Tyler, who was born in 1790, has two grandchildren still alive today. Tyler's grandkid: Newt's a 'jerk'

President John Tyler’s grandson Harrison Tyler, 84, says he’s not impressed with the state of politics today and particularly thinks Newt Gingrich is a “big jerk” for his three marriages.

Incredibly, President Tyler, who was born in 1790 and became the 10th president in 1841, has two grandchildren still alive today. His grandson, Harrison Ruffin Tyler, currently maintains the Tyler presidential home, Sherwood Forest Plantation Foundation in Charles City, Va.


Harrison said he doesn’t spend much time focusing on the 2012 presidential race — “I can’t stand watching television” — but considers himself a conservative. His big problem this election, he said, is with the candidates.

“I don’t really like any of them,” he said in an interview.

But Tyler’s especially not a fan of Gingrich, who he dubbed a “big jerk.”

“He needs to stick with the same wife, that’s what my mother taught me,” Tyler said. “But that doesn’t seem to happen much today.”

Tyler, an engineer who founded his own business, ChemTreat, in 1968, said he thought it was important that Mitt Romney had business experience, but noted he is firmly undecided at this point. He said he plans to vote this fall, but “I just haven’t made up my mind yet.”

And President Barack Obama — who Tyler called a “charming man” — just doesn’t have the right pro-business policies to get his vote, he said.

“Well, I think he’s a charming man, but he grew up in the society where he believes in running the show and changing the apple cart and taking it away from those that have,” he said.

Tyler said he prefers to focus on the family home in Virginia, not on politics. He spends some time giving lectures on local Jamestown history — he’s also descended from Pocahontas — but notes he didn’t even start studying presidential history and his grandfather until his retirement.

“I’m retired from my business,” he said. “I’m 84 years old. I drive around, I bought a lot of additional land, beautiful land around the river. I just drive around watching all the deer and all the turkey.”

President John Tyler, who lived from 1790-1862, had 15 children during his lifetime, making him the most prolific president. One of his children, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, born in 1853, fathered Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Jr. in 1924 and Harrison in 1928. Lyon Tyler, Jr., is 88 and currently living in Franklin, Tenn., according to Harrison.

President Tyler was William Henry Harrison’s Whig running mate in the 1840 election, which spawned one of the most famous campaign slogans in American history, “Tippecanoe and Tyler too.” On his 32nd day in office, Harrison died of complications from pneumonia. Tyler was then the first vice president to become president due to the death of his predecessor, serving from 1841-1845.

John Tyler also has the distinction of becoming the first president to get married while in office — after his first wife died in 1842, Tyler married Julia Gardiner, who was 30 years younger than him, in 1844.