Alice Hathaway Lee

Alice Hathaway Lee (1861-1884) was a young woman from Massachusetts when Theodore Roosevelt met her in 1878. Roosevelt fell madly in love with her and courted her for several years, but she spurned his interests and refused a marriage proposal. Along with his defeat in an election to the New York Assembly, Lee's rejection instilled in Roosevelt a deep sense of disappointment that led him to leave the eastern United States and reinvent himself in Montana Territory.