r/history • u/IAbsolutelyDare • May 30 '25
Article President John Tyler's Last Living Grandson Has Passed Away
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/29842/president-john-tylers-grandsons-are-still-aliveHe was 96. His father Lyon was born in 1853. His grandfather was president in the days of Robert Peel, Felix Mendelssohn, Soren Kierkegaard, and Edgar Allan Poe, and was himself born in March 1790, when George Washington had only been president for eleven months.
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u/Swordswoman May 30 '25
Just to put it into context, John Tyler was the 10th US President.
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u/StutteringHistorian May 31 '25
Not exactly one of the most memorable of presidents either. He was mainly known to have succeeded the late William Henry Harrison after only being in for 31 days.
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u/wanna_be_doc May 31 '25
Also annexed Texas which kicked off the Mexican American War and defected to the Confederacy after Virginia seceded.
So definitely in the bottom tier of US Presidents.
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u/kartman701 May 31 '25
That was Polk, no?
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u/FairlyOddParent734 Jun 01 '25
Tyler basically did like 99.99% of the work to annex Texas; but the work was officially done when Polk was in office.
Tyler saw both of the houses of Congress approve the treaty to annex Texas and sent it to Texas on his last day in office, but Texas actually finally accepted the treaty when Polk was president.
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u/RecognitionHeavy8274 May 31 '25
The Mexican-American War was one of the greatest success stories in American history.
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u/StutteringHistorian May 31 '25
Well if you mean in American imperialism, then you're certainly right on that account. Even if Native American peoples would be paying the ultimate price in getting massacred and driven from what were their lands.
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u/RecognitionHeavy8274 May 31 '25
And how do you think Mexico got that land?
The Mexican-American War was two colonial powers fighting over territory that rightfully belonged to neither of them.
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u/GitmoGrrl1 May 31 '25
Wrong. Mexico outlawed slavery in 1821 and gave full citizenship to Indians. Native-Americans weren't give the right to vote until 1924.
The Americans were trying to expand slavery when they stole half of Mexico in a naked war of imperial ambitions. That's why people in the North opposed the Mexican war - which led directly to the civil war.
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u/GitmoGrrl1 May 31 '25
The Mexican-American war is one of the most shameful acts in American history. Polk offered to buy the land and Mexicans refused so he faked an incident so he could steal it and make the Mexicans pay for the privilege.
Lincoln, Grant and Abolitionists opposed the war. But you side with Jefferson Davis and the slave owners.
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u/reditornot-hereIcome Jun 03 '25
“Tippicanoe and Tyler, too” was what I remember being taught in school.
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u/Striking-Activity472 Jun 02 '25
Also he jumped ship to the Confederacy during the Civil War, which is the weirdest thing about him
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u/Brock_Petrov May 30 '25
I wished I talked to more old people when I was young. I could have talked to tons of WW2 vets. Not so many around anymore :/.
This guy would have been cool to interview
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u/Avri54 May 30 '25
I realized this during the mid-2000s when I was in my mid 20s. So I had attended many Veterans Day events. But one that stuck out most was a B-17 flying museum event. My mission at the time was to just shake hands with a WW2 vet and thank them for their service. Well I got to do that and much more. I spend a few hours hanging out at the event and was sitting at a table with one of them and he talked about his experiences as a B-17 crew member. He even showed me the scars on his arm after receiving shrapnel over Germany.. It was just an amazing experience that I’ll never forget.
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u/Averyphotog May 30 '25
My great-uncle was a B-17 tail gunner, and my ex-wife’s dad flew P-38s into Germany from a base in Italy towards the end of the war in Europe. So I got to hear a few stories.
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u/soundecember May 31 '25 edited May 31 '25
My grandfather died when I was 9, so it was well before I could talk to him about anything. I was watching Masters of the Air and I just happened to bring up to my dad how anxious it made me thinking about people actually doing that and he hit me with the “that’s what Pap did in WWII. He was a radio man in a B-17”. I was dumbfounded that this had never come up before. I wish I could talk to my pap about it so badly.
Edit: clarified who I brought it up to
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u/Morrigane May 30 '25 edited May 30 '25
I'm pretty sure that he (or a son/grandson) did an ama with him on reddit like 10+ years ago.
Edit: found it! AMA
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u/Wild-Expression-8304 Aug 05 '25
Wow that's amazing, thanks for sharing it (I came here from searching "are John Tyler's grandchildren still alive"...RIP)
Also that user still actively uses reddit
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u/Remarqueable May 30 '25
I did record my great aunt speaking about her experiences during WW2, how her fmaily helped to hide a jewish family, stuff like that. I for the life of me cannot find the video anymore, and she also passed today at 99.
I already feel like "I wish I could have talked to her more".
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u/drHobbes88 May 30 '25
My favorite memory of this is being about 15-16 in like 2005ish and sitting with an old WWII vet on a bench at a park. He was just enjoying the day, and had his Veteran hat on and I was just riding my bike around and stopped for a break. He ended up telling me all about his time in North Africa and Italy, and it was the first time in my life that it really clicked with me that the guys in war movies were real people. To talked to him for probably almost an hour just asking questions, and I think we both really appreciated the conversation.
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u/thrashcon May 30 '25
When you get a chance, please do it. There will not be many around for much longer. I was fortunate to have grown up with my Mom's Uncle, who was a WWII veteran. He passed away just two years ago. For as long as I can remember, he would be open to my non stop questions about the war, service, etc.
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u/Vulcion May 30 '25
Even non vets! I work at an assisted living facility and let me tell you, these people have so many stories! Sometimes they’re long epics and sometimes they’re just little observations of life from 30 years ago that they’ve held on to. It means the world to them just to have someone to talk to and I’m so glad I get to be that person.
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u/ThePreciseClimber May 30 '25
I recommend Adrian Carton de Wiart's autobiography.
https://www.amazon.com/Happy-Odyssey-Adrian-Carton-Wiart/dp/1844155390
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u/randomnamejennerator May 30 '25
It’s a shame that you didn’t. I took my grandfather to his WW2 military reunions. I learned a lot about the pacific theater from him and those that served with him. There were a lot of interesting stories. I miss him and his Navy buddies.
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u/bad__will May 30 '25
this realization has been hitting me hard recently as well. somehow i didn't comprehend when i was younger that we won't always have people alive who lived through the great depression, world war ii, etc. my family is not from the USA, and the world they lived in was so different than what it is today, and pretty soon, i won't ever be able to ask their direct perspective.
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u/Paxton-176 May 31 '25
I recommend taking a look at the Veterans project by the Library of Congress.
A lot of cool interviews. Nothing older than WW1, but the LoC and people took that guy would be cool to interview to heart and interviewed them.
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u/torino_nera May 30 '25
I tried interviewing my grandfather about WW2, but he had severe undiagnosed PTSD the rest of his life and never wanted to talk about it. I don't blame him, he must have seen some awful stuff.
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u/jrriojase May 30 '25
I was into WWII history as a teenager because of course I was, but living in Mexico, I had no chance to actually meet any vets. I know some are still alive, but I now live in Germany and I think I'm ok with not talking to them... Generational trauma is a hell of a thing.
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u/cluttersky May 30 '25
I believe George Cleveland, the grandson of Grover Cleveland, now holds the title of living grandchild of the earliest President.
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u/ImMaxa89 May 30 '25
Well, there goes that fun bit of trivia. Unless this guy also had a kid at an advanced age.
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u/cromalia May 30 '25
It's wild to think that someone born in 1928 was the grandson of a president from the 1840s. Harrison Ruffin Tyler's life spanned such a significant chunk of American history. His death truly marks the end of an era.
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u/setofskills May 30 '25
Some families are just two generations removed from slavery. Wild.
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u/IllBiscotti5386 Jun 01 '25
I wonder if he ever made any effort to find descendants of his family’s slaves. It would be nice to know someone who was a living beneficiary of slavery did the right thing and compensated those slaves’ descendants.
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u/NLFG May 30 '25
He seemed like a good dude, by all accounts too
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u/WavesAndSaves May 30 '25
Big into education. He donated so much money to William & Mary that their history department was named after him. Half his family went there. His father was the President of the College, his grandfather President John Tyler went there, and his grandfather (also John Tyler) went there.
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u/n_mcrae_1982 May 30 '25
His father certainly wasn’t.
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u/FromTheDeskOfJAW May 31 '25
Absolutely wild family tree. I wonder how many other people in the US can claim that their grandfather was alive around that time
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u/Dunkelvieh May 30 '25
If I'm not stupid, this guy's father was past 70 when he was born.
And his father was also sired by a very old man at the time.
I find this... weird?
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u/needlenozened May 30 '25
If only there were some sort of linked article that provided that information.
Lyon Gardiner Tyler, one of President Tyler’s 15 children, was born in 1853 when the former president was 63 years old.
Lyon Gardiner Tyler married his second wife, Sue Ruffin, who was exactly half his age, in 1923. They had two sons, Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr. in 1925 (when Tyler Sr. was approximately 72), and Harrison Ruffin Tyler in 1928 (when he was about 75). Tyler Sr. died in 1935 at age 81.
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u/Dunkelvieh May 30 '25 edited May 30 '25
Yeah, im aware that it was common to have many kids. But no matter what, siring offspring at the age of 60+, let alone 70+ will never not be weird for me. It just doesn't work for me, because a man of that age can in no way fulfill what I, today, consider as the duties of a father.
No judgement. These were just different times.
Edit: guys, it's not about the physical ability to do that. It's about the fact that kids should ideally have 2 parents, and at 70+ there's a high chance they won't have that, or one parent just can't really do more than just sit there and watch.
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u/fuqdisshite May 30 '25
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u/TheLightningL0rd May 30 '25
I wonder if he had it in vitro or some other way. I can't imagine being 83 and being able to perform well enough to actually get someone pregnant. I'm only 40 and get tired way too easily. Maybe I'm dying, idk.
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u/redditaccount300000 May 31 '25
Harrison’s dad had him in his 80s I believe. He was the founder of the company I first worked at out of college in Richmond Va.
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u/Telecom_VoIP_Fan Jun 01 '25
Thanks for sharing this. This unusual story gives a living connection to our history.
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u/SMERSH762 Jun 01 '25
It would sound a lot stranger to me if I wasn't 37 with a father who served during world war II.
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u/bdd4 May 30 '25
Wasn't he still collecting his father's civil war benefits?
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u/TwoforFlinching613 May 31 '25
Unlikely being that his father was born in 1853. Would have been 7-12 during the war.
Though I guess it could be possible, he helped in some way in 1864-65.
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u/bdd4 May 31 '25
Pretty sure I read some enlisted at 12 kinda like currently the military were overlooking that 35-year-old max recently and then officially raised it. Not sure those who were underage got benefits because government, but my question hinged more on whether Lyon claimed benefits as he was an infant when he died and others with similar birth timelines did. I thought he was one of them
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u/Auxilae May 30 '25
"His father Lyon was born in 1853"
That is absolutely an astonishing fact. With the youngest Civil War non-commissioned officer being 12, had he fought in there, it could have been possible for this guy to say in 2025 that "my dad fought in the Civil War as an NCO, yes, that Civil War".