Three Generations Span Forty-Six Administrations!

by Pa Rock
Family Historian

Over the years I have used Pa Rock's Ramble to preserve fiction that I have written, family history and stories, book and movie reviews, tales of the farm, travel adventures, and plenty of political rants.  It has, at times, also functioned as a scrapbook where I preserve stories from the press that capture my interest.  For instance, I wrote a couple of pieces about the fellow on the Greyhound Bus who cut off the head of the passenger sitting next to him late one night as their bus rolled across the Canadian prairie, and I have at times  printed items of interest, at least to me, about Queen Elizabeth's dogs, or even her kids.  Today's entry falls into that "scrapbooking" category.  It is something that I read on the internet yesterday and wanted to preserve for the enjoyment of any researcher who has to dig through The Ramble centuries, or even weeks, from now.

This story also ties in nicely with our nation's next presidential inauguration - that of Joe Biden - which will occur this Wednesday.

John Tyler, the 10th President of the United States, was the first Vice-President who was elevated into the Presidency.  He took over as President in early 1841 when his boss, William Henry Harrison, died just 31 days after being sworn in as President.  Tyler, a Whig, had a tumultuous four years in office which included an attempt by Congress to impeach him, the death of his first wife, and a marriage to a much younger woman.    He was ultimately denied his party's nomination for a second term.   John Tyler left office in March of 1845 - a little over 175 years ago.

John Tyler had been born on March 29, 1790, in Virginia just eleven months after George Washington, another Virginian, was sworn in as our nation's first President.   Tyler died in Richmond, Virginia, in 1862 during the Civil War.

The article that I came across yesterday had to do with Harrison Ruffin Tyler, a grandson of John Tyler - and also a Virginian.   Amazingly Harrison Ruffin Tyler, President John Tyler's grandson (the son of Tyler's son, Lyon Gardiner Tyler), is still alive and kicking.  President John Tyler's grandson is 91 and lives in a Virginia nursing home.  (Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States at the time of John Tyler's death - although, at that time, Virginia was no longer a part of the United States.)

John Tyler had more children than any other US President - fifteen - and Lyon Gardiner Tyler was a child from the second, younger wife.  Lyon Gardiner Tyler was born in 1852 when his father was a spry 62-years-old.  Lyon Gardiner Tyler, in turn, was 75-years-old when he blessed the world with Harrison Ruffin Tyler.

Harrison Tyler's older brother, Lyon, Jr., died this past October at the age of ninety-five.

And this Wednesday, Harrison Ruffin Tyler, the grandson of a man who was born when George Washington had been President less than a year, will be able to switch on his television, using a remote control, and see Joe Biden sworn in as our country's 46th President.  (Or he might pull it up on his laptop or listen to it on his smart speaker.)   That is quite a stretch of history for just three generations of one American family!

Not many of us can boast of having a grandparent who was alive during the administration of George Washington - during the first year of his first term, no less!