The 10th U.S. president, John Tyler, lived from 1790 to 1862. Remarkably, his last grandson, Harrison Ruffin Tyler, just died on May 25, 2025 at the age of 96. How is this possible?
Given that timeframe, living family members are usually at least six generations removed from ancestors, according to the International Society of Genetic Genealogy, especially considering a generation is typically 20 to 30 years.
Yet, Harrison Ruffin Tyler, who lived into the 21st century, recalled a grandfather born in the 1700s and a father born in the 1800s.
“John Tyler” by George Peter Alexander Healy, 1864. Oil on canvas. White House. Public Domain
Fodder for American History Trivia
Why so few generations in such a lengthy span of time? It comes down to children born to older fathers.President John Tyler, who was born at Greenway Plantation in Charles City, Virginia, fathered 15 children: eight by his first wife, Letitia, who died in 1842, and seven by his second wife, Julia. His fifth child with Julia, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Sr. (1853–1935), was born when John Tyler was 63 years old. Lyon was married twice and fathered six children—three with his first wife, Anne, and three with his second wife, Sue. Harrison Ruffin Tyler was born when his father, Lyon, was 75 years old.
Thus, an unusual family timeline was the outcome due to second marriages and late-in-life fatherhood.
For many years, Harrison and his brother, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Jr., were touted in the media due to their famous grandfather, who was 9 years old when George Washington died. Lyon died in 2020 at age 95, so Harrison was, until May 25, the only surviving grandson of John Tyler.
Lyon Gardiner Tyler as a young man. Public Domain
The Tyler family is still deeply rooted in Charles City. There, they maintain a home and plantation called Sherwood Forest that John Tyler purchased in 1842. The white, expansive Colonial-style house is located a little over a mile from the James River and just seven miles from Berkeley Plantation, birthplace of two other famous Americans: Benjamin Harrison V, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and William Henry Harrison, the ninth president.
The recently late Tyler, in fact, bore not only the name of the Harrison family—relatives on his mother’s side—but also of another historic figure, Edmund Ruffin III, his great-grandfather. Supposedly, Ruffin fired the first shot during the Battle of Fort Sumter, in Charleston, South Carolina, in April 1861. This battle began the Civil War.
A few of John Tyler’s descendants owned and occupied Sherwood Forest until Harrison Ruffin Tyler and his wife, Francis, became the owners in 1975. Using primary historic sources, they made sure a careful restoration process took place in the 1970s. According to the Sherwood Forest Plantation Foundation, the designated National Historic Landmark hasn’t changed significantly since the 10th president occupied it in the 1800s.
Harrison Ruffin Tyler lived there many years, and then visited it after he moved into another home, even after his health began to falter a decade ago.
A front view of Sherwood Forest Plantation House in Charles City, Va. bakedinthehole/CC BY-SA 4.0
Still Welcoming Visitors
Even though Harrison Ruffin Tyler has died, Sherwood Forest Plantation remains open to the public. The home and grounds will continue to be overseen by the Sherwood Forest Plantation Foundation and visited by current generations of Tyler family members. In fact, many Tylers still call the Charles City area home.Ridgeley Copland, 88, owner of the historic North Bend Plantation Bed and Breakfast in Charles City, knew Harrison well. “My husband, George, was first cousins with Harrison. They grew up together. He was splendid—one of the most wonderful people you would ever want to meet in your whole life,” she said.
Copland noted that she marveled—like so many others—at Harrison’s unique genealogy. Over 235 years, from John Tyler’s birth to Harrison Ruffin Tyler’s death, so much of what we read about in history books occurred within three generations of one family.
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