1018504
Theodore Roosevelt
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Theodore Roosevelt, 1858-1919. 26th President of the United States, 1901-1909. Autograph Letter Signed, Theodore Roosevelt, one page, 3¾” x 5¾”, on engraved note card, Sagamore Hill, [Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York], October 31, 1918.
Roosevelt thanks family friend Martha Waller Johnson, a prominent Washingtonian, whom he playfully calls “Aunt Jobiska,” for her greetings on what would be his last birthday. He died a little more than two months later. In full: “It was just like you to remember my birthday. I am so glad that I saw your attractive Maine summer home. With love, ever yours . . . ."
Martha, whom her friends called “Mattie,” married Ralph Cross Johnson in 1879. A native of Belfast, Maine, and the son of the city's first mayor, Ralph Cross Johnson received his law degree from Harvard University in 1866 along with future United States Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., whom Roosevelt appointed to the Court. The Johnsons, great patrons of the arts, made sizeable contributions and loans of artwork to various art museums, including the National Art Gallery and the Smithsonian Institution. In 1908, they made a naming gift to St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Belfast, Maine, to honor the memory of their late daughter, Margaret.
In a note at the Theodore Roosevelt House in New York, Edith Kermit Roosevelt recalls how the President had called Mrs. Johnson “Aunt Jobiska,” which comes from a character in Edward Lear's nonsense poem The Pobble Who Has No Toes. She noted that she herself had brought home a figurine of the “Runcible Cat" that appears in the third stanza of the poem:
The Pobble swam fast and
well,
And when boats or ships came near him,
He tinkledy-blinkledy-winkled a bell
So that all the world could hear him.
And all the Sailors and Admirals cried,
When they saw him nearing the further side,—
"He has gone to fish, for his Aunt Jobiska's
Runcible Cat with crimson whiskers."
Roosevelt has beautifully penned and signed this letter. The card has a hint of toning and soiling and a vertical crease that touches a few letters of the text but is well removed from the signature. An old dealer notation is partially erased in the upper left blank area. Overall the piece is in fine condition.
Unframed. Click here for information about custom framing this piece.
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