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TIL the 10th U.S. President, John Tyler (b. 1790), has surviving grandchildren to this day. He had a son when he was 63, and that son had children at ages 71 and 75. Those grandchildren are now 89 and 93.
(R.1) Inaccurate
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"My grandpa is the 10th president of the united states"
wow
Not many people can say they had grandparents born in the 1700s. Let alone a freaking President.
Can anyone say that? Or are these grandchildren literally the only people?
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I want the secrets for the War of 1812 now!!
They could be a plot device for a National Treasure movie.
You can't handle the secrets of 1812!
Gun powder can't melt wood beams!
Their father would have been born around 1850s.
1812 was an inside job!
No, my dad met one of them a few years ago. Rich investor in his company. He said that the guy had shotgun damage to his truck door because accidentally shot it when he was out hunting. My dad 's impression was that the guy was pretty eccentric.
That sounds like some foxcatcher shit.
I mean my grandad isn't that eccentric. He's just a country boy at heart. He was a pretty regular hunter up until a couple of years ago, so a stray shot hitting his car wouldn't surprise me
Children of former presidents get Secret Service protection until 16. Grandchildren don't get anything.
Wait... so malia is just out there in the big world fending for herself???
http://wpo.st/vyjZ2
This article says that there are cases of adult children of past presidents receiving SS protection
"Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton even authorized Secret Service protection for their adult daughters for an unspecified period of time after the presidents left office."
The Secret Service wasn't formed until 20 years after Tyler was out of office, and 3 years after he died.
If only they formed three years earlier, he might still be around
Children of Presidents have it up until 16 and that's it. The President and spouse have it for their lifetime after leaving office. Obama fixed the law from when Congress made it only ten years back in '97
Is that just the spouse who was married to them when they were in office or is it all spouses? Could Trump, when he's 99, marry an eighteen-year-old, who would then get Secret Service protection well into the next century?
No.
How do you know?! What are you the CIA?
I don't know. John Tyler is the only example I can think of off the top of my head.
Just find some really old people and ask them when their grandparents were born. That should yield you some answers, and maybe a few canes to the ass.
Honestly old people love talking about their family history if you give them the time of day. Now that I'm old enough to understand how important that is and how limited of a time frame we're given with those generations, I try to talk to my grandparents about their ancestors as often as I can.
Just the other day I found out that my "great great grandfather" wasn't actually blood relation at all, because my actual great great grandfather blew himself up while dynamite fishing in 1901. Old people have cool stories man.
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The current oldest living person was born in 1899, so I suppose depending on the ages of her parents and grandparents, it's possible she could.
My sister's father was born in 1899. He died in the late 1970's. She is 48. I remember his age was whatever year it was. Meaning, in 1970 he turned 70. He lived through the Spanish influenza. The Depression. Two world wars. Barely finished 8th grade but was a police officer. It was different back then.
Might wanna double check your math there m8
I'm close. My father was born in 1894 and his father in 1862. And I'm a fucking REDDITOR. Go figure.
My father was born in 1897 and was 65 when I was born, his parents were born in the 1860's. I'm 55, and am also a fucking Redditor.
OH SHIT, GRANDMA'S CRASHING REDDIT!!
Let's start a subreddit. r/peoplewitholddads
I'm somewhat similar!!
My grandfather was born in the 1880s-1890s, (birth records weren't really a thing when he was born). My dad was his last child, born in 1956. I was born in 1996, just turned 21 last month.
You really have me wondering
Isn't weird that their dad could tell them stories he heard from his Dad about the 1700s.
I don't even have a great grandparent born before 1900.
"my grandpa was born 14 years after the declaration of independence was signed" holy shit
or "my grandpa was 3 years old when Marie Antoinette was guillotined."
or "my grandpa was 1 year old when Mozart wrote The Magic Flute"
Yeah, that really puts things in perspective, wow
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Incidentally he seems to have been the first US president who was younger than the USA. (eyeballing the dates, I'm too tired to check if I'm right)
It was actually Martin Van Buren
Also the only US president who didn't speak English as his first language.
Can't imagine he'd last long on the modern day campaign trail, being a wooden-shoe-wearing, bicycle-riding, Dutch-speaking commie.
