II. Delayed birth record (1927) – This document was attached as an allegate to the marriage record found in the Małogoszcz registry offce. The document mentions Izrael Icek Krysztal (the Polish version of his name), a son of Moszek Dawid [Kryształ] and Brucha Rojt. In this document, the entries on his year of birth (1903) and his place of birth: (Zarnow) are consistent with his claims. The delayed birth record of his wife, Haja Feigla Frucht, who was born in Wegleszyn on Nov. 12, 1909, was also attached.

It should be noted that the name of Mr. Kristal's father appears in three different versions throughout the documentation. Which version was used varied depending on which country's administration was operating in the region at the time each record was made. The region was part of the Russian Empire until 1918, when it

**Table 20.1** Examination of unique identifers for Israel Kristal

became part of Poland. Between 1915–1918 and 1939–1945, the region was occupied by Germany. Mojżesz and Moszek are two Polish versions of the same name, while Mosche is the German version. The family name was also variously recorded as Kryształ, the Polish version; or as Kristal, the German and Yiddish version. Similarly, there were two versions of his mother's name: Brucha Rojt in Polish and Bracha Rojth in German and Yiddish. Litzmannstadt is the German name of the city of Łódź. According to his family's reports, which were confrmed by the 1918 Łódź census, the exact place of Mr. Kristal's birth was Malenie, a little village that

**Table 20.2** Israel Kristal's age validation

currently has fewer than 30 inhabitants. The village belonged to the Żarnów synagogue district and to the greater region of Łódź (Łódź Voivodeship between 1918 and 1939). Given these unique identifers, it has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the gathered documentation concerns one and the same person: Izrael Icek Kryształ, who later became known as Israel Kristal (Table 20.2).

The gathered documentation confrms Mr. Kristal's claim that he was born on Sept. 15, 1903. Indeed, the earliest document mentions an earlier date, May 1, 1903, which suggests that Mr. Kristal might have been even older than he claimed, and thus reached age 114. However, no other piece of evidence supports that date. All of the other documents either mention a birth date of Sept. 15, 1903, or are otherwise in line with this date. It is important to note that the date of Sept. 15, 1903, appears in the documentation for the frst time in 1945. In the earlier documentation, with the exception of the Łódź census, only the year of birth (1903) is mentioned. Yet this information still corresponds to the reported birth date of Sept. 15, 1903. There is a considerable amount of middle-life evidence and early-life evidence from the frst 20 years of life that supports the claim that Israel Kristal was born in 1903. Thus, there is suffcient evidence that meets modern age validation standards. In sum, we contend that while the case of Mr. Kristal was extremely diffcult to confrm, there is strong reason to believe that Israel Kristal was born on Sept. 15, 1903, as Izrael Icek Krysztal in Malenie, Russian Empire (now Poland), and died in Israel, on Aug. 11, 2017, at 113 years of age.

#### **20.4 Conclusion**

The authors confrmed the authenticity of Israel Kristal's age on the basis of the gathered documentation, which includes early-, middle-, and late-life evidence. The biggest concern that arose in the case of Israel Kristal was the lack of a birth record. Given that the census records are often a refection of the respondents' memories, both May 1, 1903, and Sept. 15, 1903, may have been manufactured dates of birth. It is worth noting that one of Izrael Icek's brothers, Abram, was recorded as having the same date and month of birth. Hence, it is possible that the census enumerator wrote the same details twice, or that the younger Abram was an adopted child, as there were many war orphans at that time, and giving the same name to two children in a row was not common practice. The theory that the younger Abram was adopted is strengthened by the mother's death record from 1913, which mentions that she was survived by three children. The oldest of those children, Perla, would have been 20 at the time of the mother's death, so it is possible that she was no longer counted as a child. Based on our experiences in researching cases of extreme longevity and supercentenarians in Poland, we believe that reports of the ages of people born in the territory of present-day Poland are reliable, because in the early twentieth century, Poland had a well-developed system of birth registration. Moreover, cases of age exaggeration are rare in Poland, and the few cases that have occurred were mainly among the population of repatriates who may have misreported their age when they needed to produce new documents after moving from the territory of one country to the territory of another. Whether Israel Kristal had the need to recreate documents at any point in his life in Poland is unknown. It is peculiar that his delayed birth certifcate, which he presented at the offce where he married Chaja Frucht a few months after, listed the year (1903) but not the day and month of his birth, whereas his future wife was able to present a delayed birth certifcate on which her full date of birth was recorded.

