Marion O'Shea Roosevelt explained

Marion O'Shea Roosevelt
Birth Name:	Marion Theresa O'Shea
Birth Date:	1850
Birth Place:	Nenagh, County Tipperary, Ireland

Marion "Minnie" O'Shea Roosevelt (1850 – 1902) was an Irish writer and second wife of Robert Roosevelt.^[1]

Early life

Marion O'Shea Roosevelt was born in 1850 in Nenagh, County Tipperary. Her parents were John and Mary Anne O'Shea (née Gill) of Summerhill, Nenagh. Her father was a journalist with The Nenagh Guardian. Her mother was a sister of the editor-proprietor of the Tipperary Advocate, Peter E. Gill, and the aunt of T. P. Gill. Her older brother John Augustus was a soldier, journalist and novelist, and her sister Elizabeth was a writer who emigrated to India. Another sister, Margaret (Mrs Kelly) (1854–1927) was noted as being fluent in a number of languages, and translated French works, and her brother Robert Gabriel (1854?–1882) was the London political correspondent for the Freeman's Journal.

Family

Some accounts state that Roosevelt was married first to Robert Fortescue and widowed, others have stated that this was an alias of Robert Roosevelt,^[2] the uncle of Theodore Roosevelt, who she later married on 14 August 1888.^{[3] [4]} They had three children who were referred to as Robert's stepchildren:^[5]

• Kenyon Fortescue (1871–1939),^[6] who became an attorney.^[2]
• Major Granville Roland "Rolly" Fortescue (1875–1952), who married Grace Hubbard Bell (1883–1979), niece of Alexander Graham Bell.^[2]
• Maude Fortescue (1880–1961),^[7] who married Ernest William Sutton Pickhardt in 1900 and moved to London. Pickhardt was the son of Manhattan millionaire Ernest W. Pickhardt and the brother of Baroness Irene von Colberg.^[8] They divorced before Pickhardt's suicide in 1909.^[9] In 1945, she married Brigadier General Richard L. A. Pennington.^[2]

Roosevelt published articles and poems in American journals. She died on 10 April 1902 in Atlantic City.^[10]

Notes and References

1. Book: Murphy. Nancy. Dictionary of Irish Biography. 2009. Cambridge University Press. McGuire. James. Cambridge. Marion O'Shea In O'Shea, John Augustus. Quinn. James.
2. Web site: Spinzia. Raymond E.. Those Other Roosevelts: The Fortescues. spinzialongislandestates.com. The Oyster Bay Historical Society’s The Freeholder. 20 August 2017. July 2010.
3. Web site: Robert Barnwell Roosevelt . elections.harpweek.com . 16 October 2020.
4. Book: Biographical dictionary of American and Canadian naturalists and environmentalists . 1997 . Greenwood Press . Westport, Conn. . 9780313230479 . 681.
5. Web site: Robert Barnwell Roosevelt . www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org . 16 October 2020.
6. News: KENYON FORTESCUE, RETIRED ATTORNEY; Long Had Been Associated With Firm of Roosevelt & Kobbe. 20 August 2017. The New York Times. 17 March 1939.
7. News: Major G.R. Fortescue Now Seriously Ill; Worry Over Wife's Plight Causes Relapse. 20 August 2017. The New York Times. 11 January 1932.
8. The New York Times, July 8, 1909, p. 4.
9. News: DRUG KILLS E.W.S. PICKHARDT; Took Overdose for Insomnia -- Married Stepdaughter of R.B. Roosevelt.. 20 August 2017. The New York Times. 8 July 1909.
10. News: Death of Marion Fortescue Roosevlet 11 April 1902 . 16 October 2020 . New-York Tribune . 11 April 1902 . 6.