Uh, what about Obama? His first language was Kenyan
this is an obvious joke, people, do I have to put the /s there for everything?
"My great grandparents experienced the revolutionary war"
Interesting fact: We actually have photographs of people who fought in the revolution. Here's a few.
I'm surprised they didn't include this gentleman, Conrad Heyer, who holds the distinction of being the earliest-born person ever to be photographed. He was born in 1749.
Came here to say this. Conrad is my sixth great-grandfather.
It's crazy that these guys and the Bush sisters (Jenna and Barbara) both have a grandparent that were presidents...separated by like 150 years.
The 10th and 41st Presidents grandkids are both alive. Not just by a year or some technicality. For like 30+ years they are overlapping. This is blowing my mind.
Might as well extend that to the 45th President.
Good point. Ivanka and Jared have a son born last March. So we have presidential grandsons alive right now who are separated by about 90 years, and their grandfathers' presidential terms were separated by 176 years.
I've had enough of this nonsense!
This is really fucking up my sense of time.
They should take a photo together with a caption that says "my grandfather was the 10th/45th president). Then post that photo on Reddit for sweet sweet karma.
You may like this then. This guys story is way different than mine. I currently have 5 generations living.
And now little man, I give this watch to you.
So what war is your son gonna fight in?
Give him an award
His grandchildren are still mulling over whether to have kids.
Oh they have already decided to have kids, they're just waiting to get a little bit older.
You're never truly prepared for parenthood, indeed.
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Plus the older you get, the more likely the kids are to have genetic defects. If you start popping out one kid a year at age 70 or so, you're likely to be able to collect some mad financial aid by the time you're 80.
Or they might have super powers
WIC and Aid to Families with Dependent Children are a big assist when the Social Security starts to run out.
During childbirth is the ideal timing of this.
So technically I could marry into a presidential family fairly easily?
But how easy would it be for you?
Nah, friendzone
How weird must it be for your 80 y/o dad dropping you off for your first day of school.
My dad was 73 when I was born (mom was 40). He was 78 when he started dropping me off at school. . Very interesting family situation. He did live to 100 so I had him around for a while
How long before you realized there was a significant age gap between your father and other children's fathers? Did you have trouble coming to terms with this?
yeah I want an AMA
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Is it weird knowing your dad was a full grown adult when your mom was still shitting her pants?
I too had an older father. It was normal to me. Always giggled at people commenting on me hanging with my grandfather or him shopping with his grandson.
It was more of an adjustment for him because he had to come to terms with being much older than other dads. He always made a huge effort to keep up with me for sports. It wasn't until I was 20 that we were playing racquetball and he lost his balance and ended up in the ER
Well, that took a turn :/
Nowhere close, but i didn't notice until maybe high school that my Dad was old (70 by then). I'm betting grade school for this guy
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i don't think you start getting into "old" territory until 50. maybe not even 55 for men. i guess i'm biased because my mom had children between 35 and 45...so that range seems normal to me. i cant help but be a little judgmental when i have peers getting married and having kids under 25. they're so young.
In my Jr High there was a kid who's dad was in his late 70s.
He'd show up at our sporting events and stick out compared to all the other parents.
And he never knew his mom, so all he had was like a 78 year old dad. (The rumor among his friends was that his mom was a prostitute that dropped him with her old man client.)
Had a friend in middle school who's dad was like 81. I didn't really ask her about details but it was pretty surprising when I first heard her casually mention, "My dad is 81" Her mom was in her late 30's iirc
In middle school best friends dad was one of the first in Vietnam, took shrapnel to his knee, had a kid then had another one 30 years later. Might not be odd for most of the older guys on Reddit but considering we graduated from high school last year, having a father fight in 'Nam was pretty unique.
Barron Trump's dad is 70 years old.
In 150 years Barron Trump's kid are going to be the subject of a TIL when people realize that their grandfather was the president 150 years ago.
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The reason for this phenomenon was that the Civil War veterans and their widows were guaranteed pensions. Therefore these older gentlemen became attractive to younger women who were looking for a way to support themselves
Civil war sugar daddies
Thanks for the inspiration!
