The Backstory: Two Degrees of Separation From George Washington!

As hard as it is to believe . . we just lost a guy who’s own grandfather was born in the 1700s and was president 185 years ago! It seems like the math doesn’t work . . but we’ll explain the life story of Harrison Tyler and his grandpa . . President John Tyler.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, So this may knock you for a loop,
but did you know that one guy who just died
in the past month or so had a direct link
to the entire history of the United States. Harrison Ruffin
Tyler was ninety six years old, and he was the
last surviving grandson of John Tyler, the tenth President of
the United States. Huh, how's that possible. I'm Patty Steele

(00:24):
alive in twenty twenty five, with sort of two degrees
of separation from George Washington. That's next on the backstory.
We're back with the backstory. Harrison ruff And Tyler died
on May twenty fifth this year, and with him went
the last grandchild of President John Tyler, the tenth president

(00:47):
of the United States from eighteen forty one to eighteen
forty five. Now it seems a little bit of a
stretch to think your grandpa was in the White House
almost two hundred years ago. I mean, we all know
our pause, right, but it's actually not quite as strange
as it seems. Harrison and his older brother, Lyon Gardner
Tyler Junior, that's quite a name, who died five years

(01:10):
ago at the age of ninety five, were sons of
Lyon Gardner Tyler Senior, the first I guess who was
born in eighteen fifty three. He was their dad eighteen
fifty three, but he had the boys when he was
in his seventies. Lyon Senior died in nineteen thirty five
at the age of eighty two, when the two boys
were seven and ten.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Starting to get the picture.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Lyon Senior was born eight years after his own father,
John Tyler, was already out of the White House, and
their great grandfather, John Tyler Senior, was born in seventeen
forty five. It turns out he was a roommate in
College of Thomas Jefferson.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
That'd be a crazy dorm room, right.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
He went on to serve in the Continental Army during
the Revolution, then became Governor of Virginia, all while having
eight children, including the future President. Ten years ago, Lyon
Junior gave a speech in which he said, I heard
too much about presidents growing up. There were family stories
about paling around with Patrick Henry, Andrew Jackson, Daniel Webster,

(02:16):
fighting in the Revolution and the Civil War, and of
course a ton of stories about my grandfather, President John Tyler.
So what we're seeing here in this crazy close connection
is a succession of Tyler men who married late in life.
You see, that wasn't creepy or unusual. It was often
because women so frequently died in childbirth in those days,

(02:38):
so men would quickly remarry somebody young and full of
enough energy to take care of the children, love behind
her husband and the house, as well as adding more
offspring to the household. So the Tyler family up until
Harrison's death, was three generations of people that tied together
almost the entire history of the United States. President Tyler

(03:02):
was born two hundred and thirty five years ago in
seventeen ninety, just months after George Washington was inaugurated as
our first president. He was a governor, a congressman, a senator,
and then the vice president under William Henry Harrison. But
Harrison caught a cold during his inaugural speech, which turned
into pneumonia, killing him within a month of becoming president.

(03:26):
Thus John Tyler became president. While in office, his wife,
Letitia died las of deaths in those days. Two years later,
just before leaving the White House, he married Julia Gardner,
a twenty four.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Year old debutante.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
When he was fifty four, after leaving office, he got
out of politics and went home to his Virginia plantation
called Sherwood Forest to enjoy the good life with his
young wife. Before he died in eighteen sixty two, he
had fathered fifteen children, the most of any American president.
President Tyler. Thirteenth child was Lyon Tyler Senior. Lyon had

(04:03):
three children with his first wife, Anne, who died in
nineteen twenty one, and in nineteen twenty three, when he
was seventy years old, he married thirty five year old
Sue Ruffin. They had three more children, including Lyon Junior
and the recently deceased Harrison. That kind of pulls the
story together now, I mean, it wasn't unusual for a

(04:23):
man to immediately remarry somebody much younger when his wife
had died again, mostly because she would have had the
energy to care for him and any remaining children, as
well as have more children for him. Those kids to
be counted on to care for the family property, whether
it was a farm or a business, and also the
parents as they aged. Plus, for her part, the young

(04:46):
wife was making a choice that probably allowed her a
better financial situation. Women didn't have a lot of options
to improve their financial lives. That didn't involve marrying a
guy who'd already been successful money wise, So the Tyler
family just happened to have a run of several long
living men who had first wives who died young. They

(05:07):
went on to create new families with much younger second wives.
Now the only stain on the Tyler family legacy was
President Tyler's support for the South during the Civil War
and Lion Tyler Senior's academic and public attacks on Abraham
Lincoln over his opposition to state's rights during the war.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
They were tried in True Confederates.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
As for Harrison's thoughts on modern politics, while back in
twenty twelve, he said, I've sort of lost interest in politics.
They're killing each other on both sides. The campaigns are
just horrible. It has nothing to do.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
With what we really need.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
You're here hope you're enjoying the Backstory with Patty Steele.
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Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a production

(06:09):
of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group, and Steel
Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jay Kushner.
We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free
to reach out to me with comments and even story
suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and on Facebook
at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the Backstory with

(06:31):
Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't know you
needed to know.