Bulloch Hall

Last updated
Bulloch Hall
Bulloch Hall Roswell GA.JPG
Bulloch Hall is where Theodore Roosevelt's parents were married, in December 1853.
Location180 Bulloch Avenue, Roswell, Georgia
Coordinates 34°0′54.51″N84°22′4.17″W / 34.0151417°N 84.3678250°W / 34.0151417; -84.3678250
Built1839
Built by Willis Ball
Architectural style Greek Revival
Part of Roswell Historic District (ID74000682 [1] )
NRHP reference No. 71000276 [1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMay 27, 1971
Designated CPMay 2, 1974

Bulloch Hall is a Greek Revival mansion in Roswell, Georgia, built in 1839. It is one of several historically significant buildings in the city and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This is where Martha Bulloch Roosevelt ("Mittie"), mother of Theodore Roosevelt, 26th U.S. president, lived as a child. It is also where she married Theodore Roosevelt's father, Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. The descendants of Theodore Roosevelt and his three siblings - Anna, Elliott, and Corinne are therefore descendants of Archibald Bulloch, the first Governor of Georgia (1730–1777).

Contents

The antebellum mansion was built by Mittie's father, Major James Stephens Bulloch. He was a prominent planter from the Georgia coast, who was invited to the new settlement by his friend Roswell King. After the death of his first wife Hester Amarintha "Hettie" Elliott - mother of his son James D. Bulloch - Bulloch married the widow of his first wife's father, Martha "Patsy" Stewart Elliot, and had four more children:

Major Bulloch selected a ten-acre plot of land and engaged a skilled builder, Willis Ball, to design and construct an elegant Greek Revival home. The Bulloch family lived in an abandoned Cherokee farmhouse while slaves and trained laborers built the house. In 1839, Major Bulloch and his family moved into the completed house.

Soon Bulloch also owned land for cotton production and held enslaved African-Americans to work his fields. According to the 1850 Slave Schedules , Martha Stewart Elliott Bulloch, by then widowed a second time, owned 31 enslaved African-Americans. They mostly labored on cotton and crop production; but some would have worked in the home, on cooking and domestic tasks to support the family. Some of the known slaves who worked in the house were "Maum" Rose (cook), "Maum" Charlotte (housekeeper), "Maum" Grace (nursemaid), "Daddy" William, "Daddy" Luke, and Henry.

Birth and marriage of Martha Bulloch

Fireplace mantle in the dining room, where Mittie and her husband, Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. (known as Thee), were married in front of the pocket doors on December 22, 1853 Bulloch Hall, Dining Room.jpg
Fireplace mantle in the dining room, where Mittie and her husband, Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. (known as Thee), were married in front of the pocket doors on December 22, 1853

In 1835 while living in Hartford, Connecticut, James' wife gave birth to a daughter, also named Martha. She was known affectionately as Mittie. Mittie was raised at Bulloch Hall.

Though the date of their initial meeting is unclear, we do know that when Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. was 19, he came to Roswell, Georgia with his friend Hilborne West, who was to marry Mittie's oldest half sister, Susan Elliott. Mittie was 15 at the time. "Thee," as he was called, met Mittie again when she went to Philadelphia in January 1853 to stay with her sister Susan. They fell in love and began planning their wedding through letters between Mittie in Roswell and Thee in New York. They were married in the dining room of Bulloch Hall on December 22, 1853. The marriage was a gala affair with people coming for many miles and staying for a week. Mittie's friend and bridesmaid, Mrs. William Baker, left a recollection of the wedding in an interview by Margaret "Peggy" Mitchell of Gone with the Wind fame, in the Atlanta Journal, June 10, 1923.

After the marriage, the couple moved to New York City. The couple lived with Thee's parents while a house, a wedding gift from them, was constructed at 28 E 20th Street. In 1856, Martha, Anna, and Irvine moved to Philadelphia to live with Martha's daughter Susan West. Anna and Martha later moved in with Mittie and Thee in New York. The Roosevelt couple became the parents of Anna; Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States; Elliott, and Corinne. Later Elliott married Anna Rebecca Hall, and his daughter was First Lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt.

