She met John Tyler, then a law student, in 1808. Their five-year courtship was restrained and it was three weeks before the wedding that Tyler first kissed her — on the hand. In his only surviving love letter to her, written a few months before their wedding, Tyler promised, “Whether I float or sink in the stream of fortune, you may be assured of this, that I shall never cease to love you.”

They married on Tyler’s 23rd birthday at Cedar Grove, her family’s home. Their 29-year marriage appears to have been a happy one. Letitia Tyler avoided the limelight during her husband’s political rise, preferring domestic responsibilities to those of a public wife. During his congressional service, she remained in Virginia except for one visit to Washington during the winter of 1828–1829. In 1839, she suffered a paralytic stroke that left her an invalid. As first lady, she remained in the upstairs living quarters of the White House; she came down once, to attend the wedding of her daughter (Elizabeth) in January 1842.

Tyler appears on a 28p (£0.28) commemorative postage stamp from the Isle of Man Post Office, issued May 23, 2006, as part of a series honoring Manx-Americans. She also appears on a one-half ounce gold coin and a bronze medal issued by the United States Mint on July 2, 2009.