Eleanor Roosevelt Seagraves

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt Seagraves (née Dall, born March 25, 1927, in New York City), librarian, educator, historian, editor is a granddaughter of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Her parents are Anna Roosevelt Dall and her first husband Curtis Bean Dall. She is usually known as "Sistie", "Ellie" or "Eleanor".

Sistie, as she was affectionately called in the press during her grandparents' tenure in the White House, was named for her mother and grandmother, Eleanor Roosevelt. When her parents separated in 1933 (they divorced in 1934), she along with her mother and brother Curtis moved into the White House with her grandparents. Her mother would later remarry two more times and a younger half-brother, John Roosevelt Boettiger would join the family in 1939.

In 1948, she married Van H. Seagraves. Together, they had three children (and six grandchildren):

  • Nicholas Delano Seagraves (born August 7, 1949)
  • David Delano Seagraves (born August 26, 1952)
  • Anna Fierst (née Anna Eleanor Seagraves) (born August 16, 1955)

Children of Nicholas Delano Seagraves

  • Delano Dixon Seagraves (born April 5, 1978)
  • Haven Seagraves (June 23, 1981)

Children of David Delano Seagraves

  • Lucy Seagraves (born March 3, 1983)
  • Dana Seagraves (born March 3, 1985)

Children of Anna Fierst

  • Sophie Eleanor Fierst (born July 24, 1992)
  • Simon Charles Fierst (born April 7, 1994)

Seagraves is one of the few living Roosevelt family members who witnessed events firsthand during the White House years. Seagraves also is one of the few surviving people who witnessed her grandmother's diplomacy. Each year, when Seagraves' grandmother held a picnic at Val-Kill for delinquent boys, she assisted Mrs. Roosevelt with these events. She was close to Eleanor Roosevelt throughout her life.

Seagraves has enjoyed a career as an educator and librarian. She edited Delano's Voyages of Commerce and Discovery (1994), drawn from the journals of Amasa Delano, as well as The Val-Kill Cookbook (1984). Seagraves concentrated her career on keeping alive many of the causes her grandmother began and supported. She is an active participant in Democratic Party events in her area, and endorsed Barack Obama for the 2008 Presidential campaign. At 85, Seagraves resides in Washington D.C.

Famous quotes containing the words eleanor roosevelt and/or roosevelt:

    A trait no other nation seems to possess in quite the same degree that we do—namely, a feeling of almost childish injury and resentment unless the world as a whole recognizes how innocent we are of anything but the most generous and harmless intentions.
    Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)

    It takes a long time to bring the past up to the present.
    —Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)