Israel Kristal's case represents an important intermediate step in the expansion of the worldwide IDL and GRG databases into Poland and Israel. Mr. Kristal's age is signifcant, as it is one of the 10 oldest ages ever validated for men. Mr. Kristal is also the oldest Polish-born person on record, the oldest Jewish man on record, and the Guinness "World's Oldest Man" titleholder for over a year and a half (January 2016–August 2017). There is consistent documentation of Mr. Kristal's age from

**Fig. 20.2** Israel Kristal's claim was unaffected by the migration between countries

both of his countries of his residence: frst Poland, and then Israel. His reported year of birth is consistently supported by all of the gathered evidence, including one document issued within his frst 20 years of life. Thus, there is evidence that meets the early-life evidence requirements of modern validation standards. Given that Mr. Kristal was born in the area of present-day Poland, and not outside its modern eastern border, he is not among the population of emigrant supercentenarian claimants who have been suspected of age exaggeration. While some Polish individuals who claimed to be supercentenarians were found to have exaggerated their age, this exaggeration occurred while they were migrating between countries in the World War II era. It has been proven that Israel Kristal did not exaggerate his age either during the war or upon his migration from Poland to Israel (see Fig. 20.2; confrmed by the located evidence). The risk of age misreporting was therefore low in this case. As Poulain (2010) has pointed out, age validation is never defnitive, and may always be reconsidered if a new piece of evidence that seems incompatible with the previous conclusion is discovered. In sum, given that the documents that were uncovered in the case of Israel Kristal span nearly a century and contain many unique identifers that confrm his identity – and that the gathered documentation is consistent with the stories told by the family – we consider this case to be validated at least to the standard of validation by proxy, as an early-life census entry was substituted for the original proof of birth.

In conclusion, based past research of similar cases and the gathered evidence, Guinness World Records and the Gerontology Research Group deemed the case of Israel Kristal validated, with his offcial date of birth recognized as Sept. 15, 1903.

**Acknowledgements** The authors would like to express special thanks to Mr. Oren Kristal, the grandson of Mr. Israel Kristal for his cordial cooperation by the validation of the age of his notable grandfather; Messrs. Stanley Diamond and Michael Tobias of Jewish Records Indexing for providing the crucial breakthrough in our research; and Mr. Stefan Jamin, GRG Correspondent for Germany, for his valuable assistance and advice in the research.

#### **References**

**Open Access** This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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## **Chapter 21 Age Verifcation of Three Japanese Supercentenarians Who Reached Age 115**

**Yasuyuki Gondo, Nobuyoshi Hirose, Saori Yasumoto, Yoshiko Lily Ishioka, Hiroki Inagaki, Yukie Masui, Yasumichi Arai, and Yasuhiko Saito**

Compared to other countries, Japan is the world leader in longevity and has the largest proportion of centenarians par total population. According to Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the number of centenarians living in the country as of September 2017 was 67,824. However, there are only eight known cases in Japan of individuals surviving to age 115 (Table 21.1)*.* This chapter presents the life histories of three Japanese supercentenarians who lived more than 115 years, and provides details of the age verifcation processes used to confrm their ages. The frst case is that of Mr. Jiroemon Kimura (J.K.), who was the longest-lived man in the world. He passed away in June 12, 2013, at the age of 116 years and 54 days. The second case is that of Mrs. Misao Okawa (M.O.), who was the frst Japanese person to reach the age of 117 years. She passed away on April 1, 2015, at the age of 117 years and 27 days. The third case is that of Mrs. Chiyo Miyako (C.M.), who was alive at the age of 117 years when We wrote this chapter in June 11, 2018. She was ranked as the oldest living person in the world after Mrs. Nabi Tajima (117 years and 260 days

Y. Gondo (\*) · S. Yasumoto

N. Hirose · Y. Arai Center for Supercentenarian Medical Research, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan e-mail<EMAIL_ADDRESS><EMAIL_ADDRESS>
Y. L. Ishioka Graduate School of Science and Technology, Keio University, Kanagawa, Japan e-mail<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
H. Inagaki · Y. Masui Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo, Japan

Y. Saito Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan e-mail<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
Graduate School of Human Science, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan e-mail<EMAIL_ADDRESS><EMAIL_ADDRESS>

**Table 21.1** List of Japanese supercentenarians who reached age 115 years (as of July 23, 2018)

old), who considered the longest-lived Japanese person. Regretfully, we were unable to contact Mrs. Tajima.

