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USA / China: Warren Delano Jr. (1809-1898), China Trader in tea, silk and opium, grandfather of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945). From a picture taken in Hong Kong, January 1862

Warren Delano, grandfather to President Roosevelt, descended from a long line of seafaring Delanos. Warren inevitably followed in his ancestors' footsteps and became an apprentice at a Boston merchant bank and shipping firm. At this time he built connections with other men who would proffer opportunities to make the profitable investments that allowed Warren to count his family among the four hundred wealthiest families in America.

Warren left the United States in 1833 to follow the trading routes the Delanos had already developed. Warren ventured to South America, the Pacific Islands and then on to China. In Canton he replaced Samuel H. Russell of the Boston tea company Russell and Company. Warren lived in China for nine years, earning the position of Chief of Operations for Macau, Canton, and Hong Kong. His greatest achievement was the expansion of Russell & Company’s trade in opium.

Warren returned to the United States at age 33 a very wealthy, and thus a suitable, match for aristocratic young women. He was home only a brief time in 1843 when he married Catherine Robbins Lyman, the daughter of a Massachusetts Supreme Court Judge.

in 1851 Delano settled in Newburgh, N.Y. There he eventually gave his daughter Sara in marriage to a well-born neighbour, James Roosevelt, the father of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The old China trader was close-mouthed about opium, as were his partners in Russell & Company. It is not clear how much F.D.R. knew about this source of his grandfather's wealth. But the President's recent biographer Geoffrey Ward rejects efforts by the Delano family to minimize Warren's involvement.