Pres. John Tyler's Grandchildren Are Still Alive

Try to do the math on this: John Tyler, born in 1790, became the 10th president of the United States, taking office in 1841 after the death of William Henry Harrison. And two of his grandchildren are still alive!

Of course, not much from Tyler's time is still around. In the year of his birth, President George Washington gave the first State of the Union address and Thomas Jefferson served as his secretary of state.

In Europe, a young upstart 2nd lieutenant named Napoleon Bonaparte was making a name for himself in the French Revolution.

And in the realm of technological innovation, one of the most successful innovators of that age, Harvey Kennedy, invented the shoelace.

In Tyler's life between 1790 and 1862, he fathered 15 children, and two of his grandsons are still living, reports mentalfloss.com.

With 15 children under his belt, Tyler became the most prolific American president, according to his genealogy.

Apparently, one of Tyler's children, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, born in 1853, fathered Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr. in 1924 as well as Harrison Ruffin Tyler in 1928, as reported by sherwoodforest.org.

Tyler was also the first president to wed while he was in office.

Comments

[Gerard Mayers]

09:51 PM on 01/31/2012

Actually, when you look at the result of the Civil War, no body really won! Yes, the slaves were freed, but it took the Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution to end slavery in all parts of the US... and NOT the Emancipation Proclamation!! Read the Emancipation Proclamation and you will see I am right!

[Anna Rather]

07:57 PM on 01/29/2012

Weird?

[aaraujo]

09:40 AM on 01/27/2012

Don't bame me, I wanted Martin Van Buren to win re-election

[Joe Lanzafame]

02:51 PM on 01/27/2012

lmao

[haystackhellions]

09:14 AM on 01/27/2012

PS..God Bless America...and the ''North'' for giving America, industry,civility,military,laws,an awesome and fierce civil war army..innovation,equality for women, dont you think you should let go of the past...its done....we won...!!

[cherokee1934]

01:55 PM on 01/27/2012

You did pretty good until you "Just had to put in this WE WON bit"

[jake192168]

09:07 AM on 01/27/2012

wow... tyler owned slaves so these kids money should go to repratriations.

[Antifish]

10:29 AM on 01/27/2012

Repatriations? Who needs to be repatriated? If you meant reparations, why should Tyler's grandsons, who didn't own slaves, have to pay a penny to someone who has never been a slave?

[cherokee1934]

01:52 PM on 01/27/2012

I have never liked the idea of slavery. But it did exist here in the USA. We only had about 10% of the people that were sold into slavery by their own people. For the most part our black citizens are much better off than their counterparts in Africa. But there are many people that want to keep on applying some kind of bad name to them. Why don't we just let them live and learn like everyone else in this Country. I have worked with many black people that are as professional as you could want.

[hyena74]

12:31 PM on 01/29/2012

Lmao...Reparations?...So are blacks going to pay for all the black slaves they owned too? You know its a fact per % of black folks living in the usa there was more black slave owners? You should buy and read this book..Open your eyes a bit to the past...Its rediculous to blame one group when all groups had slaves..All.

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Slaveowners-Masters-Carolina-1790-1860/dp/1570030375 Just one of the many stories hidden by today news..lol

[Darleen Chick]

08:57 AM on 01/27/2012

so what i can go back to 1500 for my husbands family..it is not that rare

[cherokee1934]

11:48 AM on 01/27/2012

Mine goes back to the time of the Magna Carta in 1215. Someone is just making a big deal with this story.
I am glad that his family is still alive and well.

[splenetic]

03:24 AM on 01/29/2012

The story is not about tracing the family back to whenever, but that there are grandchildren still alive in 2012. That's the big deal.

[Joe Lanzafame]

02:54 PM on 01/27/2012

the point wasn't that they could go back to 1790 with the geneology. The point is that a man born in 1790 still has grandchildren alive. For comparison, my grandmother was born in 1903! It is just kind of an odd coincidence that Tyler fathered children in his 60s and then his son fathered children in his 70s.

[splenetic]

03:26 AM on 01/29/2012

Oops. Someone already pointed it out.

[lwlaw2]

08:49 AM on 01/27/2012

Although I was a history buff, this goes into the category of "who cares"?

[Joe Lanzafame]

02:55 PM on 01/27/2012

it's kind of interesting. He had a child in his 60s and his son had 2 children in his 70s. It's kind of interesting as an odd coincidence. That's why it was under "weird news" not "history"

[PrairieCal]

06:47 AM on 01/27/2012

My Grandfather fought in the War of Northern Agression. He was a Yankee. I deal with the shame as best I can.

