FDR's Parents
Franklin Roosevelt was born January 30, 1882, to James Roosevelt
and his wife Sara Delano, both of prominent Hudson River Valley
families. Franklin was their only child together (James, a widower,
had a son by his first wife), and they doted on him. The rural
setting of his youth was a quiet enclave in a rapidly industrializing
country. His early education was by governesses and tutors, giving
him little contact with children his age other than neighbors
and relatives. Franklin travelled frequently to Europe with his
parents, lived in New York City during the winter months, and
spent summers at their home on the Canadian island of Campobello.
While James was a careful manager of his inherited wealth,
making money was not the center of his life. He preferred to
live the life of an English Country Squire - seeing to his horses
and cattle, hunting, fishing, iceboating, and riding on the grounds.
Sara shared James' affection for the place, declaring that the
Roosevelts were "living life as it should be." To young
Franklin, whose father passed on to him his love for the outdoors,
the estate's woods and fields were paradise. Springwood remained
the center of his life until he left for boarding school at 14.
In his later years Franklin reminisced about his childhood here:
"In thinking back to my earliest days, I am impressed by
the peacefulness and regularity of things both in respect to
place and people."
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