Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt

Becoming Eleanor Roosevelt, she was born October 11, 1884 into a family of wealth and problems in early age. She was the first child of Anna Hall Roosevelt and Elliott Roosevelt. Young Eleanor encountered disappointment early in her life. Her father always was mourning the death of his mother and fighting his health, turned to alcohol and was absent from home for long periods of time engaged in either business, pleasure or medical treatment. Her mother Anna Hall Roosevelt struggled to balance her life with her husband, responsibilities with the family and toward Eleanor and Eleanor's younger brother Hall. As the years passed, the young mother became increasingly unhappy with her life.

As a child, she observed a lot on what was going on with her family.Eleanor rarely notices the tension between her parents and the strain that it placed on both of them. By the time she was six, she assumed some responsibility for her mother's happiness. She mentioned in a book she wrote that her mother suffered from very bad headaches, and she knew now that life must have been hard and bitter and a very great strain on her. Eleanor became more worried about her mother.

Eleanor profoundly was self-conscious about her demeanor and appearance. She was very plain and old fashioned. Remembering her childhood, Eleanor later wrote, "I was a solemn child without beauty and I seemed like a little old woman entirely lacking in the spontaneous joy and mirth of youth." Her mother's death in 1892 made Eleanor's devotion to her father all the more intense. She adored his playfulness with her and the way he loved her. Her father's passion only brought out the isolation she felt when he was there in her life. Hopes for a happier family life were dashed however when Elliott Roosevelt died of depression and alcoholism nineteen months later. At the age of ten, Eleanor became an orphan and her grandmother, Mary Hall, became her guardian.

Eleanor's life with Grandmother Hall was...