Reply To: Biography of John Tyler…suggestions?

#14839
gutzmank
Participant

I agree that Chitwood’s is the best. My only quibble with Dr. McC. is that Tyler is #1 on my list. I agree that THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS repays a reading; it was edited by the president’s son. It also includes the correspondence of “Judge” John Tyler, the president’s father and a close ally of Thomas Jefferson. (Both men were governors of Virginia, so the family distinguishes between them by calling the father “Judge,” while the son is of course “President.”) I used it extensively in VIRGINIA’S AMERICAN REVOLUTION, chapter 5.

One very odd fact about the Tyler family is that the current owner of the president’s estate is his grandson. That’s right: although John Tyler was born in 1790, his house currently belongs to his grandson.