Robert Barnhill Roosevelt, also known as Robert Barnwell Roosevelt (August 7, 1829 – June 14, 1906), was a sportsman, author, and politician who served as a United States representative from New York (1871–1873) and as Minister to the Hague (1888–1889). He was also a member of the Roosevelt family and an uncle of US President Theodore Roosevelt.
Early life
Robert Roosevelt was born in New York City to businessman Cornelius Van Schaack "C.V.S." Roosevelt and Margaret Barnhill. He had three elder brothers, Silas, James, and Cornelius Jr., and two younger brothers, Theodore and William. He was an uncle of President Theodore "T.R." Roosevelt Jr. and grand-uncle of First Lady Anna Eleanor Roosevelt. As an Oyster Bay Roosevelt, and through his ancestor Cornelius Van Schaack Jr., he was a descendant of the Dutch American Schuyler family.
Career
Roosevelt studied law and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1850. He commenced practice in New York City. During the Civil War, he was an active Democrat and a founder of the Allotment Commission and the Loyal National League.
His first experience in politics was in the organization of the Citizens' Association at the time of the Tweed Ring administration in New York City. For several years, he edited the organ of the Citizens' Association, the New York Citizen, at first with Charles G. Halpine, and after Halpine's death, by himself. He was a founder of the Committee of Seventy, and first vice-president of the Reform Club and the Holland Society of New York, to which he donated 200 volumes related to and by Hugo Grotius, later deposited at Columbia's Rare Books Library, becoming Holland Society President in 1890 following his return to the US as US Minister to the Netherlands.
