John Tyler was born on March 29, 1790, at his family’s plantation, Greenway, in Charles City County, Virginia. He was the son of John Tyler Sr., a prosperous planter and Virginia politician, and Mary Armistead. The younger Tyler graduated from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1807, then studied law under private tutors. He began his political career in 1811, when he was elected to the Virginia legislature at age 21.

In 1813, the 23-year-old Tyler married fellow Virginian Letitia Christian, with whom he would have eight children. In 1839, Letitia suffered a stroke that left her partially paralyzed and incapable of handling the responsibilities of first lady when her husband became president two years later. Her daughter-in-law, Priscilla Cooper Tyler, a former actress, assumed the role of official White House hostess. In 1842, Letitia Tyler suffered a second stroke and died at age 51, becoming the first president’s wife to pass away while her husband was in the White House.

In 1844, John Tyler became the first president to marry while in office when he wed Julia Gardiner, a wealthy New Yorker 30 years his junior. The couple went on to have seven children. With a total of 15 offsprings from his two marriages, Tyler fathered more children than any other U.S. president in history.