#### **21.1 Data Sources Available for the Age Verifcation of the Oldest-Old in Japan**

The data sources that can be used in Japan to verify a person's age may be categorized as offcial administrative data or non-offcial data. The offcial data are issued and maintained by governmental authorities. For example, school systems may keep records that refer to their former pupils, while companies may keep records that refer to their former employees. The non-offcial data sources include stories told by family members and acquaintances, as well as media reports.

#### *21.1.1 Offcial Data*

#### **<IP_ADDRESS> Administrative Data Sources**

The **KOSEKI** (the Family Register) and the **JUMIN-KIHON-DAICHO** (the Resident Registry) are the primary sources used for age verifcation in Japan. The **KOSEKI** is based on the registered residence of the family, whereas the **JUMIN-KIHON-DAICHO** is based on the current place of residence, which is in turn linked to the Family Register. When all of the family members have moved out the family's residence due to marriage or death, the family's **KOSEKI** is relabeled JYOSEKI and is placed in storage. The Japanese system of KOSEKI was frst established in 1872. Evaluations of the frst few decades of the records have shown that the data are unreliable. With regard to the ages of centenarians, any records issued since 1972 are considered reliable (Wilmoth and Lundstrom 1996). The faulty registration of age is much less likely to occur among newborns than among people who are reporting their age while in their sixties or seventies. However, even though this system is relatively reliable, centenarians were misidentifed using the data from these registers in 2010 (Saito et al. 2012). This occurred mainly because deaths recorded in the Resident Registry were not transferred to the Family Register. There were even some cases in which family members intentionally avoided reporting the deaths of centenarians in order to receive pension money from the government. Local governments fnally discovered these cases by conducting face-to-face interviews with registered centenarians.

The **ZENKOKU KOUREISHA MEIBO** (the list of oldest-old survivors in Japan) was published for a short period of time only (until 2003) by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. The list was compiled based on the **JUMIN-KIHON-DAICHO** for the purpose of identifying centenarians for sending award of celebrating longevity by the Japanese prime minster. As the lists had been semi-open to the public, we used them to identify centenarians.

#### **<IP_ADDRESS> Data Sources Related to Education and Employment**

**Documents Related to Education** are also useful sources for verifying age. Because almost 100% of Japanese children were enrolled in primary school in 1905, the likelihood of being able to fnd the name of a particular graduate in the graduation lists is high. In addition, some elementary schools have published a book celebrating the 100-year anniversary of the school's founding in which the names of past graduates are published.

**Employment Records** can include information on the work-related records of former employees. If an organization that employed a centenarian still exists today, the employment records of the individual may be available for age verifcation.

#### *21.1.2 Non-offcial Data Sources*

Among the non-offcial data sources that can be used in the age validation process are the centenarian's personal memories, the testimonies of his/her relatives, a diary or an autobiography written by the centenarian, and media reports. As the reliability of these data is lower than that of data from offcial sources, the accuracy of the information extracted from non-offcial data sources must be double-checked using a third source, such as the records of historical events. Checking whether stories that have been told/written by/about the centenarian are consistent with historical records can help us avoid misidentifying a person.

#### **21.2 Age Verifcation of Three Supercentenarians**

As participants in the Tokyo centenarian study and Japanese semi-supercentenarian study (Arai et al. 2014), the frst (Y.G.), second (N.H.), fourth (H.I.), and ffth authors (Y.M.) of this article have conducted face-to-face interviews with the three supercentenarians when they were centenarians, and with their family members. In the following sections, we describe the life histories of the three supercentenarians along with the sources we used to verify the person's age in each case.

#### *21.2.1 CASE 1: Jiroemon Kimura (J.K)*

We have previously published an article in which we explained how we verifed the age of J.K (Gondo et al. 2017). Thus, in the following, we will provide only a brief summary of the age verifcation process in his case, and will instead focus on describing his life experiences.

#### **<IP_ADDRESS> Description of the Age Verifcation Sources**

Because J.K. lived in the same village most of his life, we were able to draw from a variety of sources to verify his age. The offcial records consist of the JYOSEKI of the original family (Fig. 21.1), the KOSEKI of the family he married into (Fig. 21.2), the JUMIN-KIHON-DAICHO (Fig. 21.3), the original graduation list of the local elementary school (refer to Gondo et al. 2017), the centenary anniversary history book of the local elementary school (refer to Gondo et al., 2017), and the offcial employment record of J.K. from Japan's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. The non-offcial records consist of a booklet about J.K.'s life published when he was 105 years old, a newspaper interview with J.K. about his old friend, and information from an interview of J.K. by the authors (Y.G. and N.H.).

