. . . But President John Tyler’s grandchildren are still alive. I know this is an old chestnut on the web, but Tyler died 150 years ago last week, so it’s worth revisiting. True, Tyler (as in “Tippecanoe and”) died as a Confederate congressman, so it was no big loss, but my own mother is about the same age as Tyler’s grandsons, and her grandparents all died more than 50 years later (in 1915, not by coincidence).
Yeah, and Rome Clay, late Brigadier General, Confederate States Army, died as Trooper Smith Smith, U.S. Cavalry. So what's your point?
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"...died as a Confederate congressman, so it was no big loss,"
Oh, well done, Mark. LOL.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm 60 years old.
My paternal grandmother passed away in late 2006.
If she'd had occasion, as a toddler, to chat with a man who was then as old (and as lucid) as she was when she died in '06, that man would have been a talking toddler when Thomas Jefferson was still alive and talking.
In short, the chronology is such that my grandmother could have talked to a guy who had talked with Thomas Jefferson. That guy could have said to my grandmother "Well, Tom Jefferson himself told me...." and it would have been true.
The geography was iffy ( my grandmother was in Ghent, Belgium as a toddler) but this is a striking reminder that the Founding was not so long ago. My grandmother's life span overlapped the lifespans of people who lived when the Founders did.
One of my maternal great-great-grandfathers was a Confederate battle surgeon. He did what he had to do. He never again practiced medicine after the War. I consider his passing a very great loss, and would hope to see Mark Krikorian a bit more respectful or at least more circumspect about Tyler's passing.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNo big loss had he died as an unionist.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseInteresting post, and something I remember being mentioned before. It is amazing to think that someone alive today has a grandfather born in 1790. But why the completely unnecessary bashing? He was loyal to his state - do you intend to browbeat Robert E. Lee and the countless Southerners who died in combat during the war as well?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe Tippecanoe and Tyler too offspring story is always a gem. In other obscure Civil War history - General Joe Wheeler, a Confederate cavalry commander, later served as a US Army General in the Spanish American War and as a US Rep after the Civil War.
Not to re-fight the Civil War, but there were heroes and scoundrels on both sides. One of the heroes, General Robert E. Lee, helped preserve Washington College (now Washington & Lee University) - a school which graduates numerous conservative gentlemen (and since 1985 - ladies).
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAgreed. DBV55. I am sick and tired of shallow. supercilious snark about my Confederate ancestors.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHow big a deal would your death be?
Sheesh...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIs that just part of the modern PC I-must-put-down-Southerners-to-sound-antiracist shield you have to hold because of your immigration views? Because it reads as though you regard Confederate Southerners and those who'd associate with them in a manner somewhat similar to the way Turks regard Armenians.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"I know this is an old chestnut on the web"
If it is, I haven't heard of it. What are you talking about, Mark?
FTA: "So, how is it possible that a former president who died 150 years ago would still have direct descendents alive today?"
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWell, Eric, see, there's the birds, and there's the bees............ sheesh
......and the flowers and the trees....... External Link
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt's just the way things work out when people live a long time and have kids late in life. When two consecutive generations of a family have children when they are in their 60s or 70s, this is what happens. I'd imagine their not the only people on earth who are still alive but have grandparents who died 100+ years ago - this only gets the attention it does because the grandparent at issue was a former President.
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