Cornelius Roosevelt | |
---|---|
Born |
Cornelius Van Schaack Roosevelt January 30, 1794 New York City, U.S. |
Died | July 17, 1871 (aged 77) Oyster Bay, New York |
Education | Columbia College |
Occupation | Businessman |
Employer | Chemical Bank |
Spouse(s) | Margaret Barnhill (m. 1821; her death 1861) |
Children | 6, including James, Robert, Theodore Sr. |
Parent(s) |
James Jacobus Roosevelt Maria Van Schaack |
Relatives | See Roosevelt family |
Cornelius Van Schaack "C.V.S." Roosevelt (January 30, 1794 – July 17, 1871) was an American businessman from New York City who was a member of the prominent Roosevelt family and the paternal grandfather of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.
Cornelius Van Schaack Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1794 in New York City, to James Jacobus Roosevelt (1759–1840) and Maria Helen Van Schaack (1773–1845). He was the last full-blooded Dutch Roosevelt of his line. His paternal great-grandfather was Johannes Roosevelt (1689–1750), the founder of the Oyster Bay branch of the Roosevelt family. His grandfather, Cornelius Van Schaack Jr. (1734–1797), was the brother of Peter van Schaack (1747–1832) and their parents, Cornelius Van Schaack (1705–1776) and Lydia Van Dyck (1704–1785), were Cornelius' great-grandparents. Lydia was a descendant of the Schuyler family through her mother, Maria Schuyler (1666–1742), Cornelius' 2x great-grandmother. Maria was the daughter of Catharina Verplanck (1639–1690) and David Pieterse Schuyler (1636–1690), who died in 1690 as a result of the Schenectady massacre of 1690, and the niece of Philip Pieterse Schuyler (1628–1683), an early Dutch-American settler.
Cornelius's younger brother, James John Roosevelt (1795–1875), served as a United States Congressman from New York from 1841 until 1843. He attended Columbia College but academic life did not suit him, and he did not graduate.
In 1818, after leaving college, he became his father's partner in importing hardware. "Economy is my doctrine at all times," he once said, "at all events till I become, if it is to be so, a man of fortune." At his insistence, the focus of the business changed from hardware to plate glass. After his father's death in 1840, he inherited a large fortune, and was one of the five richest men in New York City. He continued to work in the business until his retirement in 1865.