Awww, an account so fresh it's still covered in moist placenta
As someone who forced my self to watch the COMPLETE birth of my son, including cutting the cord as well as witnessing the mass of organ / tissue / alien material that is the placenta.....
NEVER AGAIN
This would be a great band name.
Yeah, the last Civil War widow died only three years ago or so, I believe.
About 14 years ago. She died in 2003.
So counting the veteran and the widow, the pension was paid out for 138 years. I hope it had inflation adjustments.
"hot diggity my 5 dollar civil war pension check came in! time to go buy..... nothing!"
I saw that on QI as well
Is it too late for me to find a Civil War veteran with a pension?
For Civil War I, yes. But don't worry, Civil War II will happen in a few years, so heres to hoping! (PS, there won't be pensions this time)
Some Amazon gift cards would be nice, though.
SHE TAKE MY MONEY
WHEN I'M IN NEEEEEEEED
My stepfather, who is still alive, met a couple of civil war veterans in an old folks' home as a boy, one from each side.
I always find that remarkable, no matter how many times something reminds me of it.
Did they try to kill each other? Steal each other's bed pans? Swallow each other's pills and vomit it back up when the other requested it back?
If I recall correctly, there were no hard feelings and they were good-natured about the situation. It was some sort of class trip, so I assume they had to be enjoying the attention in order to be willing to participate.
I'll have to ask more next time we talk -- I feel, in some strange and impossible to justify way, somehow remiss for not having taken notes. Blink and it's the future, and what was once "huh, that's cool, dad" becomes the stuff of archives...
In a similar vein, here's a TV interview with an eyewitness of Lincoln's assassination: https://youtu.be/I_iq5yzJ-Dk
you've lived to the age of 96? well, have some tobacco as your parting gift
Apparently Matt Damon's lived through a couple generations
Yeah my grandpa remembers civil war parades with veterans in their late 60's early 70's and I'm only 23. Grandpa just turned 100 this year!
I believe there's a woman who still gets a pension for the civil war:
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-08-08/civil-war-vets-pension-still-remains-on-governments-payroll-151-years-after-last-shot-fired
There are still 10 parents of WWII combatants who are receiving their pensions, too.
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My grandpa (88 yo) met civil war veterans when he was a child. It's crazy to be able to talk and hang out with somebody that shook the hands of union soldiers.
Isn't it amazing how American history makes events seem like forever ago? It seems impossible that John Tyler would have a grandchild or that there are still people receiving a Civil War Veteran pension.
But then you look at other countries history like China where multiple dynasties lasted much longer than the length the United States has been around.
Wait what? Civil War vets? Would their name be Logan perhaps?
Widows receive the pension of their dead husbands. Gertrude Janeway died in 2003, and she was the last widow of a Union soldier to be receiving a pension.
Kids also get benefits. Irene Triplett is, as far as I know, the only living recipient of a Civil War pension. Obviously, she is the daughter of a veteran.
Gertrude Grubb was born in Blaine, Tennessee, and was courted by John Janeway beginning when she was 16. Her mother, widowed when Gertrude was only 13, would not allow her to marry until she was 18. She married John Janeway, an officer in the 14th Illinois Cavalry, in 1927 when she was 18 and he 81.
A 79 year old was hitting on a 16 year old.. Thats fucked
Many of these relationships formed after the war were formed specifically for the pension the wife knew she would receive.
Now I ain't saying she's a gold digger...
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I'm kinda curious how much the pension would be... $15 a month?
A lot of times it was an arrangement related to the pension. The old guy goes out happy and the young lady gets a steady income for life.
To be honest, it's entirely possible that the marriage was arranged in order to take advantage of those benefits and take care of her past his death, since they never had children (at least that was documented) in the 10 years they were married until his passing. $70 every two months was a lot in 1937. That'd be the same as getting an extra $1,166 every two months, today.
Of course, as time went on, it wasn't adjusted for inflation as far as I can tell, so that sucks.
And Janeway's grandson's wife eventually went on to work on the early mars projects, ultimately sparking interest in space exploration within their distant relative, young Kathryn Janeway.
In the US, 100 years is old.
In the UK, 100 miles is far.
Rule of thumb is to never walk more than a thousand miles for a lass though
But if I walked 500, took a break, and then walked 500 more would it be fine?
