46 Fascinating Facts About Our 46 Presidents-- Part 2: Adams to Tyler

6.  JOHN QUINCY ADAMS  (1825-1829)

Years after leaving the White House, he argued a famous Supreme Court case that freed the captive Africans who had rebelled on the  slave ship Amistad.

7.  ANDREW JACKSON (1829-1837)

Jackson once killed a man in a duel.

8.  MARTIN VAN BUREN (1837-1841)

  Van Buren was the first president to be born an American.  All previous presidents were British subjects, having been born previous to 1776.

9.  WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON  (1841)

He lasted just 32 days in office, the shortest stint for any president.

10.  JOHN TYLER (1841-1845)

Fathered fifteen children, the most of any president.

--DaCootPres

Thomas Wilson Dorr-- Part 3: Rhode Island Had Two State Governments

Efforts had been made to increase while male suffrage in Rhode Island at intervals in its early years as a state, usually by lowering the amount of land that needed to be owned.  In 1834, a convention met at the capital, Providence, with that intention.  Dorr was a part of it. But all their efforts were blocked by rural interests in the legislature.

By 1841, Rhode Island  was almost the only state that had not adopted universal suffrage for white males.  More than half of the adult white males were unable to vote. And, with more people owning factories and living in cities, even fewer could vote because of the land requirements.

In 1840,  the Rhode Island Suffrage Association was formed to address the problem and state legislator Thomas Dorr took a leading role.  When that didn't get anywhere, a "People's Party" was formed and adopted a state constitution.  The sitting legislature refused to recognize it.

However, the new party, referred to as Dorrites, were unfazed and went ahead and elected an entire state ticket with Dorr as governor.

So, in May 1842, Rhode Island had two governments.  The already seated government was allowed to remain in the statehouse, but both governors, Dorr and Samuel Ward King, issued proclamations.  King appealed to Washington, D.C., for federal aid.  Dorr went to D.C. himself to plead his cause with President John Tyler, but received no help.

--Cooter

John William Dunjee: President Tyler's Son?

Wikipedia.

Back on July 29th, while writing about two of Tyler's grandchildren still being alive, I mentioned that he might have fathered a child named John Dunjee with a slave.

The article says he was an American missionary, educator, Baptist minister and founder of Baptist churches. He was born a slave in Virginia to his owners, the Farrel family.

Dinjee's family has always asserted that his father was John Tyler and his mother one of the Farrell slaves. In 1859, he learned that the Farrels were going to move to Alabama and take him. Not wanting to go, he escaped and took the Underground Railroad to Canada.

After the Civil War, Dunjee returned to the United States and studied at the Maine Seminary and Oberlin College in Ohio. As a Baptist minister, he started churches from New England to the South to the Midwest. He also established several black colleges. I was unable to learn more about his relationship to President Tyler.

Quite a Man, Regardless. Perhaps It's Time for a Movie?  --Cooter

Tyler Tidbits: As In President John Tyler

Last month I wrote about President John Tyler having two living grandchildren even though he goes back some 220 years. Some more information on John Tyler:

*Supported South's secession efforts. Shortly before his death was actually elected to the Confederate House of Representatives.

*Because of his Confederate ties, he was the only president ever not to receive an official mourning period from the federal government when he died January 18, 1862.

*Became president in 1841, the year Canada became a country. the first filibuster in the U.S. Senate (took a month), and the city of Dallas, Texas founded.

*First president to become president through the vice president succession.

A Confederate U.S. President? --Cooter

Old Daddies

From the April 22, 2013, Time Magazine "Too Old To Be A Dad?" by Jeffrey Kluger. Interesting graphics about some famous "Old" dads. Also interesting because I have been writing about some of U.S. President John Tyler's grandchildren still being alive in this blog. 

Name, Current Age, His Age last child born:

MICHAEL DOUGLAS: 68, 58

CLINT EASTWOOD: 82, 66

 ROD STEWART: 68, 66

 STEVE MARTIN: 67, 67

 RUPERT MURDOCH: 82, 72

 I Don't Know. I Don't Think I'd Want to be A Dad At Those Ages.  --DaCoot

President Tyler's Grandchildren Still Alive-- Part 2

Continued from July 22nd.

That makes three generations of Tyler men spread out over 200 years, quite a long time for just three generations when most families would have at least six to eight generations over that span.

President Tyler was quite the prolific father, having fifteen children (eight boys and seven girls) with two wives. He allegedly fathered John Dunjee with one of his slaves.

Jane Garfield, 99, is the oldest living grandchild of a president, even though Garfield took office 40 years after Tyler. John Eisenhower is the oldest living child of a president and turned 89 this past August (2011). 

Prolific To Say the Least.  --Cooter

President Tyler's Grandchildren Still Alive-- Part 1

Well, as late as 2011, anyway.

President John Tyler (1790-1862) was born 221 years ago, but still has two living grandchildren.  He served one term as president before the Civil War and is not very well known other than pushing through Texas annexation in 1845, shortly before he left office (one of the reasons for the Mexican War).

He is known for fathering children late in life.

Tyler was the 10th president, serving from 1841 to 1845 after Willima Henry Harrison died in office.

Lyon Gardiner Tyler became his son in 1853 when John Tyler was 63.    Lyon Tyler, in turn, fathered a Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr in 1924 and four years later, at age 75, along came Harrison Ruffin Tyler.  As of 2011, both were still alive.

This Is Amazing.  --Cooter