John Tyler Community College was named after John Tyler, the 10th president of the United States of America. Tyler lived a very interesting life that was surrounded by politics and family. Tyler was born on March 29, 1790, in Charles City County, Va. He was born to John Tyler, governor of Virginia from 1808 to 1811, and Mary Armistead.
He grew up with a desire to become a politician, and, in 1807, he graduated from the College of William and Mary. Two years later, after studying law, he was admitted to the bar. Tyler wasted no time in putting his new degree to work. In 1811, at the age of 21, he became a member of the Virginia legislature.
Tyler went on to serve as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1817-1821), governor of Virginia (1825-1827) and a member of the U.S. Senate (1827-1836). In 1839, his political career reached new heights when he was nominated to run for vice president of the United States alongside the Whigs' presidential nominee, William Henry Harrison. The campaign was successful, and Harrison and Tyler received 234 electoral votes compared to Democratic presidential candidate Martin Van Buren's 60 votes.
Tyler's time in office became interesting when Harrison unexpectedly died one month after assuming the role of president. Tyler was sworn in on April 6, 1841, becoming the first U.S. vice president to take the office of president because of the death of his predecessor. Many individuals gave Tyler the nickname "His Accidency."
Tyler took office in the face of opposition from his party when he did not want to accept its legislative program. In an effort to force Tyler out of office, all of the members of his cabinet, except Secretary of State Daniel Webster, resigned. Despite the political upheaval, within two days Tyler named his new cabinet appointments and had them approved by the Senate.
One of Tyler’s most noteworthy accomplishments was the annexation of Texas. In his last days in office, Congress passed a joint resolution that made Texas a part of the Union. In 1844, Tyler debated between running for president as an independent or seeking the Democratic Party nomination. However, in the end, he decided to do neither and instead backed away from the political arena when the Democrats nominated James K. Polk.
Besides being the first vice president to take the office of president upon the death of the current president, Tyler was also the first president to marry while in office. Tyler married Julia Gardiner on June 26, 1844, two years after the death of his first wife, Letitia Christian. Gardiner was only 24 when she married the 54-year-old president. She also became the stepmother of eight children ranging in age from 14 to 29.
As soon as his presidency was over, Tyler retired to his Virginia plantation in 1845 with his wife and eight children. One year later, Gardiner and Tyler began having children of their own. Over the next 14 years, they had seven children for a total of 15 offspring born to Tyler in his lifetime.
Tyler lived his remaining years in Virginia, the state he loved and fought for throughout his political career. He was 71 years old when he died in Richmond, Va., on January 28, 1862. Tyler was survived by his wife and 11 of his children, including his youngest child, two-year-old Pearl.