Born in New York, Tyler went to school in Virginia and fought in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.

[citation needed] In 1862, he entered present-day Washington and Lee University, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, but dropped out the following year to fight in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.

Following the war, he and his brother, John Alexander Tyler, traveled to Germany,[1] and attended school in the Grand Duchy of Baden.

He subsequently left the House in 1897 and returned to private law practice until his reelection to the state Senate, where he served from 1900 to 1904.

Together, they were the parents of five children, four of whom survived to adulthood:[3] Tyler died at Sherwood Forest Plantation and is buried at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond.