The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project is a university-chartered research center associated with the Department of History of The George Washington University

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The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project
Questions and Answers about Eleanor Roosevelt

Question: How was ER related to FDR?

Answer:

[painting of Claes Martenszen van Rosenvelt] Eleanor and Franklin were fifth cousins, once removed. They are both descended from Claes Martenszen van Rosenvelt who arrived in New Amsterdam (Manhattan) from Holland in the 1640s. His two grandsons, Johannes and Jacobus, began the Oyster Bay and Hyde Park branches of the Roosevelt family. ER is descended from the Johannes branch and FDR is descended from the Jacobus branch. 

 

 
Paternal Lineage of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt             
 

            Claes Martenszen van Rosenvelt
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        Nicholas Roosevelt
        (1658 - 1742)
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Jacobus Roosevelt
(1692 - 1776)		 Brothers Johannes Roosevelt
(1689 - 1750)
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Isaac Roosevelt
(1726-1794)		 First Cousins Jacobus Roosevelt
(1724 - 1777)
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James Roosevelt
(1760 - 1847)		 Second Cousins James J. Roosevelt
(1759 - 1840)
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Isaac Roosevelt
(1790 - 1863)		 Third Cousins Cornelius Van S. Roosevelt
(1794 - 1871)
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James Roosevelt
(1828 - 1900)		 Fourth Cousins Theodore Roosevelt
(1831 - 1878)
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Franklin D. Roosevelt
(1882 - 1945)
(32nd President)		 Fifth Cousins Theodore Roosevelt
(1858 - 1919)
(26th President)
 Elliott Roosevelt
(1860 - 1894)



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Anna Eleanor Roosevelt
(1884 - 1962)

       Source:

Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum