[2] Mittie was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on July 8, 1835, to Georgia residents Major James Stephens Bulloch (1793–1849) and Martha "Patsy" Stewart (1799–1864).

Through her father's first marriage to Hester Amarintha "Hettie" Elliott (1797–1831), she had two elder half brothers: Through her mother's first marriage to Senator John Elliott (father of Hettie), she also had four elder half siblings: When Mittie was three, Major Bulloch moved the family from Savannah, Georgia, to Cobb County in north Georgia and the new village that would become Roswell.

It lies just north of the Chattahoochee River and the city of Atlanta, and Major Bulloch had gone there to become a partner in a new cotton mill with Roswell King, the town's founder.

[2] Mitchell had, in fact, interviewed Mittie's closest childhood friend and bridesmaid, Evelyn King, for a story in the Atlanta Journal newspaper in the early 1920s.

[2] Mittie married Theodore Roosevelt Sr. on December 22, 1853, at the Greek Revival-style family mansion Bulloch Hall in Roswell; they were wedded in front of the pocket doors in the formal dining room.

Irvine was the youngest officer on the CSS Alabama, firing the last gun before the ship sank in battle off the coast of Cherbourg, France, while James was a Confederate agent in England, Scotland and Wales.

These emotional crises were mitigated somewhat by the maturity and management skills of Mittie's elder daughter, Bamie, who stepped into a leadership role at a young age, especially when her father, nicknamed "Thee", was out of town in Washington, visiting Lincoln and lobbying Congress for programs to support the Northern troops in the field and their families back home.

"Thee", a Northerner himself, left his conflicted home situation to serve for the Union cause, acting as an Allotment Commissioner for New York and traveling to persuade soldiers to send a percentage of their wages to their families.

During her children's education, the family traveled to Europe, predominantly spending time in England, France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Germany from May 1869 to May 1870.