Pella, Iowa - A Touch of Holland; Spring/Summer 1995: 'The Dutch Study Roosevelts' ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ In an ancient Dutch abbey in Middelburg in the province of Zeeland, a certain Dutch-American family is being studied in a prestigious Study Center Ironically, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, although proud of his origin, was not too enthusiastic about genealogy. He believed his family line originated in Haarlem, The Netherlands. Records proved that Middelburg was the ancestral home of the Roosevelts. Claes Martenszen van Rosenvelt, in the 1640s, settled in what later became New York City after emigrating from Zeeland. Middelburg was selected, in 1982, as the city for the Four Freedems Foundation. The Four Freedoms speech had been made by Roosevelt in 1941. The date of 1982 was the year of the Bicentennial of Dutch-American diplomatic relations. The abbey in which functions of the project took place dates back to the 12th century, completely restored after extensive bombings in World War II. Only Americans were honored in the first 30 years of the Four Freedom Foundation. However, in 1982, a Dutch person was honored. She was Princess Juliana. Theodore Roosevelt, also a descendant of Claes Martenszen van Rosenvelt, was from a different branch and was FDR's distant cousin. FDR's wife was also a distant cousin from the same branch as Theodore Roosevelt. An interesting note is that Theodore's grandfather insisted that his family use the Dutch language on Sunday. The family attended the Reformed Church of America and this practice of using the language on Sunday was common. FDR's middle name, Delano, was originally De Lannoy. This was the family name of his mother and they had descended from a businessman in Leiden, The Netherlands. The family having been French Huguenots. The De Lannoy name changed to Delano and were so registered when they left Leiden and sailed on the Mayflower in 1620. Middelburg honors a U.S. president in a unique way. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert April 25, 2005 iggy29@rnetinc.net *I thought this was very interesting..