Johannes Roosevelt

Johannes Roosevelt (bap. February 27, 1689 – April 4, 1750), known as John Roosevelt, was a New York City businessman and politician and the progenitor of the Oyster Bay Roosevelts, including Theodore and Eleanor Roosevelt. Early life and career Johannes Roosevelt was baptized on February 27, 1689, in Esopus, Province of New York (near Kingston) while his father Nicholas Roosevelt (1658–1742) and mother, Heyltje Jans Kunst (1664–1730), were living there. Nicholas, born in New Amsterdam, was the son of the Roosevelt immigrant ancestor, Claes Maartenszen van Rosenvelt (c. 1626-1659). He moved his family back to New York City, where he was born, by 1690. In 1730, Johannes became a freeman. He was assistant alderman from 1717 to 1727 and alderman from 1730 to 1733. According to one history, "he was successful in farming and business ventures, and took what seemed to his friends a strange and extravagant delight in works of art. He is said to have been one of the first to import paintings, fine furniture, and artistic metal ware from the Netherlands. He did it on so generous a scale that his home was viewed as a wonderland by his less enterprising fellow-citizens."