The last living grandson of the 10th U.S. President John Tyler has died at 96 years old — the end of a link to a bygone era of American history. 

Harrison Ruffin Tyler died on Sunday evening, May 25, his family said in a statement to CBS News. His grandfather, who was born in 1790, left the Oval Office more than 179 years ago, after serving from 1841 to 1845, well before the Civil War. President Tyler's immediate descendants lived into the modern age because of two generations of late second marriages to much younger wives.

John Tyler, a Virginian slave owner and lifelong Democrat, served as the vice president to William Henry Harrison and became president quite unexpectedly after Harrison died suddenly three weeks after his inauguration — the first president to die while in office. 

At the time, succession plans weren't fully established and Tyler was initially hesitant about taking over, according to the National Constitution Center. He took the oath of office in public on April 6, 1841, saying, "I am the President, and I shall be held responsible for my administration."