President Roosevelt's visit in 1905

Theodore Roosevelt visiting Bulloch Hall north of Atlanta, Georgia in 1905 Bulloch Hall w TR .jpg
Theodore Roosevelt visiting Bulloch Hall north of Atlanta, Georgia in 1905
In 1988 Bulloch Hall, Roswell, GA 1988.jpg
In 1988

Theodore Roosevelt, who had begun his presidency on reasonably good terms for a half-northerner president, had infuriated the South by inviting Booker T. Washington to dine in the White House. Consequently, he waited a few years until the episode blew over and finally visited Bulloch Hall for the first time while touring the South in 1905. He was thought to be the first sitting President of the United States to visit the South since the end of the American Civil War, however this is incorrect as William McKinley had visited the South earlier while celebrating the victory of the Spanish–American War.

President Roosevelt and his wife Edith arrived in Roswell, Georgia on October 20, 1905. At Bulloch Hall, he spoke as follows:

It has been my very great good fortune to have the right to claim my blood is half Southern and half Northern, and I would deny the right of any man here to feel a greater pride in the deeds of every Southerner than I feel. Of all the children, the brothers and sisters of my mother who were born and brought up in that house on the hill there, my two uncles afterward entered the Confederate service and served with the Confederate Navy.

One, the younger man, served on the Alabama as the youngest officer aboard her. He was captain of one of her broadside 32-pounders in her final fight, and when at the very end the Alabama was sinking and the Kearsarge passed under her stern and came up along the side that had not been engaged hitherto, my uncle, Irvine Bulloch, shifted his gun from one side to the other and fired the two last shots fired from the Alabama. James Dunwoody Bulloch was an admiral in the Confederate service. ...

Men and women, don't you think I have the ancestral right to claim a proud kinship with those who showed their devotion to duty as they saw the duty, whether they wore the grey or whether they wore the blue? All Americans who are worthy the name feel an equal pride in the valor of those who fought on one side or the other, provided only that each did with all his strength and soul and mind his duty as it was given to him to see his duty." [2]

Eleanor Roosevelt visited Roswell and Bulloch Hall several times. Her husband Franklin Roosevelt visited the house, but did not leave his car.

Other

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places individually and also as a contributing building in the Roswell Historic District.

Bulloch Hall mentioned in fiction

Notes

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Teddy Roosevelt Tours Ole Dixie, Washington Times Article by William Connery". The Washington Times . Retrieved 2006-05-03.
  3. ↑ "Cockfighter (atlantatimemachine.com)" . Retrieved 2021-10-17.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roswell, Georgia</span> City in Georgia, United States

Roswell is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia, United States. At the official 2020 census, the city had a population of 92,883, making Roswell the state's ninth largest city. A close suburb of Atlanta, Roswell has an affluent historic district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archibald Bulloch</span> American politician (1730–1777)

Archibald Stobo Bulloch was an American lawyer, military officer and politician who served as the seventh governor of Georgia from 1776 to 1777. Born in the Province of South Carolina, Bulloch fought in the Georgia Militia during the American Revolution, and was also a great-grandfather of Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, and great-great-grandfather of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt</span> American socialite and the first wife of Theodore Roosevelt (1861–1884)

Alice Hathaway Roosevelt was an American socialite and the first wife of President Theodore Roosevelt. Two days after giving birth to their only child, she died from undiagnosed Bright's disease.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elliott Roosevelt (socialite)</span> Father-in-law of Franklin D. Roosevelt

Elliott Roosevelt was an American socialite. He was the father of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and the younger brother of Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), the 26th president of the United States. Elliott and Theodore were of the Oyster Bay Roosevelts; Eleanor later married her Hyde Park distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945), the 32nd President.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodore Roosevelt Sr.</span> Father of Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt Sr. was an American businessman and philanthropist from the Roosevelt family. Roosevelt was also the father of President Theodore Roosevelt and the paternal grandfather of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. He served as a member of the plate-glass importing business Roosevelt & Son.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martha Bulloch Roosevelt</span> American socialite and mother of President Theodore Roosevelt

Martha Stewart "Mittie" Roosevelt was an American socialite. She was the mother of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt and the paternal grandmother of Eleanor Roosevelt. She was a great-granddaughter of Archibald Bulloch, grandniece of William Bellinger Bulloch, and granddaughter of General Daniel Stewart. A true Southern belle raised in Georgia, Roosevelt is thought to have been one of the inspirations for Scarlett O'Hara.

