8. John and Julia Tyler
John’s first wife (with whom he had 8 children) died of a stroke in the White House in 1842. He had previously met Julia (who was 30 years younger than him) and the two were near polar opposites. When he first proposed, she refused, but the two began seeing each other only a few month’s after John’s first wife. The couple had a secret engagement in 1843 and a low-key wedding in 1844. John’s oldest daughter was 5 years older than Julia. The couple would go on to have 7 more children together. After the couple retired from the White House, Julia, a northerner, happily adopted Southern traditions, including the possession of slaves, which she found to be both humane and enlightened. After she moved to Staten Island, her house was nearly burned down for flying a Confederate flag.
