Your TR Source
President Roosevelt sends Secretary of War Taft a letter from Martha Macomb Flandrau Selmes, the widow of Tilden Russell Selmes, whom Roosevelt says Taft knew well. Roosevelt hopes that the Manila Constabulary Band can play at Taft’s inauguration.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-06-30
Martha Macomb Flandrau Selmes has heard about Secretary of War William H. Taft’s nomination as Republican candidate for President, and is glad that President Roosevelt has secured his legacy. Selmes has received a letter from Walter Howard Loving, leader of the Manila Constabulary band, and asks if there is any way that his wish for his band to play at the presidential inauguration could be fulfilled. She praises Loving highly, and says that allowing this could help race relations, both with African-Americans in the United States, but also regarding the Philippines and Filipinos.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-06-27
Chronology of the daily life of Theodore Roosevelt from January 1884 to December 1891. Notable events include the deaths of Alice Lee Roosevelt and Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, Roosevelt’s time on his ranch, the completion of Sagamore Hill, Roosevelt’s engagement and marriage to Edith Kermit Carow, Theodore “Ted” Roosevelt’s birth, the “Great-Dieup” of cattle in North Dakota, and the founding of the Boone and Crockett Club.
Theodore Roosevelt Association
1985
Kristie Miller explores Theodore Roosevelt’s relationship with three women: Julia Stockton Dinsmore, her niece Martha (Patty) Selmes, and Selmes’s daughter, Isabella Greenway King. Miller notes that Roosevelt became close friends with Selmes and her husband Tilden Selmes during his years as a rancher in Dakota Territory, and she also examines Roosevelt’s friendships with his fellow Rough Riders, Robert Ferguson and John Greenway, the first two husbands of King. Miller highlights Roosevelt’s appreciation of Dinsmore’s poetry, King’s active participation in politics, and Eleanor Roosevelt’s friendship with King. The article includes photographs of all three women.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
2004
President Roosevelt hopes to have Martha Macomb Flandrau Selmes over to dinner sometime so that they can have a satisfactory talk. Roosevelt has forwarded Selmes’s letter to Secretary of War Taft, and says that if he wins the election Roosevelt believes they can get the Manila Constabulary Band to come play. He says that Taft would like to hear from Selmes, as she was the wife of his old friend Tilden Russell Selmes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-06-30
President Roosevelt does not admit that “time turns the old days to derision.” He wants Martha Macomb Flandrau Selmes to come over for dinner and a satisfactory talk. Roosevelt has taken the liberty of sending Selmes’s letter to Secretary of War Taft whom Roosevelt knows would like to hear from the wife of his old friend.
1908-06-30
Commissioner Roosevelt notes Robert Harry Munro Ferguson’s resignation in July. Directions have been given to have Ferguson’s check returned. Roosevelt discusses some missing checks and reimbursement to Ferguson and Tilden Russell Selmes on an unspecified investment. Roosevelt has been struggling with a colleague but knows this colleague is having an even more difficult time. Ted Roosevelt recently received some guinea pigs which he adores.
1893-11-24
Commissioner Roosevelt regrets that he cannot go bear hunting in the spring as he has just accepted the position of police commissioner in New York City. Roosevelt wants to read Robert Harry Munro Ferguson’s article and offers some writing advice. The health of Tilden Selmes is failing.
1895-04-25
Commissioner Roosevelt and Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt enjoyed Robert Harry Munro Ferguson’s letter. Tilden Selmes’s health continues to deteriorate and his passing is expected soon. Roosevelt shared Ferguson’s article with the Selmes family and he encourages Ferguson to publish the piece. Edith’s mother passed away and she has been very broken up about it. Roosevelt predicts that the New York legislature will hamper his work with the police commission.
1895-05-04
Commissioner Roosevelt was saddened by Patty Selmes’s letter. He wishes he could have seen Selmes and comforted her. Roosevelt describes his recent visit to his ranch and how he wished Selmes could have been there.
1896-10-05
Theodore Roosevelt informs his sister Anna Roosevelt that Tilden Selmes is in the hospital dying of liver cancer and he and Edith have visited Mrs. Selmes. It was wonderful to have sister Corinne and her husband Douglas Robinson visit. The Leiters were just married and a cable just arrived from Turin with the news that Edith’s mother Gertrude Tyler Carow died.
1895-04-27