Eleanor's Early Years
Eleanor Roosevelt was born on October 11, 1884, in New York City to Anna Hall and Elliot Roosevelt. She was a shy, quiet child. Eleanor admired her mother's beauty and class, but the two were never close. In fact, Anna often called Eleanor "Granny" due to her plain looks. It was her father that Eleanor truly adored. However, his battles with depression and alcoholism caused him to spend a lot of time away from his family.
Eleanor also had two younger brothers: Elliot, Jr., born in 1889, and Hall (called Josh), born in 1891. Shortly after Josh was born in Paris, Elliot was committed to a French mental asylum. Anna and her children returned to New York. As Elliot's brother, Theodore Roosevelt insisted that Elliot take two years to recover and not return to his family until he had done so.
In 1892, Anna died of diphtheria. Though saddened by her mother's death, Eleanor was excited by the prospect of living with her father. However, in her will, Anna specified that she wanted her children to live with her mother, Mary Livingston Ludlow Hall. Consequently, Eleanor and her brothers moved in with their grandmother.
Tragedy struck again in 1893 when Eleanor's brothers both contracted scarlet fever. Josh recovered, but Elliot, Jr., developed diphtheria and died. The suffering continued a year later when Eleanor's father, Elliot, died as a result from an alcohol-induced fall.
Grandmother Hall was very strict as she raised Eleanor and Josh, to make up for the mistakes she had made with her own children. Eleanor was not taught to read until she was seven, when two great aunts realized Anna had neglected to teach her to read and they taught her themselves. Reading became a favorite pastime of Eleanor's when she lived in her grandmother's house.
The only formal education Eleanor received was when she attended Allenswood Academy in England, not far from London. She began school in 1899 at the age of fifteen. Allenswood was run by Mademoiselle Marie Souvestre; she and Eleanor became close during Eleanor's years at the school. Mlle. Souvestre took Eleanor traveling around Europe with her, and it was from Mlle. Souvestre that Eleanor learned to love traveling.
Eleanor spent three years at Allenswood, which she later referred to as the happiest years of her life. At eighteen, Eleanor's grandmother insisted she return to New York City for her social debut. She began attending parties, although she was not fond of dancing. It was around this time that Eleanor began spending time with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, her fifth cousin once removed. He proposed to her in 1903, but his mother urged the two to keep their engagement a secret for a year. The couple married on March 17, 1905, in New York City; Theodore Roosevelt gave Eleanor away. Eleanor and FDR spent their honeymoon in Hyde Park.