#### **<IP_ADDRESS> The Life History of J.K**

J.K. was born on April 19, 1897, in Kami-Ukawa village, Takeno-gun, in the Kyoto prefecture. He was the ffth of eight children of a farming couple, the Miyake family. The structure of his original family could be confrmed by the JYOSEKI (Fig. 21.1). His original name was Kinjiro Miyake. He graduated from higher elementary school on March 31, 1911. While J.K.'s birthday was reported as a date in March in the graduation list, we found that his birthday was reported as a date in April in the offcial government documents (JYOSEKI, KOSEKI, and KIHON DAICHO). His nephew told us that J.K. believed that his correct date of birth was 1 month earlier than the date reported in the offcial record. We speculated that his

**Fig. 21.1** Jyoseki Tohon of the original family (Miyake). J.K.'s old name (Kinjiro) and his history are written in the area surrounded by the black box

parents had wanted him to join the labor force as soon as possible so he could earn money to help the impoverished household, and that they therefore reported a March birth date for J.K. that would allow him to start schooling 1 year earlier. This was a relatively common practice in rural areas in Japan at that time. Thus, we concluded that his correct birthday is April 19, 1897 (Gondo et al. 2017).

After graduation, J.K. took a position as a telegram delivery person. He also held various other post offce-related jobs over the course of his career. Except for a short period that he spent as a sake brewer in Nara prefecture, and a period that he spent as a farmer after retirement, his employment history could be confrmed by consulting the offcial employment records issued by Japan's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. He attended a special school in Kyoto city to acquire skills related to mail and telegram delivery from May to November in 1914. He then started working in the local post offce (Nakahama post offce). On May 31, 1920, he moved to occupied Korea to take care of his sick younger brother for 5 months. During that period, he also worked at the Bureau of Telecommunications in Korea.

On December 27, 1920, he returned to his home village and married Yae Kimura.  After marrying into the Kimura family, he was recognized as the successor of Jiroemon Kimura the 8th. He had six sons and two daughters. The frst child was born in 1922, when he was 25 years old, and the last child was born in 1943, when he was 46 years old. He offcially inherited and changed his name from Kinjiro Kimura to Jiroemon

**Fig. 21.2** Koseki Tohon of the original family. J.K.'s old name and new name (9th), which is the same as that of the head of the family he married into, is written in parallel (larger box). The same name (8th) is written on the left as a head of the family (small box). The old name is corrected by strike-through (larger box, left name)

Kimura after the death of his father-in-law on April 4, 1927. He started working at the small Hira post offce on April 21, 1924, and he remained there until his retirement. According to the job records, he had served as a communication soldier twice for short periods of time in 1919 and 1921.

He retired from the post offce on June 30, 1962. In 1963, he built a new house. He was very proud that he was able to build a new house using his retirement bonuses. For the rest of his life, until reached his early one-hundreds, he worked as a part-time farmer helping his son. In 1978, J.K. and his wife started living in the house with their frst son's family and their frst grandson's family. At its largest, including J.K.'s son's and grandson's family, he lived with nine family members. His wife passed away in 1979 when he was 82 years old.

In 1981, the Kimura family had a family reunion to celebrate 500 years of life, which was the sum of the ages of J.K. and his siblings (Fig. 21.4). On December 11, 1999, a well-known national TV program that covers Japan's local communities and their cultural activities invited J.K. to appear as a guest. Because of this TV appearance, J.K. became popular nationwide. He reported having received hundreds of letters.

J.K.'s frst son passed away in 2000 at the age of 76. He expressed his sorrow that his son died before him in the booklet entitled "*Looking back on my happy 105*

**Fig. 21.3** Zenbu Kisai Shomei of J.K

*years,"* published in 2002 (Kimura 2002). He also lost his grandson in 2005 at the age of 52. He then lived with his daughter-in-law and granddaughter-in-law.

J.K. participated in our Japanese semi-supercentenarian study in 2008 when he was 111 years old. The authors (Y.G and N.H.) visited him a total of six times between then and his death in 2013. At the frst interview, he sat on the tatami foor without using any supportive device for more than an hour and a half, and told his life history clearly and energetically. He reported that he read newspapers every day and was careful with his diet. When we were about to leave his home, J.K. said in English: "Thank you very much.  He loved to speak

**Fig. 21.4** Family picture taken in 1981 that was entitled "The Cerebration of 500 years old." In the frst row, the six siblings, including J.K., and their ages are described by authors. The ages noted on the picture use the new Japanese age counting system in which people are counted as zero years old at birth, which means the total age of the siblings was 492 at the time the picture was taken. In the old Japanese age counting system, people were counted as 1 year old at birth. Under this system, the sum of the fve siblings' ages is 498. The picture was provided by Miyake Shinji, a nephew of J.K

English because he had learned English while he was studying at the special school for mail and telegram delivery in Kyoto. He recalled the name of the English textbook he used at the time as *National Reader*. Presumably, he was referring to *Barnes' New National Readers*, which has been the most widely used textbook for learning English in Japan since 1883. Because J.K. looked very healthy and ft, one of the authors (Y.G.) strongly doubted his age. We therefore decided to perform a study to verify his age.

