It has been 155 years since former U.S. President John Tyler died, but two of his grandsons are still alive, as of early 2017. Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Jr. was born in 1924 and Harrison Ruffin Tyler was born in 1928. Both men are the sons of Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Sr., one of President Tyler’s 15 children. President John Tyler himself was born in 1790. So how can that be? “Both my grandfather (the president) and my father were married twice,” Harrison Tyler explained in 2012. “They had children by their first wives. And their first wives died, and they married again and had more children. And my father was 75 when I was born; his father was 63 when he was born.”
An unexpected presidency:
- John Tyler became president in 1841 after the death of William Henry Harrison, who was president for only 32 days and the first to die in office -- making Tyler the first vice-president to assume those duties after a president's death. He detractors nicknamed him "His Accidency."
- Harrison’s inaugural address lasted almost two hours, on a cold January day. He came away with pneumonia and died weeks later.
- Tyler was a member of many different political parties during his career. He was expelled from the Whig Party while he was president.