Lyon Gardiner Tyler

Lyon Gardiner Tyler Sr. was an American educator, genealogist, and historian. Tyler served as the 17th president of The College of William & Mary from 1888 to 1919. He is widely credited for restoring the college’s financial condition following the American Civil War. Tyler was also a prominent critic of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.

About Lyon Gardiner Tyler in brief

Summary Lyon Gardiner TylerLyon Gardiner Tyler Sr. was an American educator, genealogist, and historian. He was the son of John Tyler, the tenth president of the United States. Tyler served as the 17th president of The College of William & Mary from 1888 to 1919. He is widely credited for restoring the college’s financial condition following the American Civil War. Tyler was also a prominent critic of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. One of his own children is still alive, making John Tyler the earliest U. S. president to have living grandchildren. Tyler died of pneumonia on February 12, 1935, in Richmond, Virginia, and is buried in Hollywood Cemetery, where he is buried with his wife, Julia Gardiner, and their two children, John Tyler Jr. and Mary Gardiner. and John Tyler III.

He was a prolific author, and his work spurred recognition of the significance of both Jamestown and Williamsburg to American history. He remained active in his profession, as a writer, speaker, and researcher, until his death in 1935. Tyler received a great deal of notoriety during his career for his criticism of President Lincoln, which he expressed on numerous occasions in 1917 when he suggested that Southern slaveholders were akin to the German aristocrats then in Europe. He also spent much of his career attempting to rehabilitate his father’s political reputation, and was a member of the Virginia Historical Society for fifty-two years, spending forty-seven of those on its executive committee and thirty-two as a vice president.