Edith Carow Roosevelt, wife of Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the United States, died September 30, 1948. She was 87.

Mrs. Roosevelt was born Edith Kermit Carow on August 6, 1861 in Norwich, Connecticut. She grew up in New York City, the daughter of a wealthy shipping family.

As a child, she was a friend of Corrine Roosevelt, a sister of Theodore Roosevelt. As result, she and Theodore got to know each other quite well. After attending a finishing school for young women, she and ‘Teddy’ saw each frequently at family outings in Oyster Bay, New York.

But a romance between the two didn’t happen, at least at first. Teddy married Alice Hathaway Lee in 1880. The first Mrs. Roosevelt died in 1884, leaving Teddy with an infant daughter, Alice Lee.

Roosevelt and Edith Carow resumed their friendship, and this time a romance did ensue. The two were married in London in 1886. They had five children together.

Meanwhile, Teddy was pursuing a political career which advanced him from Governor of New York to Vice President, and to President when William McKinley was assassinated in 1901.

Mrs. Roosevelt was protective of her family, and discouraged media interest in her children. As result, many details about the First Lady’s management of the White House are lacking. But as far as social events involving matters of state, the Roosevelt administration was certainly regal in its handling of state dinners and other social obligations.

While Mr. Roosevelt attended to the nation’s business, the First Lady was responsible for the upbringing and discipline of six children, all under the age of 18. Not in a very long time had there been so many young people growing up in the White House at one time.

When the Roosevelts left Washington in 1909, they retired to Oyster Bay. When Mr. Roosevelt died in 1919, Mrs. Roosevelt made several trips abroad, as well as continuing her longtime support of the Needlework Guild and charitable efforts in providing clothing for the poor.

She died in Oyster Bay on September 30, 1948.