President John Tyler's Grandson Is Still Alive

Here's the most amazing thing you'll ever read about our 10th president:

John Tyler was born in 1790. He took office in 1841, after William Henry Harrison died. And he still has one living grandchild: Harrison Ruffin Tyler.

Not great-great-great-grandchild. Harrison's dad was Tyler’s son.

How is this possible?

The Tyler men have a habit of having kids very late in life. Lyon Gardiner Tyler, one of President Tyler’s 15 kids, was born in 1853. He fathered Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr. in 1924, and Harrison Ruffin Tyler in 1928.

In 2012, we placed a somewhat awkward call to the Charles City County History Center in Virginia to check in on the Tylers, at which point both Lyon and Harrison were still living. But on September 26, 2020, Lyon passed away at the age of 95—175 years after his grandfather left the White House in 1845.

After we originally shared the fact that two of Tyler's grandchildren were still living on Twitter in 2012, Dan Amira interviewed Harrison Tyler for New York Magazine. Lyon Tyler spoke to the Daughters of the American Revolution a while back, and both brothers were profiled by The Times of London in 2018. Snopes is also in on the fact.

This story has been updated for 2020.