Posted on 01/26/2012 7:26:41 AM PST by rightwingintelligentsia
Former President John Tyler, born 221 years ago, still has two living grandchildren. The one-term president isn't a well-known historical figure; he's probably best remembered for helping to push through the annexation of Texas in 1845, shortly before leaving office.
So, how is it possible that a former president who died 150 years ago would still have direct descendents alive today? As it turns out, the Tyler men were known for fathering children late in life. And that math is pretty outstanding when added up:
John Tyler was born in 1790. He became the 10th president of the United States in 1841 after William Henry Harrison died in office. Tyler fathered Lyon Gardiner Tyler in 1853, at age 63. Then, at the age of 71, Lyon Gardiner Tyler fathered Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr. in 1924 and four years later at age 75, Harrison Ruffin Tyler. Both men are still alive today.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
When I first read your post, I thought you said Donald “Tramp”.
I didn’t bat an eyelash because it seemed accurate.
Between my grandfather's grandfather's birth and my grandfather's own death was a span of 197 years--not quite the record of Tyler's grandchildren. My grandfather had a younger sister who outlived him by 4 years--she died 201 years after her grandfather's birth.
As a child, I knew a man (born @ 1890) who claimed that his grandfather, as a baby, had been “bounced on the knee of George Washington.” I always thought the math was a stretch, but he knew approximate dates, places and certainly had the “old-Virginia” lineage to have made it possible.
I was only a young boy, but I thought - how cool! I know a man, who knows a man - who met George Washington!
We are still a young Republic!
As Matthew Spalding from the Heritage Foundation said at the Virginia Tea Party convention in 2010, “we are not that far from our founding.” I bet he didn’t realize how true those words are.
“I was only a young boy, but I thought - how cool! I know a man, who knows a man - who met George Washington!”
It is interesting how a single life can bridge eras. The great-grandmother that held me as a baby sat in Robert E. Lee’s lap!
“We are still a young Republic!”
We used to be a Republic. I have nfi what we are now.
Yep, I understand that one of them lives not far from me in Franklin, TN. I should look him up one of these days...
As a teenager, my Dad was fascinated listening to his great-grandfather - who lived to be 99 - talk about going downtown (Philadelphia) to see Lincoln’s funeral train. Dad became a lifelong Civil War buff. In this case, nobody was over 35 when their kids were born.
And from the Great Beyond, Strom Thurmond and John Tyler high-five...
}:-)4
And from the Great Beyond, Strom Thurmond and John Tyler high-five...
}:-)4
This is actually one of my favorite points of the history of our young republic. I was telling somone about this a couple weeks ago.
My (living) mother in Houston, was daughter to one—Danial Webster L****— who fought FOR the STATE of Alabama in his
late teens/early 20s. She was 10 when he died at age 90 in 1933.
A few years ago I heard a talk by a man who was 97 years old (I don’t know if he is still alive) whose father had ridden with Nathan Bedford Forrest during the WBTS. Obviously his father was a pretty old man when he was born.
My 45 year old husband’s grandfather was nursed by one of the family’s slaves. It’s a fact that has always amazed me. By the way, after the war all the freed slaves stayed with the family for years.
Far Out! Thanks for the research. I’d love to meet them.
From my great-grandfather's birth in 1835 to his last child's death in 1981 is 146 years. A shorter span but not by much.
That generational span doesn’t sound all that unusual to me. My grandfather was born in 1873. I’m in my late 40’s. His oldest daughter is still alive. His second oldest daughter just passed away on Tuesday of this week. His youngest son, my father, passed away in 2008.
"Last" Confederate Widow Maudie White Hopkins, 93,(2008) died Sunday at age 93, ....Other Confederate widows are still living, but they don’t want any publicity, Martha Boltz of the United Daughters of the Confederacy said Tuesday.
Herman Lehmann , last captive rescued from the Comanche, was autographing pictures in a 1947 Houston movie theater.
John Tyler was like 4 or 5 presidents BEFORE Lincoln.
At the NHS battlefield in Wyoming , there is silent film of Am.Indians hand signing about their roll in the great battle of the Greasy Grass (Custer Last Stand)
At GWTW movie premier in Atlanta, 1939, in attendance were vets. of WBTS. They were in the newsreels.
http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2009/05/the_lowdown_on_bonnie_and_clyd.html
go to link here to read about descendants of Bonnie &Clyde
Just to put it in perspective, your grandfather was born when George Washington, Wolfgang Mozart and Benjamin Franklin were still alive! Your own father was old enough to remember the Civil War!
That is cool!
Did you know the last surviving veteran of the US Civil War died in 1959?
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