J.K. again received attention from the media when he became the oldest living man in Japan at the age of 112 on June 19, 2009. Thereafter, he was introduced in the media as the oldest Japanese man on his birthdays and on Respect for Senior Citizens Day (the third Monday in September). He maintained good health until about 1 year before his death, and was cited as an example of a healthy supercentenarian in a NHK (a national network in Japan) documentary program in 2012. His daughter-in-law passed away in 2013 at the age of 83. In the fnal phase of his life, he lived with his granddaughter-in-law. We visited him for the last time on May 11, 2013, but we could not talk to him because he had been admitted to the hospital on that day after falling ill. J.K. passed away on June 12, 2013, at the age of 116 and 54 days.

J.K. had had raise a large family: by the time he reached the fnal phase of his life, he had eight children, 14 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren, and 14 greatgreat-grandchildren. One of the authors (Y.G.) met two of his offspring by chance. We can say with some confdence that J.K. lived a long and happy life, as he reported in his autobiography booklet.

#### *21.2.2 Case 2: Misao Okawa (M.O)*

M.O. is the frst Japanese supercentenarian to reach the age of 117. We visited her four times in total from 2013 to 2015 as part of our semi-supercentenarian study and for a newspaper interview. Although her son and the director of the special nursing home where she was living kindly provided us with many resources for verifying her age, we faced diffculties in obtaining some of the offcial governmental records on her life because of wartime damage and her frequent relocations.

#### **<IP_ADDRESS> Description of Age Verifcation Sources**

Among the offcial documents we were able to collect for M.O. were her **KOSEKI** (Fig. 21.5) and a mention of her in the **ZENKOKU KOUREISH MEIBO**. Her **KOSEKI** (Fig. 21.5) shows that she became a family head after separating from the **KOSEKI** of her husband's family. Her name was on the **ZENKOKU KOUREISH MEIBO**, which is a list of people living in Japan who became centenarians. We also gathered documents from her nursing home. However, many of the offcial documents that refer to her life were lost during World War II. In addition, her frequent relocations made it diffcult for us to track down the offcial records of her past. Among the non-offcial records, we were able to obtain several articles in newspapers and magazines about her and testimonies of her family members and the nursing home staff. We frst met M.O. in 2013, but because she was already suffering from dementia, she was unable to provide us with further information.

#### **<IP_ADDRESS> The Life History of M.O.**

M.O. was born on March 5, 1898, as the fourth child of the Aoki family. According to her son, M.O. was born in Temma district, which is located in the northern part of Osaka prefecture. Her family moved to Takarazuka city, which is a bedroom community in the Osaka prefecture. As her parents were the successful owners of a kimono fabric business, the family lived in a tri-level house and had a housekeeper. Her parents often took her downtown to buy fashionable clothes.

We tried to fnd the **KOSEKI** of M.O.'s original family to confrm her birthday, but were unsuccessful. M.O. established her own **KOSEKI** in 1951 (Fig. 21.5), and it is the primary source used to confrm her date of birth. We also attempted to fnd the graduation records of her elementary school. We contacted the board of education in Takarazuka city, Hyogo prefecture, because her son told us that when the family went to watch the Takarazuka Revue, M.O. took them to the house in

**Fig. 21.5** Newly established Koseki of the family M.O. became the head of in 1951

Takarazuka city where she grew up. We could fnd the names of fve schools established more than 100 years ago. Two of them, Nishitani and Ryogen elementary schools, have published an anniversary booklet with the list of graduates; however, we could not fnd her name on the lists. After M.O. graduated from elementary school, she helped her family with the housekeeping and Japanese dressmaking.

