{"id":264653,"date":"2025-05-31T03:03:37","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T03:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/last-surviving-grandson-of-president-john-tyler-who-took-office-in-1841-dies-at-96\/"},"modified":"2025-05-31T03:03:37","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T03:03:37","slug":"last-surviving-grandson-of-president-john-tyler-who-took-office-in-1841-dies-at-96","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=264653","title":{"rendered":"Last Surviving Grandson of President John Tyler, Who Took Office in 1841, Dies at 96"},"content":{"rendered":"


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When Harrison Ruffin Tyler\u2019s grandfather was born 235 years ago in 1790, George Washington had just become the nation\u2019s first president<\/h2>\n
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Sarah Kuta<\/a><\/p>\n

– Daily Correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n

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John Tyler was 63 when his 13th child was born in 1853. That child,\u00a0Lyon Gardiner Tyler Sr., was 75 when Harrison Ruffin Tyler was born in 1928.
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Harrison Ruffin Tyler, grandson of the tenth American president John Tyler, died on May 25 at age 96.<\/p>\n

Though the cause of death has not been revealed, his health had deteriorated in recent years. He had been diagnosed with dementia and suffered several small strokes starting in 2012, reports the\u00a0New York Times<\/em><\/a>\u2019 Robert D. McFadden. He died at his home in a retirement community in Richmond, Virginia, according to the\u00a0Washington Post<\/em><\/a>\u2019s Andrew Jeong and Brian Murphy.<\/p>\n

After the death of his brother<\/a>, Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr., in September 2020, Harrison Ruffin Tyler was the last surviving grandson of John Tyler, who was born in 1790 and led the nation between 1841 and 1845.<\/p>\n

But how could someone born in 1790 still have\u2014until very recently\u2014living grandchildren? Even the president\u2019s grandson acknowledged that the time frame was difficult to comprehend.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you talk about my grandfather born in the 1700s, there is a disconnect there,\u201d he told\u00a0WTVR<\/a>\u2019s Scott Wise and Greg McQuade in 2012.<\/p>\n

The unusual timeline was the result of second marriages and late-in-life fatherhood for the former president and, later, one of his sons. John Tyler was 63 when his 13th child, Lyon Gardiner Tyler Sr., was born in 1853. Then, Lyon Gardiner Tyler Sr. was 75 when Harrison Ruffin Tyler was born in 1928.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth my grandfather\u2014the president\u2014and my father were married twice,\u201d he told\u00a0New York <\/em>magazine<\/a>\u2019s Dan Amira in 2012. \u201cAnd they had children by their first wives. And their first wives died, and they married again and had more children.\u201d<\/p>\n

With so many relatives to keep track of, he added, \u201cit does get very confusing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a child, I did know most of the descendants, but as you get more generations down the line, it\u2019s hard to keep track of everybody,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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John Tyler was born just after George Washington<\/a> became the fledgling nation\u2019s first president. He pursued a career in politics, serving as Virginia\u2019s governor, as well as a United States representative and senator.<\/p>\n

He became America\u2019s vice president when William Henry Harrison was elected president in 1840. When Harrison died of pneumonia a month into his term, John Tyler became the first vice president to succeed a president who died in office.<\/p>\n

His ascension was controversial, with some federal lawmakers questioning the legitimacy of his claims to the presidency. Some detractors even took to calling him \u201cHis Accidency<\/a>.\u201d The issue was not officially settled until 1967, with the ratification of the 25th Amendment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As president, one of John Tyler\u2019s biggest accomplishments was pursuing the annexation of Texas, which officially joined the Union<\/a> in 1845 under President James K. Polk<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After his stint in the White House, he retired to his plantation on Virginia\u2019s James River. During the Civil War, he was elected to the Confederate legislature, but he died in 1862 before he could take office.<\/p>\n

During his lifetime, he had a record-setting 15 children\u2014the most of any U.S. president. He was married twice: first to Letitia Christian, who became the first<\/a> president\u2019s wife to die in the White House in 1842, followed by Julia Gardiner, who also served as First Lady. Their fifth child<\/a> was Lyon Gardiner Tyler Sr., who later fathered Harrison Ruffin Tyler.<\/p>\n

Born in 1928, Harrison Ruffin Tyler studied chemistry at the College of William & Mary and chemical engineering at Virginia Tech before founding a water treatment company called ChemTreat. He and his wife, Frances Payne Bouknight, who died in 2019, also spent many years restoring the family\u2019s ancestral home, Sherwood Forest Plantation<\/a>. The 1,600-acre property, built around 1730 and purchased by his grandfather during his presidency, is a National Historic Landmark.<\/p>\n

The couple also worked to preserve a nearby Union supply depot called Fort Pocahontas<\/a> that had been constructed by a regiment of Black soldiers during the Civil War. They had three children together: Harrison Ruffin Tyler Jr., William Bouknight Tyler and Julia Gardiner Tyler Samaniego.<\/p>\n

Harrison Ruffin Tyler \u201cwill be missed immeasurably by those who survive him,\u201d Annique Dunning, the executive director of Sherwood Forest, said in a statement, as reported by the Associated Press<\/a>. \u201cHe will be remembered for his considerable charm, generosity and unfailing good humor by all who knew him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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