William Bellinger Bulloch was an American Senator from Georgia. He was the youngest son of Archibald Bulloch, uncle to James Stephens Bulloch, granduncle to James Dunwoody Bulloch, Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, and Irvine Stephens Bulloch, great-granduncle to President Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. and Elliott Roosevelt, and great-great-granduncle to First Lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Dunwoody Bulloch</span> Confederate diplomat and spy during the American Civil War

James Dunwoody Bulloch was the Confederacy's chief foreign agent in Great Britain during the American Civil War. Based in Liverpool, he operated blockade runners and commerce raiders that provided the Confederacy with its only source of hard currency. Bulloch arranged for the purchase by British merchants of Confederate cotton, as well as the dispatch of armaments and other war supplies to the South. He also oversaw the construction and purchase of several ships designed at ruining Northern shipping during the Civil War, including CSS Florida, CSS Alabama, CSS Stonewall, and CSS Shenandoah. Due to him being a Confederate secret agent, Bulloch was not included in the general amnesty that came after the Civil War and therefore decided to stay in Liverpool, becoming the director of the Liverpool Nautical College and the Orphan Boys Asylum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corinne Roosevelt Robinson</span> American poet (1861–1933)

Corinne Roosevelt Robinson was an American poet, writer and lecturer. She was also the younger sister of President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt and an aunt of First Lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bamie Roosevelt</span> Elder sister of Theodore Roosevelt (1855–1931)

Anna Roosevelt Cowles was the older sister of United States President Theodore Roosevelt and an aunt of Eleanor Roosevelt. Her childhood nickname was Bamie, a derivative of bambina, but as an adult, her family began calling her Bye because of her tremendous on-the-go energy. Throughout the life of her brother, Theodore, she remained a constant source of emotional support and practical advice. On the death in childbirth of her sister-in-law, Alice Hathaway Lee, Bamie assumed parental responsibility for T.R.'s daughter, Alice Lee Roosevelt, during her early years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hall Roosevelt</span> American engineer and banker, brother of Eleanor Roosevelt

Gracie Hall Roosevelt was an American engineer, banker, soldier, and municipal official who was the youngest brother of First Lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt and a nephew of President Theodore Roosevelt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irvine Bulloch</span>

Irvine Stephens Bulloch was an officer in the Confederate Navy and the youngest officer on the famed warship CSS Alabama. He fired its last shot before it was sunk off the coast of France at the end of the American Civil War. He was a half-brother of James Dunwoody Bulloch, who served as a foreign agent in Great Britain on behalf of the Confederacy, in part to arrange blockade runners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Elliott (Georgia politician)</span> American politician

John Elliott was a United States senator from Georgia, serving from 1819 to 1825.

Bulloch is a surname, and may refer to

The Roswell Railroad was a 3 ft narrow gauge railroad that ran from south of Roswell, Georgia to Chamblee from 1881 until 1921. The railroad served as a passenger and freight carrier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Stewart (Brigadier General)</span> American military figure and politician

Daniel Stewart was an American politician and brigadier general in the Georgia Militia. He joined the militia in 1776 and served during the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

<i>Eleanor and Franklin</i> (miniseries) 1976 American television miniseries

Eleanor and Franklin is a 1976 American television miniseries starring Edward Herrmann as Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) and Jane Alexander as Eleanor Roosevelt which was broadcast on ABC on January 11 and 12, 1976. It is the first part in a two-part "biopic" miniseries based on Joseph P. Lash's biography and history from 1971, Eleanor and Franklin, based on their correspondence and recently opened archives. Joseph Lash was Eleanor's personal secretary and confidant. He wrote several books on the Roosevelts including some on both Eleanor and Franklin individually and was also a controversial activist in his own right in leftist, liberalism, social and labor issues of the era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Stephens Bulloch</span>

James Stephens Bulloch was an early Georgia settler and planter. Bulloch was a grandson of Georgia governor Archibald Bulloch and a nephew of Senator William Bellinger Bulloch. He was also the maternal grandfather of President Theodore Roosevelt and a great-grandfather of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, her fifth cousin, once removed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodore Douglas Robinson</span> American politician

Theodore Douglas Robinson was an American politician from New York who served as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy from November 1924 to 1929. He was a member of the Roosevelt family through his mother and was the eldest nephew of President Theodore Roosevelt. As an Oyster Bay Roosevelt, Theodore was a descendant of the Schuyler family.

<i>Mornings on Horseback</i> 1981 book by David McCullough

Mornings on Horseback is a 1981 biography of the 26th President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt written by popular historian David McCullough, covering the early part of Roosevelt's life. The book won McCullough's second National Book Award and his first Los Angeles Times Prize for Biography.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.