In 1919, when she was 21 years old, she married Yukio Okawa, who ran a rubber manufacturing company in Kobe city, Hyogo prefecture. He was successful in his business. They had three children: two daughters who were born in 1921 and 1926, and a son who was born in 1923. Their children's dates of birth were confrmed on the second and third pages of M.O.'s **KOSEKI** (Figure not shown). However, we could not confrm her date of marriage or the date of her husband's death because this information was recorded in the **KOSEKI** of her husband. M.O.'s husband was quite a modern man. He enjoyed drinking a cup of coffee and eating bread on Sundays, which was uncommon in those days. She loved the modern life style, and actively learned how to cook a variety of dishes, such as Chinese dishes and beefsteak. Her son remembers that the family used to go out to Chinatown in Kobe to eat Chinese food, and that his mother often asked the restaurant staff for their Chinese recipes. He also remembers seeing Chinese men with the queue hairstyle working in Chinatown during that period. In 1931, M.O.'s husband died of heart disease. Two years later, she went back to her parents' house in Sumiyoshi ward in Osaka city with her children. M.O. brought them up with help from her older sister, while running the transportation company.

Kansai region, where M.O. lived in the early 1990s, was the birthplace of popular culture in Japan because Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto functioned as important centers of business and transportation. After the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 damaged Tokyo and the surrounding areas, many displaced people moved into Osaka city, making it the largest city in Japan. Private railway networks were established in Osaka in the late 1920s and the early 1930s – before such networks came to Tokyo. We assume that one of the reasons M.O.'s family moved from the center of Osaka city to Takarazuka city was the development of these railway networks. Railway lines connecting Osaka and Takarazuka started providing transportation services in 1897, or 1 year before M.O. was born. Moreover, Takarazuka city was the birthplace of the Takarazuka Revue, a famous act with an all-female cast that was started in 1914, and is still being performed today (http://kageki.hankyu.co.jp/ english/index.html). M.O.'s son recalls that she took her children from Kobe to watch the revue. It thus appears that M.O. enjoyed a modern city life as a member of a wealthy family.

We could not obtain information about M.O.s life in her forties, which coincided with WWII. In 1951, when she was 53 years old, M.O. established a new **KOSEKI**, which included her children (Fig. 21.5). According to this document, the registered address was changed from Fukiai ward in Kobe to Abeno ward in Osaka on April 13, 1951. This means that M.O. had been a member of husband's family for about 20 years after he died. We believe that the marriage of her second daughter in 1951 was the reason for the establishment of her new **KOSEKI**. M.O.'s frst daughter and her son married in 1953 and 1956, respectively. After her frst daughter's marriage, M.O. lived with her son, and later with his wife and children at the same place until she moved to a special nursing home in 1996.

According to her granddaughter, M.O. enjoyed watching professional wrestling, which was very popular on Japanese television in the 1970s. Although she underwent left femoral replacement surgery when she was 83 years old, she could still wear a kimono and walk by herself using a walking stick. Figure 21.6 shows a photo that was taken when M.O. was 98 years old. The occasion was a family reunion marking the renovation of her house in 1996. One year before this photo was taken,

**Fig. 21.6** M.O. at the age of 98 years surrounded by her family members at home

M.O. had a fall accident and underwent surgery to repair a femoral fracture. After this photo was taken, she started complaining of unbearable generalized pain and lost her appetite. Soon after, she was hospitalized. "She was on the verge of death," her son recalled. Miraculously, she was released from the pain through a single injection to her hip at the pain clinic. Although M.O. recovered from this acute condition, the experience led her 74-year-old son and his wife to reconsider taking care of M.O. at home.

On January 1, 1997, at the age of 98, M.O. moved to a special nursing home for older adults, where she stayed until her fnal days. Although she used a walking stick, she still wore a kimono and walked by herself. She had no major diseases and no symptoms of dementia at that time. Her only complaint was occasional constipation. The basic activities of daily living (BADLs) she was still able to perform were suffcient to allow her to take care of herself as a nursing home resident. At that time, her doctor commented in her care facility record: "I envy her health condition."

According to reports, M.O. had a strong will and retained her curiosity even after reaching the age of 100. At the age 102, she fractured her femur again when she was dancing at the Bon Festival. After leaving the hospital, she voluntarily underwent rehabilitation and regained her walking ability. She continued to knit until she was around 105 years old. When she was 109 years old, she walked a 70-meter-long corridor 10–20 times per day using a walking stick or pushing a wheelchair by herself.

On August 1, 2013, M.O. became the world's longest-living person. At that point, she started getting media attention. She told reporters that she did not pay special attention to her health, and had not been living a healthy lifestyle.  However, she also told the media that having a good appetite and being easygoing are the secrets to longevity. Her hobby was making and designing new styles of kimono. She was cheerful, social, and optimistic. She always responded in interviews with cheerful comments. One of the authors (Y.G.) visited M.O. as she was being interviewed by a newspaper on May 13, 2013. At that time, she was severely demented, and it was diffcult to communicate with her. But when Y.G. asked her whether she was happy, she replied "So-so happy." When he asked her, "Will I also become happy if I imitate your lifestyle?" she answered, "It will not go as smoothly as you think." On March 5, 2015, M.O. became the frst Japanese person to reach the age of 117. She passed away on April 1, 2015, at the age of 117 and 27 days.

