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Cornelius Van Schaak Roosevelt
LOT 311
Cornelius Van Schaak Roosevelt’s Incredible
Documented, Relief Chiseled Game Panel Scene Engraved, Gold
Inlaid, and Exhibition Quality Lefaucheux Pinfire Underlever Double Barrel Shotgun with Tooled Leather Case and Documentation - Serial no.
770, 12 gauge, 28 inch solid rib bbl., brown/casehardened/ gold finish, highly figured walnut stock. This historic shotgun is
pictured and discussed at the beginning of “Theodore Roosevelt Hunter- Conservationist” by R.L. Wilson on pages 8 and 9 and listed as “custom made
for Cornelius Van Schaak Roosevelt (1794-1871). . .The fact that C.V.S. owned this gun, and that TR’s uncle Robert had highly recommended the type, would have impacted Roosevelt’s father’s choice of a gun for his precocious and outdoor-loving son.”
The included letters from the 1970s indicate the shotgun belonged to Cornelius Van Schaak Roosevelt Jr. (1827-1887), the future president’s uncle. Most important is the December 21, 1976,
letter from John Alsop (1915-2000), grandnephew of President Theodore Roosevelt and first cousin once removed of Eleanor Roosevelt, where he states that this beautiful shotgun from 1866 had originally belonged to his grandmother’s uncle Cornelius Van Schaak Roosevelt who was also President Theodore Roosevelt’s uncle. Alsop indicates he left the gun to Alsop’s grandmother, Corinne Roosevelt Robinson (1861-1933), who in turn passed it down to his mother, Corinne Alsop Cole (1886-1971), and the gun resided in the attic of
their home in Avon, Connecticut, for many years. It was sold in 1973 by Alsop and his siblings following their mother’s death. Also included is a copy of “The Strenuous Life: The ‘Oyster Bay’ Roosevelts in Business and Finance” by William T. Cobb which provides biographical information on the family. Cornelius Van Schaak Roosevelt Sr., Theodore Roosevelt’s grandfather, is the subject of the fourth chapter of that book “’C.V.S.’ and the Roaring Forties” which describes his role in the family, including the building of their wealth and influence. He was the last member of the famous Roosevelt family to have full-Dutch ancestry and was one of the richest men in New York City and the country in the mid-19th century. He left considerable wealth to his family from their hardware and glass importing business, real estate holdings in New York, and his prominent position
at the Chemical Bank of New York. As a young boy, Theodore Roosevelt watched Abraham Lincoln’s funeral procession in New York from his grandfather’s window. Among C.V.S. Roosevelt’s children was Cornelius Van Schaak Roosevelt Jr. He was wealthy philanthropist and a known friend of the working man. At the time of
his death, his estate was worth an estimated $1-2 million (around $28-56 million adjusted for inflation). Since he had no children of his own, he left much of his wealth to his several of his nieces and nephews. While
the family indicated this beautiful shotgun ended up in the hands of the future president’s sister, Theodore Roosevelt received an estimate $100,000-$150,000 ($2.8-4.2 million adjusted for inflation). This added to the wealth left behind by the death of young Roosevelt’s father. The president’s son Theodore Roosevelt III later named one of his son’s Cornelius Van Schaak Roosevelt III honoring his great grandfather and great uncle. Though the future president did not receive this shotgun, it likely played an important role in his father’s choice of his first gun as a youth as alluded to in Wilson’s caption for this shotgun noted above as well as in
his earlier book “Theodore Roosevelt Outdoorsman.” Robert Barnhill Roosevelt (1829-1906), another of the Roosevelt’s uncles, was a sportsman and wrote about the Lefaucheux shotguns with praise saying “The best and most generally adopted of the various kinds [of breechloaders] is the Lefaucheux...” in his book “Game Birds of the North” which was published in 1866, the same year this shotgun was made.
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