Opening paragraphs..........................

In the year 1869, when the population of New York City had reached nearly a million, the occupants of 28 East 20th Street, a five story brownstone, numbered six, exclusive of the servants.
     The head of head of the household was Theodore Roosevelt (no middle name or initial), who was thirty-seven years of age, and importer and philanthropist, and the son of old Cornelius Van Schaak Roosevelt, one of the richest men in the city.  Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt - Martha Bullock Roosevelt, or Mittie, as she was called - was thirty-three, a southerner and a beauty.  The children, two girls and two boys, all conceived by the same father and mother, and born in the same front bedroom, over the parlor, ranged in age from fourteen to seven.  The oldest, Anna, was known as Bamie (from bambina, and pronounced to rhyme with Sammy).  Next came ten-year old Theodore, Jr., who was called Teedie (pronounced to rhyme with T. D.).  Elliot, aged nine, was Ellie or Nell, and the youngest, Corinne, was called Conie.
-David McCullough, Mornings On Horseback:  The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life, and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt