Original photo by Library of Congress/ Unsplash
More than 200 years after the 10th President of the United States was born, one of his grandsons is still alive. As impossible as that may seem, the math — and biology — checks out. John Tyler, who was born in 1790 and became President in 1841 after William Henry Harrison died in office (possibly of pneumonia), had a son named Lyon Gardiner Tyler in 1853. This son was born to the then-60-something Tyler and his second, much younger, wife, Julia Gardiner. Lyon then had two sons of his own in his 70s (also with a much younger second wife), one of whom — Harrison Ruffin Tyler, born in 1928 — is still gracing the Earth in his 90s.
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It's a fibThe Bushes were preceded in this exceedingly rare feat by John Adams (1797–1801) and John Quincy Adams (1825–1829), the second and sixth Presidents, respectively.
It may make this feat slightly less surprising to know that Tyler had 15 children, more than any other POTUS in U.S. history. Tyler’s actual presidency is less remarkable than this biographical oddity, alas — he was referred to as “His Accidency” upon assuming office and wasn’t renominated in the following election. (He was also an enslaver whose profitable plantation ran on the labor of 40 to 50 enslaved people.) Though his grandsons haven’t had major political aspirations, you might say it was in Tyler’s blood to seek office: His father, John Tyler Sr., was roommates with Thomas Jefferson at the College of William and Mary and later served as the 15th governor of Virginia.
Numbers Don't Lie
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President John Tyler belonged to the ______ Party.
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President John Tyler belonged to the Whig Party.
Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt were fifth cousins.
It’s well known that the two commanders in chief were related, but how they were related is less-common knowledge. FDR assumed the presidency 24 years after his fifth cousin left the Oval Office, and their mutual political aspirations were no coincidence: The longest-serving President in U.S. history greatly admired his distant relative and intentionally followed in his footsteps. Teddy largely approved: Upon Franklin’s engagement to Eleanor — Franklin’s fifth cousin once removed — the younger Roosevelt received a note from the elder saying he was “as fond of Eleanor as if she were my daughter; and I like you, and trust you, and believe in you.”
Michael Nordine is a writer and editor living in Denver. A native Angeleno, he has two cats and wishes he had more.
