his remains were relocated to the American Cemetery near Normandy, where he was interred next to his oldest brother Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. who died shortly after D-Day. In the two-sided letter, Mrs. Roosevelt, who passed away in 1948, tells Mrs. Marsaudon that she was able to "make arrangements with the French Government" to erect a Memorial Fountain near the village. The fountain is near the site where young Roosevelt`s plane was shot down. The fountain was erected in 1930 and still stands today. Mrs. Roosevelt writes in the letter that the villagers go to the fountain "to take water and gossip." Edith Kermit Carow had been acquainted with Theodore (Teedy as he was known by family and friends) and his family since she was six and he was nine. Even though Theodore would marry Alice Hathaway Lee, Edith continued her friendship with the Roosevelts and when Alice died in 1884, a grief stricken Teedy retreated to the Badlands to take up ranching. Upon his return to New York, in 1886, he and Edith, who had kept up their correspondence, married and had five children together. This letter also includes the cancelled cover and is addressed to Mrs. Andre Marsaudon 209 South Geneva Street Ithaca, New York. One perk of being a former First Lady is noted above the cancellation, FREE- EDITH K. ROOSEVELT. Both the letter and cover are in very nice condition and according to the Theodore Roosevelt Archive curator, letters written by the former First lady are not very common. Gil Schmidtmann Collection - HKA#61489