Depends on the destination, if it were for a lass and you chose to walk 500 miles then 500 more, then you'd be the man who walked a thousand miles, but you'd likely fall down at her door. Say.. do you have an identical twin by any chance?
Identical twin?
Nah. Nah, nah, nah.
In Australia, 100 beers is not enough
It really hit me reading about the daughter of a US Slave getting to vote for Barack Obama. People like to say that events that far in the past have no effect on today's politics, but hearing stories like that makes me think things like of course slavery is still relevant.
People who say that are, the most polite way I can say it is, extremely ignorant. It's either extraordinary ignorance, or the same kind of specific and targeted malice that drive's today's "fake news".
You have people alive today that were unconstitutionally kept from voting, kept from living in certain parts of town, barred from getting things like home loans or business loans based solely on their race, and all of that was protected by the law, or otherwise supported by government inaction. When you have all of that institutional racial oppression over over a century, of course it affects things today, of course it affected the lives of the children of those times, and those children's children. Just the simple direct economic effects are fairly easy to follow, and are far-reaching, let alone the more complicated and harder to navigate social and political effects.
We just had some of the Civil-Rights era voter-protection laws struck down "because it was a long time ago", and the first damn second they could, States were passing the same types of bullshit voter restricting laws that got the voter protections put up in the first place.
There are multiple churches in England that are still regularly used that are several times older than the United States, and I know quite a few people who live in houses that are older than the US
There are buildings in the US that are older than the union as well..
The house I'm renting now was built in the mid-1700s, and then had rooms and a second floor added during the 1800s.
The house is an absolute shit show, nothing is level, each room has its own foundation, there's three basements, each creepier than the last, the doors are all still the same doors from a hundred years ago i.e basically a large wooden slat with an old timey latch, there's some really old crumbly fireplaces, my room actually has one of those old ovens next to the fireplace to bake bread, there's all sorts of weird crawlspaces and cubbies throughout, the ceilings in the first half are all 6 and a half feet high. Some of it has been redone, primarily the kitchen, but my god am I glad to be getting out of here soon.
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The house my folks had in Massachusetts was built around 1700 and it was a bit of a shitshow, too. It was nicely refinished and large but you could tell it was all just modern set-dressing on an ancient, crooked stage. Rife with weird wiring decisions, strange climate control designs, bizarro plumbing and a shitload of tiny oddly shaped rooms. Also had multiple, unfinished (I mean bare dirt hole in the ground under the house unfinished) and disconnected basements.
And to top it all off it was really fucking expensive.
I live near a still used chapel that is way older than my country. Switzerland, founded in 1291. That chapel is in near original condition, it's very small and a good chunk of it's width is walls but it's still going strong. Now that thing has seen some shit.
Many old wooden farm houses here are older than the US, well constructed and maintained houses can last forever. 250+ yo buildings are remarkable but not as rare as one might think.
TIL 10th US President John Tyler was actually Grand Moff Tarkin.
Those are some virile fucking genes. Add to that the amazing fact that women of child-bearing age still want to fuck them into their mid-70's.
I mean, franklin was a player and he was up there
He had an electric personality
I'm sensing some electricity between us right now
"Didn't Ben Franklin have syphilis?"
"Yes....but I don't"
And he conducted himself well
That's the key.
But I thought Franklin liked the older ladies, could be wrong though.
Wrote a whole letter to a friend about it, about how experience should always win over youth.
Wanted to?
Made the appearance of wanting to for riches*
Well I wasn't saying that. But adults didn't really spend a lot of time unmarried at that time. They werent really supposed to have sex outside of marriage, so people didn't spend a lot of time being widowed. If he had younger children he may have looked for a younger wife that could take care of the younger children too.
It says updated 2013. So we only know that they were alive in 2013.
They're not anymore. The younger one just died in 2016.
"Fuck 2016!! Everyone is dying!!!"
Since it's 2017 now I can finally get on board with this meme.
3 generations spanning 4 centuries. Crazy.
He also had a total of 15 children with his two wives.
