Don't laugh too quick... Roosevelt's ancestors changed their name from
Rossocampo when came to Holland after being 'evacuated' from Iberia.
Source.
Do you have any idea to what kind of nutjob you linked? "Watchman" Willie Martin is a member of a fringe Christian cult called "British Israelism", who think that the Western Europeans (Anglo-Saxons, Germans, etc.) are the true descendants of the people of Israel. From another writing of the same nutjob, called "
Who are the Jews":
The group of nations which we loosely group under the term Anglo-Saxon, includes the people of the British Isles, the Scandinavian, countries, nearly all of Germany, Holland, and some few of the people of France and Belgium. [...] All these people are the living descendants of the people named Israel of the Bible. We are blood brothers of our Savior, Yahshua.
Well, nutjobs is too kind. They're racists too. Another minister whose writings are featured on the same site, Wesley Swift, was a member of the KKK, if that wasn't already clear enough.
Now, should I trust the writings of such a nutjob?
Additional information regarding the nationality of the Roosevelt family, was given by Chase S. Osborn, early in 1934, at St. Petersburg, Florida. Mr. Osborn was formerly Governor of Michigan. [...] He referred to the ‘Jewish ancestry’ of the President, explaining how he is a descendant of the Rossocampo family expelled from Spain in 1620. Seeking safety in German, Holland and other countries, members of the family, he said, changed their name to Rosenberg, Rosenbaum, Rosenblum, Rosenvelt and Rosenthal.
Can you provide me with a date for the article in the Petersburg Times? Can you show the genealogical information that has been gathered by Mr. Osborn? Why would Osborn do that at all, BTW?
He continues:
The Roosevelts in North Holland finally became Roosevelt, soon becoming apostates with the first generation and others following suit until, the fourth generation, a little storekeeper by the name of Jacobus Roosevelt was the only one who remained true to His Jewish Faith.
This makes the story even more unbelievable. Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, or had to convert to Christianity. Portugal soon followed suit. So, these "Rossocampos" have lived for several generations in an oppressive regime, hiding their Jewish identity, and once they arrived in a religiously tolerant country, they quickly became apostates? Sorry, does not compute.
Moreover, the name Rossocampo is not attested anywhere as a Sephardic name, e.g.,
this database turns up nil. The only finds on Google, besides racist hate sites that parrot the above story, are of a Gregory Thompson on
http://genforum.genealogy.com/roosevelt/, who keeps parroting the story, including the claim that Roosevelt's ancestor Claes Roosevelt came from Haarlem (near Amsterdam). He regularly underlines the credibility of his claims by using all-caps.
Claes Roosevelt came to Nieuw Amsterdam (New York) shortly before 1649. His ancestry in Holland has not been conclusively traced. The Haarlem claim is not supported by any incidence of the Roosevelt name (or variants thereof) in the 17th century. The better claim is by the village Oud Vossemeer on the island of Tholen. Roosevelt there occurred as a geographical name, and sometime later in the 17th century occurred as a family name. Also the current distribution of the name "Van Rosenvelt" in Holland concentrates around Tholen (
link).
ETA:
I overlooked another piece of - let's say - sloppy research by your nutjob Willie Martin. You quoted him as writing:
The New York Times of March 14, 1935, quotes the President as saying: “In the distant past my ancestors may have been Jews. All I know about the origin of the Roosevelt family is that they are apparently descended form Claes Martenszen van Roosevelt, who came from Holland.”
Here's the
actual letter:
My dear Mr. Slomovitz:
I am grateful to you for your interesting letter of March 4th. I have no idea as to the source of the story which you say came from my old friend, Chase Osborn. All I know about the origin of the Roosevelt family in this country is that all branches bearing the name are apparently descended from Claes Martenssen Van Roosevelt, who came from Holland sometime before 1648—even the year is uncertain. [...]
In the dim distant past they may have been Jews or Catholics or Protestants. What I am more interested in is whether they were good citizens and believers in God. I hope they were both.
Highlighting mine. Incorrect and tendentious quoting, and he quoted the two sentences out of order. I doubt also the letter appeared in the NYT, as it was directed at the editor of the Detroit Jewish Chronicle.
