The 10th President of the United States John Tyler was born on this day 1790.

Ten Notes On John Tyler.

1- John Tyler was the first Vice-President to take over as POTUS upon the death of a President. When William Henry Harrison died a month into his presidency, Vice Daddy John Tyler became POTUS. Tyler was a rather forgettable president for the most part but he did do the future of the country one huge favor. When he became POTUS- not everyone was recognizing him as such. Harrison’s cabinet members didn’t take him seriously, at first. They thought they would basically tell Tyler what to do, they Tyler wasn’t legitimate. Much to Tyler’s credit he asserted himself. He told Harrison’s Cabinet[ now Tyler’s Cabinet} that he was the POTUS and he would be making the decisions as POTUS and if they didn’t like it they could turn in their resignations. Tyler set the pattern for the future when Vice Presidents would take over as POTUS.

2. John Tyler was 6 foot tall, had blue eyes and brown hair. He was born in Charles City County, Virginia. He was a lawyer.

3. Tyler has the record for most presidential children. He had 15 children in all. He had eight with his first wife before she died and seven with his second wife. Incredibly, John Tyler who was POTUS during the early 1840’s has a grandson who is still living. John Tyler was 63 when he had a son in 1853, Tyler’s son was 75 when he had Harrison Tyler-who is alive and in his 80’s today. So a man born in 1790-has a living grandson.

4. Tyler was the first president to go without a vice-president his entire term. He is the first POTUS to marry while in office. He is the first POTUS to have his wife die [the first wife} while in office. His second wife Julia was 30 years younger than the president.

5. Tyler lived until January 1862. Being from Virginia he was a Confederate. He was a member of the Confederate House but died before they ever met. He is buried in Richmond, Virginia’s famous, Hollywood Cemetery.

6. The custom of playing “Hail To The Chief” whenever a POTUS arrives at a state function became during Tyler’s presidency. It was the idea of his second wife Julia Gardiner Tyler.

7. Tyler was born in 1790. His youngest daughter Pearl died in 1947, a span of 157 years.

8. Tyler had been a democrat but because of opposition to POTUS Andrew Jackson, Tyler, Henry Clay and Daniel Webster left the democrat party and formed the Whig Party in the mid-1830s’

9. Before he was Vice President and President, Tyler was a member of the House of Representatives and a Governor of Virginia.

10. After Harrison died many assumed that Tyler would follow the same platform as Harrison. Tyler didn’t. He was his own man. He would be against his own party on issues like reviving the Bank of the United States. He would become in many ways a president without a party.