Today, let's tie up a couple of loose ends from stories we shared previously. In June, we talked about the death of the last person in America still receiving a Civil War pension.
Now comes news that John Tyler's grandson has left us as well.
John Tyler! You know, the 10th POTUS, known as "His Accidency," a loving nickname he won by being the first VicePOTUS to ascend to the top job when the top guy kicked off.
William Henry Harrison was president #9. Shortly after his inauguration in 1841, he was caught in a sudden rainstorm and died of pneumonia three weeks later, which then became a lesson handed down by every single mother in history about not "catching your death of pneumonia." Enter John Tyler, who conducted the affairs of state in a lackluster manner for the rest of the term. He did not run for a second; the Whig Party to which he belonged folded because they had a silly name.
But John Tyler was the Big Daddy of American presidents, marrying twice and fathering fifteen children, none of whom had to walk around being named "Barron."
One of his progeny, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, was born in 1853 when John was 63 and clearly old enough to know better. But the president passed along the idea of late-life fatherhood to Lyon, who, in his 70s became father to bouncing babies Lyon Gardiner Jr. and Harrison Ruffin.
Lyon Tyler had a distinguished life before dying on September 26 at age 95. He was a naval officer in the Pacific during World War II, returning home to serve with the Naval Intelligence Reserves, after which he had a law practice, was Charles City County’s commonwealth’s attorney, and taught at the Virginia Military Institute.
Now he is gone, and how many people who pass away this year can say that their grandfather died in 1862?
Not only that, but Lyon's kid brother Harrison Ruffin Tyler—born in 1928—is still living.
The whole thing just fascinates me, and to think that we wouldn't even have HAD a President Tyler if President Wm. Henry Harrison had a decent overcoat.
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