Nerissa Whittington Tyler

Nerissa Whittington Tyler was born in New Haven in 1898 to Lillian D. Ross Whittington and John Washington Whittington. Her father died the same year she was born, and she and her mother lived with her grandparents, John and Mary Jackson Ross.

She was a student of Yale School of Music graduate Helen Hagan. She went on to attend the Yale School of Music from 1916 to 1919. She may have completed the School's program in music theory or its progam in music practice; both were three-year programs. She had a long career as a music teacher and as organist for the Dixwell Congregational Church, taking over the position from Helen Hagan when she left New Haven to study music in Europe.

She married Eben A. Tyler, and had three children: Whittington Aleric Tyler, Nerissa Diana Tyler, and Ebena Sims. Hubert Barnes Ross, her cousin who later graduated from Yale, also grew up in the Ross and Tyler households. Her cousin John McLinn Ross and uncle Hubert H.W. Ross both also attended Yale.

Nerissa Whittington Tyler died in 1987 in New Haven.