James Hoge Tyler (August 11, 1846 – January 3, 1925) was a Confederate soldier, writer and
political figure
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
. He served in the
Virginia Senate
The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Virg ...
and became the 16th
Lieutenant Governor of Virginia (1890 to 1894) and the
43rd Governor of Virginia (1898 to 1902). He compiled ''The Family of Hoge'', published posthumously in 1927.
Early and family life
![Halwyck from driveway](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Halwyck_from_driveway.jpg)
James Tyler was born at Blenheim plantation in
Caroline County, Virginia
Caroline County is a county (United States), United States county located in the eastern part of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. The northern boundary of the county borders on the Rappahannock River, notably at the hist ...
, on August 11, 1846, to
George Tyler (1817–1889) and his second wife Eliza Hoge (1815-1846). His parents were both descended from the
First Families of Virginia
First Families of Virginia (FFV) were those families in Colonial Virginia who were socially prominent and wealthy, but not necessarily the earliest settlers. They descended from English colonists who primarily settled at Jamestown, Williamsbur ...
. His great-grandfather, also George Tyler (1755-1833), served as a lieutenant in the Caroline County militia during the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
and descended from Richard Tyler who settled in
Essex County in the 17th century. His father George Tyler was the eldest son of Henry Tyler (1791-1861) and his wife Lucy Coleman,
Literally all of his ancestors came to America from
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and literally all of them arrived in the
Colony of Virginia in the 1600s.
Two hours after James was born, his mother died of complications from the birth. His maternal grandparents took the boy 300 miles by carriage to their home, Hayfield, subsequently known as
Belle Hampton, in
Pulaski County, Virginia
Pulaski County is a county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,800. Its county seat is Pulaski. Pulaski County is part of the Blacksburg– Christiansburg, VA Metropolit ...
. There he was raised by his maternal grandparents, General James F. Hoge (1783-1861) and Eleanor Haven Howe, as well as his uncle William E. Hoge and his wife Jane with their daughter and two sons of similar ages. James F. Hoge owned 17 enslaved persons in 1850, and more in 1860.
Private tutors and his grandfather educated James until General Hoge died in 1861. When James Tyler was ten, his grandmother died and his grandfather soon suffered a stroke. J. H. Tyler inherited a number of properties from his maternal grandfather, including Belle-Hampton. The teenager soon joined his father in Caroline County (his paternal grandfather dying in the same year). Because Virginia's secession embroiled Caroline County, Tyler attended a school run by Franklin Minor in
Albemarle County
Albemarle County is a county located in the Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its county seat is Charlottesville, which is an independent city and enclave entirely surrounded by the county. Albemarle County is part of the Char ...
.
On November 16, 1868, he married Sou (or Sue) Montgomery Hammet (1845-1927) of
Montgomery County, Virginia
Montgomery County is a county located in the Valley and Ridge area of the U.S. state of Virginia. As population in the area increased, Montgomery County was formed in 1777 from Fincastle County, which in turn had been taken from Botetourt Coun ...
. The children by that marriage were Edward Hammet Tyler, James Hoge Tyler Jr., Stockton Heth Tyler, Belle Norwood McConnell, Sue Hampton, Henry Clement Tyler, Eliza (Lily), and Eleanor.
American Civil War
About 1862, when he reached the legal age of 16, J. H. Tyler enlisted in the
Army of the Confederate States of America.
He remained as a private until the war's end rather than accept a commission as an officer and be separated from his friends.
Postwar career
After Virginia's surrender to Union forces, Tyler returned to Pulaski County and tried to resume farming. He also published articles urging manufacturing and mining development. Elected to the
Virginia Senate
The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Virg ...
in 1877, he urged state taxes be reduced from 50 to 40 cents and also served on the commission to settle the state debt. Tyler was a member of the boards of public buildings at Blacksburg and Marion, and became rector of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (now known as
Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six re ...
).
[Virginia Biographical Encyclopedia online at ancestry.com]
Active in the state
Democratic party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
, especially the statewide organization created by Senator
Thomas Staples Martin, Tyler became the organization's candidate for Lieutenant Governor, and helped settle the disputed border between Maryland and Virginia. He defeated fellow Confederate veteran
James Taylor Ellyson before the party's primary to become its candidate for governor in the
Virginia 1897 election (and Ellyson began the first of three terms as lieutenant governor).
In the general election, voters elected Tyler Governor of Virginia. He won 64.59% of the vote, defeating Republican
Patrick H. McCaull (who won 33.24% of the votes), as well as Prohibitionist L.A. Cutler, Socialist John J. Quantz, and Independent James S. Cowden. During his term as governor, Tyler reduced the public debt by more than a million dollars, but increased the public school fund by $21,000 and the literary fund by $68,000, and also reduced the tax rate from 40 to 30 cents. He also settled the boundary dispute between Tennessee and Virginia.
After his governorship, Tyler returned to Radford, where he resumed farming and lived with his son Hal (Henry C.) Tyler (who was serving as the local Commonwealth's attorney in 1910), and daughters Lily and Lucy. Tyler spent the last years of his life compiling ''The Family of Hoge'', a genealogy of the descendants of William Hoge and Barbara Hume, his great-great-great-grandparents and the American progenitors of the Hoge Family.
A devout Presbyterian, Tyler was thrice elected to the
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. In 1892 he was a delegate to the
Pan Presbyterian Alliance in Toronto, and in 1896 became a delegate to the convention in Glasgow, Scotland, where he presided over one of the sessions. He also served on the boards of trustees of
Hampden–Sydney College, the
Union Theological Seminary and the
Synodical Orphans Home at
Lynchburg.
Death and legacy
Governor J.H. Tyler died January 3, 1925, at Halwick (renamed
Halwyck by subsequent owners of the property in the 1990s), which he built in 1892, and which his lawyer son Henry C. Tyler and widowed daughter Lily Wilson helped run.
He was buried in Radford at West View cemetery, where his widow would join him two years later.
The
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, is the library agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It serves as the archival agency and the reference library for Virginia's seat of government. The Library moved into a new building in 1997 and ...
holds his papers.
A Guide to the Executive Papers of Governor James Hoge Tyler, 1860-1901 (bulk 1898-1901)
/ref> Halwyck (originally "Halwick") was added to the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1989. His childhood home, Blenheim, also exists, and Caroline County officials believe it eligible for similar treatment, but its private owners have not yet chosen to apply for that status, which would entail development restrictions.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyler, James Hoge
1846 births
1925 deaths
American genealogists
American people of English descent
Democratic Party governors of Virginia
Lieutenant Governors of Virginia
Confederate States Army soldiers
People of Virginia in the American Civil War
American Presbyterians
People from Caroline County, Virginia
People from Pulaski County, Virginia
20th-century American historians
American male non-fiction writers
19th-century American politicians
20th-century American politicians
Historians from Virginia
20th-century American male writers