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Cleopatra Lived Closer to the Computer Age than to the Pyramids, and Other Atypical History Facts

Khalid Elhassan December 30, 2019 33 min

38. The Old Goat Tylers

In popular culture, Billy goats are known for virility and remaining sexually active well into old age. An ancient Billy goat at death’s door often still has the libido to totter over to, get it on with, and impregnate a Nanny goat. The Tyler males might be the Billy goats of mankind. Not only do they remain sexually active well into old age, but they also possess potent and seemingly ageless sperm that retains its virility and ability to impregnate, despite the owner’s decrepitude.

President Tyler’s fifteenth kid, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, was born in 1853, when his father was 63. In 1925, when Lyon was 71, he fathered Gardiner Tyler, Jr. About four years later, a 75-year-old Lyon fathered Harrison Ruffin Tyler. At 95 and 91, respectively, both Gardiner and Harrison are still going strong and doing well for their age. So President Tyler’s crowning achievement is that he still has living grandsons, 229 years after he was born.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.