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This article is from the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 6 volumes, edited by William S. Powell. Copyright ©1979-1996 by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. For personal use and not for further distribution. Please submit permission requests for other use directly to the publisher.

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Tyler, Margaret Ridley Long

By Claiborne T. Smith, Jr., 1996

26 Mar. 1917–30 Mar. 1991

Margaret Ridley Long Tyler, teacher and preservationist, was born in Roanoke Rapids, the daughter of Thomas W. M., a physician, and Maria Greenough Burgwyn Long. She attended St. Mary's College and was graduated from The University of North Carolina in 1938. The following year she also received a degree in library science. She taught English and mathematics and was librarian in the public schools of Bertie County for thirty years. In 1941 she married John Edward Tyler of Roxobel, and they had three children: Margaret Ridley (m. James E. Smith), John Cotten Pierce, and Ethel Leonard Gregory Tyler Hand.

Mrs. Tyler achieved wide recognition for her leadership in the preservation and restoration of Hope Plantation, the 1803 home of Governor David Stone in Bertie County. She was instrumental in raising funds for this community undertaking, as well as in decorating the house and acquiring furnishings. Especially noteworthy was the replication of the large library of late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth-century books held by Stone. Her work and the completed project came to be regarded as a model for similar programs.

An Episcopalian, Mrs. Tyler was buried in the family cemetery at Oaklana, the family home near St. Mark's Church, Roxobel, where the funeral was held.

References:

Alumni Files (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill [portrait])

Greenville Daily Reflector , 4 Apr. 1991

Raleigh News and Observer , 31 Mar. 1991

Roanoke Rapids Herald , 31 Mar. 1991

 

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