CHARLES CITY, Va. (AP) — Harrison Ruffin Tyler, recognized as the last surviving grandson of U.S. President John Tyler, who departed from the White House in 1845, has passed away at the age of 96.
The details surrounding Tyler’s passing on Sunday have not yet been disclosed. John Tyler was 63 when Harrison’s father, Lyon Gardiner Tyler Sr., came into the world. Harrison Ruffin Tyler himself was born in 1928 when his father was 75, long after his presidential grandfather had been deceased for over six decades.
Harrison was notable for maintaining his grandfather’s estate and a nearby Civil War site. Annique Dunning, the executive director of Sherwood Forest, a historic residence of President Tyler, expressed that Harrison, whose brother passed away in 2020, was cherished as a father and grandfather. He will be deeply missed by those who knew him.
“He will be remembered for his considerable charm, generosity and unfailing good humor by all who knew him,” Dunning said.
Over the course of his life, Tyler preserved Sherwood Forest, his grandfather’s plantation that enslaved dozens of people, including 43 people in 1860, just before the Civil War began. The grandson also helped restore and maintain Fort Pocahontas, a Union fort during the Civil War.
Tyler’s grandfather was a Democrat nicknamed the “Accidental President” after unexpectedly assuming the presidency when President William Henry Harrison died in office. President Tyler was the first vice president to gain control of the White House in the wake of a death.
The University of Virginia’s Miller Center described the president as “the last gasp of the Old Virginia aristocracy in the White House.” He had married twice and had 15 children, including Lyon Gardiner Tyler Sr.
The time between the president’s birth and his grandson’s death spans 235 years.