Tyler fathered more children than any other American president in history. His first wife was Letitia Christian (November 12, 1790 – September 10, 1842), with whom he had eight children: Mary (1815–1847), Robert (1816–1877), John (1819–1896), Letitia (1821–1907), Elizabeth (1823–1850), Anne (1825–1825), Alice (1827–1854) and Tazewell (1830–1874). Tyler's first wife Letitia died of a stroke in the White House in September 1842. His second wife was Julia Gardiner (July 23, 1820 – July 10, 1889), with whom he had seven children: David (1846–1927), John Alexander (1848–1883), Julia (1849–1871), Lachlan (1851–1902), Lyon (1853–1935), Robert Fitzwalter (1856–1927) and Pearl (1860–1947).
His oldest child died 100 years before is youngest child. Holy shit!
The more stats I see about this man's children, the more my mind is blown.
I'm still trying to wrap my brain around that... not comprehending...
His oldest child died before his last SIX children were born!
One died as a baby, 122 years before the last death
His second wife was younger than 3 of his children with his first wife
That is some good old fashioned creepy.
This is really blowing my mind. The man was born during George Washington's first term as president and he had a daughter that lived through WWII.
Someday someone is going to say "The 45th President of the United States still has grandchildren! He had his son, Barron when he was 60!"
So the grandchildren most likely don't have any photos of their grandparent, only portraits.
Every president since John Quincy Adams (the 6th president) have had photos taken of them, so it's not that unlikely.
Time is fucking weird.
"Fucking time is fun, though."
Barry Allen
Found Einstein
My Great Grandmother died in 1976. I was 11 when she passed. She was 99, almost 100 when she passed. She was born in 1876. Chances are very good that she knew someone when she was young that was born in the late 1700's. I knew her very well. One person between me and people born in the 1700's. I'm only 51.........only. John Tyler beats me here.
I'm 52 and my paternal grandparents were born in the mid-1890s and lived into my adulthood. There were people alive in their early lifetimes who had been alive at the same time as George Washington.
Samuel Seymour, eyewitness to Lincoln's assassination described the event on CBS television.
source
I wonder how many people find out about this from the grandchildren and ask them "Wow, President John Tyler was your grandfather? Really? Did you talk to him when you were a kid? What was he like?" Must make them feel really old. And tired.
I think Tyler was long dead when they were born, would've been in his 130s or so
The United States has only existed with in the life time of 4 presidents.
I'm always interested about surviving lineages like this. Napoleon has a surviving great great grand nephew or something who is considered the rightful heir by some, but I believe he works at an investment bank in New York
Yes my dad said we were descended from Antony and Cleopatra, and when I looked into it i was surprised to see Augustus spared the lives of their 3 children. So it's possible their heirs are out there.
Half of Western Europe probably has distant ties to Charlemagne and the Karling family.
Actor Christopher Lee was related to Charlemagne. (Also was a distant relative to Robert E. Lee). Fun fact, "Charlemagne" was the name of the metal album he released when he was 88. RIP.
(This is going to be a TIL in a week haha)
I am actually one of John Tyler's Great Great grandchildren AMA I guess?
My question: are you serious or joking?
I am totally serious.
Has this relation ever significantly affected your life other than having a cool family fact to drop on random acquaintances?
I often spend holidays at John Tyler's historical home but, otherwise, not really.
Family of strong swimmers
John Tyler was also the only president to die a sworn enemy of the United States because he sided with the Confederacy.
Have they had DNA tests done? Somebody call Maury.
I'm sure this will get buried, but John Tyler is an alum from my college. We have Garden with busts of him, his son, and grandson. Direct descendants who graduate have their names engraved on the pedestals. One of great-granddaughter is a sophomore and will have her name added following graduation!
"My Grandfather was the 10th President of the United States". I would say this to every person I met if I were them.
Great pops. But it's $3.48 for the Venti Americano.
Do the grandchildren get secret service protection?
"My grandfather was alive during the French revolution, and I live in the time of smartphones"
Does it give you any advantages to be the grandchildren of a president? i heard that every president has some advantages until he dies (lifetime bodyguards etc.). Does anything apply to their family too?
My wife is 33. Her Grandfather was born in 1883. 100 years between their birthdays. Had her father (the youngest of 11) in his 60s with his third wife.
TIL that the 10th president of the United States was John Tyler.