Harrison Ruffin Tyler – the last living grandson of the 10th president John Tyler – died this past Sunday evening, May 25th at the age of 96.
Harrison Tyler was a businessman, a chemical engineer and a passionate preservationist. In the mid-1970s Harrison purchased, and spent years restoring, Sherwood Forest Plantation, America’s longest framed home located in central Virginia. The home was acquired by John Tyler in 1842 and served as the former president’s home until his death in 1862.
Harrison Tyler, courtesy CSPAN
Harrison Tyler’s father, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, was born in 1853 and was the thirteenth child of former president John Tyler (in office from 1841 to 1845). At the time of Lyon’s birth, the former president was married to his second (and much younger) wife Julia.
Lyon Gardiner Tyler
John Tyler was 63 years old when Lyon was born…and Lyon Tyler was 75 years old when Harrison Ruffin Tyler was born.
Former president John Tyler
The fact that Harrison Ruffin Tyler lived to the age of 96, and that his father and grandfather each had younger second-wives, helps solve the mathematical mystery of how it is possible the 10th US president – born in 1790 – had a living grandson until May 2025.
My Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies 
Quite an interesting bit of info!
I just finished my Tyler biography yesterday, and went to read up on his grandson. Sad to hear he died a few weeks ago.
that is amazing!! I really enjoyed John Tyler’s biography and his later in life shenanigans!
Steve, I just finished a terrific bio I think you would like. Author Eric Larrabee was editor of American heritage. His NYT obit quotes him as reading for 30 years and writing for three to produce “Commander in Chief: Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his Lieutenants”. Excellent book.
Thanks – this looks extremely interesting. I’m going to have to grab a copy and give it a try!
Hopefully this project is still going?
It’s on a bit of a pause at the moment as I’m overseas and intensely busy with some things…but yes, I expect to be back on the presidential prowl ‘shortly’ 🙂
Hello Steve,
I started on the notion of reading one biography for each of the American presidents, and soon after starting, found your site. Thank you for sharing so much knowledge about biographies, and the tremendous work that implies. Other than that your descriptions have been very helpful for guidance, your write-ups are in of themselves a pleasure to consult, being so precisely and elegantly written.
I noticed, unless I am mistaken, that Kenneth S. Davis’s 4-volume biography of FDR does not feature in your listings. This is such an idle question given how many biographies you’ve ploughed through (including multiples of FDR) that I hesitate to waste your time in asking, but idly curious as to whether it did not make the cut, for some reason. It occurs to me that Davis died before he could complete the last volume, so that in effect the last 2 years of FDR, and thus of WW2, do not feature. Still a terrific read and … nearly complete.
Best regards,
Christian Hyde
Christian, thanks so much for your note and congratulations on your quest! You are correct that I have not (yet) read any of Davis’s FDR series as I was initially focused on biographies that were as seemingly close to “ideal” as possible. In FDR’s case, there are so many great biographies to choose from that an incomplete series just didn’t make the first cut. On my master list of best presidential biographies, however, I have a “follow-up” section in which I have Davis’s series listed as I DO intend to read the published volumes at some point!
Mr. Floyd, In early 2019 I decided to read one biography on each president and, quite by accident, stumbled on your site. I gave your recommendation a try with Chernow’s Washington starting June 2019. I then decided to read one of your “best biography” recommendations for each president and have never been disappointed. I finished reading about George H. W. Bush a week ago (I took breaks along the way to read other books). As of now, I am trying to decide if enough time from his presidency has elapsed to read about Clinton Either way, I wanted to thank you for providing excellent recommendations, and giving such detailed views on the books. It has been an informative journey these past 7 years. Respectfully, David Gray
I can’t tell you how happy I am that you haven’t found an obvious flaw in my recommendations (at least not yet!) Ever since I completed my tour-de-force a few years ago, I’ve felt like presidents Clinton through “today” are underserved by the available biographies. Part is probably insufficient time and distance, the fact they are still living (and,therefore, leaving post-presidential footprints in the sand) and the fact that the second- and third-order effects of their presidencies have not yet been fully appreciated/absorbed. I think the Clinton, Bush 43 and Obama biographies do a reasonably good job of describing their early lives and “what happened” during their presidencies. But the issue of long-term cause-and-effect and ‘real’ legacy will simply have to wait. I don’t know what to tell you re: Clinton, but I think if you take a break and spend some time on Alexander Hamilton, John Rockefeller, Leonardo da Vinci, etc. you’ll find plenty of great material to distract yourself with before returning to these last few presidents 🙂