The Final Link to a 19th-Century President Has Vanished—What This Century-Old Legacy Really Means for America Today
Harrison Ruffin Tyler, The Grandson Of John Tyler
Harrison Ruffin Tyler was born into his famous American family on Nov. 9, 1928. He was the son of Lyon Gardiner Tyler Sr. (1853 to 1935) and the grandson of President John Tyler (1790 to 1862). Their family tree runs parallel to the history of the United States, as John Tyler was born about a year after George Washington became the nation’s first president in 1789.
But how is such a thing possible?
As Harrison Ruffin Tyler told New York Magazine in 2012, his close genetic connection to the White House is largely due to the fact that both his father and his grandfather married twice.
Harrison Ruffin Tyler, right, with his brother, Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr., and his father, Lyon Gardiner Tyler Sr., who was the 13th child of President John Tyler.
“Both my grandfather — the president — and my father were married twice,” he explained. “And 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.”
Indeed, John Tyler was married to two women: Letitia Christian, who died in 1842, and Julia Gardiner, who was 30 years his junior when they married in 1844. The president had 15 children, including Lyon Gardiner Sr., who, in turn, also married two women: Anne Baker, who died in 1921, and Sue Ruffin, whom he wed in 1923. Lyon Gardiner Sr. had six children with his two wives, including Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr., who died in 2020, and Harrison Ruffin Tyler.
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