Harrison Ruffin Tyler died Memorial Day weekend, 2025, in a Richmond, Va., nursing home. His death made few headlines beyond obituary pages — just another 96-year-old passing away. But Tyler’s death severed something extraordinary. He was President John Tyler’s grandson. Not great-great-great-grandson. Grandson.

John Tyler was born when George Washington was president. He knew Thomas Jefferson personally. His grandson lived through Joe Biden’s presidency and the iPhone launch.

How? Tyler men had kids very late in life. The president was 63 when Tyler’s father was born in 1853. The father was 75 when Harrison entered the world in 1928. Three generations, 235 years, from the founding fathers to TikTok.

A genealogical curiosity, yes, but also a window into something we’re losing faster tha

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