John Tyler
Mary Tyler Jones
She was born April 15, 1815, and died June 17, 1848. Mary was the first of fifteen children born to John Tyler, eight with his first wife, Letitia Christian. On a visit to the White House, Mary gave birth to her second son, Robert, who later served with honor in the Civil War. They had three children.
Robert Tyler
He was born September 9, 1816 and died December 3, 1877. Introverted and shy as a child, Robert overcame his handicap to become a powerful lawyer and politician. In his twenties he married Priscilla Cooper and worked as a private secretary in his father's White House. The couple lived in the mansion, with Priscilla serving as White House hostess for an invalid First Lady. Later, Robert rose to prominence in Pennsylvania politics, becoming an early supporter of President James Buchanan. He served as registrar for the Confederate treasury during the Civil War. Tyler refused opportunities to trade on his fame as a presidential son, maintaining a dignity and integrity that won deep friendships and wide respect. In later years he became the Alabama Democratic state chairman and editor of the Montgomery Advisor. He had nine children.
John Tyler, Jr.
He was born April 27, 1819 and died January 26, 1896. He was famous for defending his father in a much-publicized duel with a Richmond newspaper. John Jr. was a writer, lawyer and politician who was not successful as any of the three. He became an alcoholic. John, Jr. married Martha "Mattie" Rochelle, but lived with her only a few months before trying to get a divorce. And yet, they had three children together.
Letitia (Letty) Tyler Semple
She was born May 11, 1821 and she died December 28, 1907. Letitia stepped in as a substitute mother to the growing Tyler clan when her mother suffered a paralyzing stroke. It all ended when the 54 year old president married twenty-four-year-old Julia Gardiner. The rivalry between the two women, first daughter and First Lady, became a lifelong obsession.
Elizabeth "Lizzie" Tyler Waller
She was born July 11, 1823 and she died on June 1, 1850. On January 31, 1842, she married William Waller in a White House wedding. They moved to Lynchburg, Va. where they had five children before her death at the age of twenty-six from childbirth complications.
Anne Contesse Tyler
She was born April, 1825. She died three months later in July, 1825. Cause of death unknown.
Alice Tyler Denison
She was born March 23, 1847. She died of colic on June 8, 1854, at the age of 27. She married Henry Mandeville Denison, the handsome Episcopalian rector of the Williamsburg parish. They bore two children.
Tazewell Tyler
He was born December 6, 1830 and died January 8, 1874. The youngest of the eight children born to the tenth chief executive and first wife, Taz was 14 when his father married the second time. He became a physician and served during the Civil War. His life ended in divorce and alcoholism. He had two children.
David Gardiner "Gardie" Tyler
He was born July 12, 1846 and died September 5, 1927 at the age of 81. "Gardie" was the first of seven children born to Tyler's second wife, Julia. He left Washington College as a sixteen-year-old to serve in the Confederate Army. After the Civil War, he worked as a lawyer and in a number of elected offices, including the U.S. Congress. He and wife, Mary Morris Jones, had five children.
John Alexander "Alex" Tyler
He was born April 7, 1848 and died at age 35 on September 1, 1883. He ran away from home at fourteen to enlist in the Confederate Army. He was rejected as too young, then later joined the Confederate Navy. Alex enlisted in the German Army at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. He worked as an engineer and a surveyor in the American West. He married a cousin but was often separated from her. His death has spawned several mysterious theories, but most historians accept an account that he died of dysentery after drinking contaminated water in New Mexico in 1883. He had one child.
Julia Tyler Spencer
She was born December 25, 1849. She died at 21 years of age on May 8, 1871 from childbirth complications She studied at a convent school in Nova Scotia, then married William Spencer. He ran up staggering debts eventually disappearing from the family's sight forever. They had one child.
Lachlan Tyler
He was born December 2, 1851. He died January 25, 1902 at age 50. Lachlan trained as a physician. For years he tried to use his credentials as a president's son to open doors but was unsuccessful. Eventually, on his own merits, he obtained a position as a surgeon in the U.S. Navy. He eventually achieved a measure of success in private practice. He and wife, Georgia Powell, had no children.
Lyon Gardiner Tyler
He was born August, 1853 and he died February 12, 1935. He practiced law for a time, but spent most of his life as an educator. He served as president of William and Mary for thirty-one years. He was an author and respected historian. Married twice, he had three children by his first wife and two by his second.
Robert Fitzwalter Tyler
He was born March 12, 1856 and he died December 30, 1927. Robert turned to the simple life of a Virginia farmer ,after being forced, by a lack of funds, to drop out of Georgetown College. He fathered three children with wife, Fannie Glenn.
Pearl Tyler Ellis
She was born June 20, 1860 and died June 30, 1947. She was the last of the Tyler children. Pearl was a graduate of Sacred Heart in Washington, D. C. She married Major William Mumford Ellis and lived most of her life near Roanoke, Virginia, a homemaker and a mother. She had eight children.
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