Community Chronicles

Virginia has long carried the proud title of “Mother of Presidents,” producing eight of the nation’s forty-five men who have served as president. Less well known, however, is Henry County’s own unique tie to the presidency. John Tyler, the tenth president of the United States, had an adoptive sister who lived, died, and was laid to rest in Henry County.

Her name was Louisa Hardyman. She was born on Christmas Day in 1787 to Littlebury and Elizabeth Eppes Hardyman. Records about her childhood are scarce, but it is believed that one or both of her parents died before she came of age. Evidence for this rests in the fact that she became a ward of John Tyler Senior, father of the future president. While some family histories claim John Tyler Junior himself was her adoptive father, this is unlikely because Tyler Junior was born in 1790, three years after Louisa’s birth.

For at least part of her youth, Louisa lived at the Tyler family’s Greenway Plantation near Richmond. At age twenty-four, she married George Hairston Junior of Henry County, better known by his nickname “Ol’ Rusty.” Their wedding took place at Greenway. How the two met remains uncertain, though Hairston was serving in Richmond at the time in the Virginia House of Delegates, representing Henry County alongside Colonel Joseph Martin, son of Revolutionary War hero General Joseph Martin.

The bond between the Tyler and Hairston families was evident in the generations that followed. Louisa and George’s first son, born in 1811, was named John Tyler Hairston in honor of the president to be. That name continued through later generations, appearing again in 1851 and even in 1849 in a separate branch of the Hairston family tree.

Louisa and “Ol’ Rusty” made their home at Hordsville Plantation, located in present day Bassett. Behind the old home lies the family cemetery, known as “God’s Acre.” There, two weathered gravestones still bear the name John Tyler Hairston.

Today, both the graves and the connection they represent have faded from memory. In a way, it is fitting, because President John Tyler himself is often overlooked in the annals of American history. Yet here in Henry County, a quiet reminder of his family remains.

Jarred Marlowe is a local resident and historian. He is a member of the Col. George Waller Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, the Blue & Gray Education Society, and the committee chair for the Martinsville-Henry County 250 Committee. He may be reached at marloweja15@gmail.com.