[NonPC3]

07:28 AM on 01/27/2012

Yes we know what you mean. There is nothing lower then a yankee. Except a picket line crossing Scab. God Bless America. In God WE Trust.

[bobcaygeon]

08:34 AM on 01/27/2012

You crackers sure are funny!

[jake192168]

09:08 AM on 01/27/2012

only one thing to remeber about the confederacy....you lost!

[haystackhellions]

08:58 AM on 01/27/2012

As a northern born American...white..educated...we gave you the opportunity to civilize your states...to be true Americans....! Your description of ''Being Aggressors'' is quite uncivil..Yes,we did womp your armies...impose laws...and to be quite honest....I'm glad we did!! And truth be told...We could and would, should you act up again....!! so be good Rebs, and everything will be okay for you!!

[Antifish]

10:34 AM on 01/27/2012

We?

[stealth lj]

06:00 AM on 01/27/2012

The article is only half right. There is only one surviving grandson. The older grandson Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr., born 19 Dec 1923, died 8 Mar 1991 at the age of 67. Here is a link to his Social Security Death Record:
http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?rank=1&new=1&MSAV=1&msT=1&gss=angs-g&gsfn=lyon+gardiner&gsln=tyler&msbdy=1923&cpxt=0&catBucket=rstp&uidh=vp1&cp=0&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=63672358&recoff=5+6+7&db=ssdi&indiv=1

Our "reporter" read the Tyler family tree on the Sherwood Forest Plantation website and assumed that Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr. was still alive, since the family tree did not show a death date for him. Using a single source which may have incomplete data is definitely poor genealogy research.

[SportyJim]

05:12 PM on 01/27/2012

HuffPo doesn't require facts for reporting

[indsereng]

05:09 AM on 01/27/2012

President of The United States and fathered 15 children.. geeesshhh and I thought I was busy..

[Bryon5554]

07:46 AM on 01/27/2012

No television to stare at all evening

[fabesbabe6755]

08:32 AM on 01/27/2012

One of my great grandmothers had 14 and all lived to adulthood. Another had 3 sets of twins! and 4 singles and others had 6 - 10 children. They were farm families in an age of no contraception and high incidence of childhood disease.

[2tru4u2c]

04:49 AM on 01/27/2012

So, the old dog sired a child at 71, then another at 75. Good for him.

[ElBruce]

04:32 AM on 01/27/2012

"Tippecanoe and Tyler too!"

Man, I must be old...

[SportyJim]

05:16 PM on 01/27/2012

Hey I'm related to ol Tippecanoe! But I'm not his grandson.

[adam646l]

04:02 AM on 01/27/2012

How young a country we are still! Maybe, after we continue to dig out from bush, we will be GREAT again.

[Wallace Williams]

04:49 AM on 01/27/2012

This article is all nonsense. There was no country and no presidents before Bill Clinton.

Bill handwrote the Declaration of Independence on the back of his copyright for the Ipad.

Vote Democrat in 2012: History is a thing of the past!

[adam646l]

04:58 AM on 01/27/2012

The HEIGHT of cleverness

[jake192168]

09:10 AM on 01/27/2012

no he wrote the declaration of independece on a blue dress that belonged to monica.

[2tru4u2c]

04:51 AM on 01/27/2012

We can't dig out from GWB's debt. It's buried way too deep under BHO's debt. (and getting deeper every day).

[adam646l]

04:57 AM on 01/27/2012

Republicans are knee deep in rhetoric

[jake192168]

09:11 AM on 01/27/2012

thats why o'bummer is igging a giant hole around bush's and hopes the little hole bush dug with just be consumed by the gigantic hole o'bummer is digging in half the time.

[mscellanus]

02:10 AM on 01/27/2012

Wasn't Tyler the one in the political slogan: Teepee canoe and Tyler too?

[luvhairymen2]

04:34 AM on 01/27/2012

Indeed!

[Joe Lanzafame]

02:57 PM on 01/27/2012

Tippecanoe and Tyler too.

[mscellanus]

05:30 AM on 01/28/2012

Thanks Joe for the correct slogan title. Looks like some of us did get a good education years ago.

[rockysparks]

01:16 AM on 01/27/2012

John Tyler also joined the Confederacy when Virginia seceded from the Union. He also was elected to the Confederate house of representatives, but died before the first session began.