To verify her age, we were only able to obtain a few government registry-related documents (**KOSEKI** and **JYUMIN-KIHON-DAICH** and **ZENKOKU KOUREISHA MEIBO**). However, we found no inconsistencies among the testimonies provided by her relatives or herself. It is important to note that two of her children are still alive. M.O.'s frst daughter was 95 years old and her son was 93 years old when she died. Her long-living children may be the best evidence that M.O. had a very long life. Based on the multiple sources of information about M.O.'s life we have described in this article, we can conclude that she was the frst Japanese person to reach the age of 117.

#### *21.2.3 CASE 3: Chiyo Miyako (C.M)*

As the fnal case, we introduce C.M., who participated in both the Tokyo centenarian study (Gondo et al. 2006) and the Japanese semi-supercentenarian study (Arai et al. 2014). She is the last survivor among the participants. She became the longestliving person in Japan on April 21, 2018.

#### **<IP_ADDRESS> Description of Age Verifcation Sources**

We collected information on C.M. from her **KOSEKI** (Fig. 21.7), the **JUMIN-KIHON-DAICHO**, and the **ZENKOKU KOUREISHA MEIBO**. Her name was on the residential list Minato ward provided us with when we were preparing invitations to prospective participants in the Tokyo centenarian study in 1999. Moreover, C.M.'s life history was published as a chapter of the centenarian life study book HYAKUSAI HYAKUWA (Centenarian research group, 2003); which in English means "a hundred stories from centenarians." We have checked the consistency and accuracy of her stories by comparing them with actual historical events. She is now living in a nursing home, which her grandson is managing.

**Fig. 21.7** Zenbu Kisai Shomei of C.M. A computerized Koseki

#### **<IP_ADDRESS> The Life History of C.M**

C.M. was born on May 2, 1901, in Yuasa town in Wakayama prefecture, which is famous for growing mandarin oranges. Her parents owned a wholesale paper store. She was born as the fourth of fve children, but she grew up as a frst child of her parents because her older siblings all died at early ages. She had one younger brother. When she was younger, she enjoyed her lessons at school, except for physical education. After fnishing elementary school, she attended a school for girls in Wakayama prefecture. After graduating from the girls' school, she pursued further education at the telegraph school in Osaka. While she was studying in Osaka, she met a tall, nice-looking man named Katsuji Miyako in her apartment building. They got along well, and soon fell in love. When C.M. wrote a letter to her suitor, he responded by writing her two or three letters. He had a reputation for being fashionable, and was said to have been as handsome as an American movie star. Mr. Miyako was a student at Kyoto University, which is one of the most prestigious universities in Japan. Because of his status as a student, the couple had a family wedding without publically announcing their marriage. Interestingly, the story of the marriage has changed over time. The abovementioned story was told by C.M. during an interview in 2016 involving one of the authors (N.H.). However, when the author (Y.M.) had interviewed C.M. for the centenarians' story book in 2002, she said that her wedding was arranged by her parents, and that she and her husband were not romantically attracted to each other at the beginning of their marriage. We believe that the couple actually fell in love, but that C.M. had been embarrassed to tell us the real story the frst time because a love-based marriage was not common for her generation.  We should also add that the couple appear to have had a happy

**Fig. 21.8** C.M. and her husband in their newly married days

marriage. According to C.M., "It was a good match and we had a wonderful marital life."

After marrying, C.M. started working as an operator at the Central Telecommunications Bureau located in Osaka. In those days, not many women participated in the labor force. In fact, she was the only female employee in her branch. Meanwhile, her husband was employed by the Ministry of Railways, and had to undertake many overseas business trips to perform inspections. The longest separation the couple experienced was when Mr. Miyako was overseas for 2 years as part of his education. Soon after he returned to Japan, the couple started having children: a son was born in 1922, and a daughter was born in 1927. Because of Mr. Miyako's job, the family relocated a few times. For C.M., Beijing was the most memorable place. One year after moving to Beijing, World War II ended, and C.M. and her family had to leave the city immediately. Although they had only a small amount of baggage, it was stolen, and they lost all of their belongings, including their clothes, their jewelry, and their family photos. Her husband, who was fuent in English and Chinese, succeeded in negotiating for the family passage on a ship going back to Japan. Recalling this trip, C.M. said, "I was so afraid that I would not return to Japan until I saw the land of Japan." She also remembered that on the ship "the food was dried cod and water. That was it. … Soon after we landed in Japan, we had a bowl of rice, miso soup and pickles. It was delicious. I still remember that taste." Because of this experience, she has lost all of the photos and other important forms of evidence that could confrm her earlier life events (Fig. 21.9).

