Yes, John Tyler is generally treated by historians as a lackluster leader. Since one of his big accomplishments was the annexation of Texas, perhaps they're right after all.

He also had more children from his two marriages than any other President, but I was surprised indeed to learn that he has living grandchildren. That's an amazing stretch of time for just two generations. I think the reason this fact recently resurfaced is that the more visible of the two, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Jr., publicly (and correctly) called Newt Gingrich "a big jerk."

One of my own grandfathers was born in 1870, and I always thought that was a wide stretch, but it's hard to imagine being alive and having a grandfather who was born in 1790. 222 years!