The family started their new life in Tokyo. The housing provided by the Ministry of Railways had vegetable gardens. C.M. and other residents of the housing estate cultivated vegetables, such as potatoes and eggplants, to supplement their food supplies. However, people outside of the estate often stole these vegetables because people were struggling to survive under severe food shortages.

C.M.'s husband passed away in 1951 at the age of 55. C.M. and her children then moved into her parents' home. Her son went to Tokyo University, and later received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. He became a professor at Toyo University, but passed away at the age of 52 in 1974. We found a book about civil engineering technology that he had published in 1975. C.M.'s daughter's life was also shorter than expected. She died in 1984 at the age of 57.

After the loss of her two beloved children, C.M. lived with one of her grandchildren. She eventually decided to move into a nursing facility, but then came home after failing to adapt to the environment. At the age of 97, she moved to a nursing home again. She participated in the Tokyo centenarian study on July 8th, 2001, when she was 100 years old. At our frst visit, she did not need care from others, despite living in a nursing home. Able to move around well with a cane, C.M. was very active, and enjoyed writing haiku poetry and doing calligraphy. She also participated in an intelligence assessment (Fig. 21.8) (Inagaki and Gondo 2003). Compared to other 100-year-old participants, her score was very high, especially for the fuid dimension of intelligence. She was also careful with her diet. Her everyday routine was to drink two liters of water and a half glass of wine, and to eat a lot of fruit. Speaking of her current life, she said, "I am not lonely at all. I do not know

**Fig. 21.9** C.M. was taking an intelligence test on September 23, 2001, at age 100

when I will die, but I am always looking forward to seeing my future." She reported that even as a child she was known for being kind and having a strong will. At the age of 102, she still had a strong will. She said, "I always do the things I want to try. I feel uncomfortable if I do not fnish the things I started."

On June 10, 2006, she participated in the Japanese semi-supercentenarian study. At that time, she was living in the same nursing home. Although many residents of her nursing home had developed dementia, she was able to build good relationships with other residents. After her initial participation, we called the nursing home periodically because we would like her to remain involved in our study; however, we lost contact because she relocated. In 2011, we found out that she moved to a nursing home in Yokohama city. We tried to contact her via the Yokohama city government, but we could not reach her.

In the fall of 2015, we found information about C.M. in an article published in Anti-Aging Medicine (Shirasawa 2015). She was interviewed by a famous medical doctor studying longevity. Soon after, on December 5, 2015, she became the secondlongest-living person after Nabi Tajima. We again sent her a letter inviting her to participate in our study, and she agreed. At that point we had heard that she was in good health, was having conversations with people, and was doing calligraphy. However, we had to postpone a planned visit after she fell ill.

When one of the authors (N.H.) visited her on May 10, 2016, she was still hospitalized. Her health condition was so serious that we could not communicate with her. He visited her again on October 25, 2016, when she was recovering from a serious condition. At that time, she was wide awake and able to communicate with N.H. He heard that she was experiencing a 3-day cycle in which she was active on the frst day, less active on the second day, and asleep for many hours on the third day. Although she had lost both legs because of arteriosclerosis and she was using a gastrostomy-feeding tube, she said that she wanted to go back to the telegraph station to work once she recovered.

#### **21.3 Summary**

The aim of this chapter was to present the life histories of three Japanese supercentenarians who reached the age of 115 years, and to explain the methods we used to verify their ages. Three cases were described. We were able to collect a large number of offcial and non-offcial documents for J.K., but less information for M.O. and C.M. The availability of documents for the age verifcation of centenarians depends on three conditions: whether the person moved away from his/her birthplace, whether the person lived in a rural or an urban area, and whether the person is a man or a woman.

As we described above, M.O. and C.M. had moved away from their birthplace, married into their partner's family, relocated several times, and lived in the downtowns of big cities. Frequent changes of status can make tracing the life of an individual diffcult, and may cause the records of individuals to be switched (Wilmoth and Lundstrom 1996). In Japan, women tend to move their **KOSEKI** from their original family to their husband's family (C.M. and, presumably, M.O did this for a period of time), or they establish a new **KOSEKI** for some reason (M.O.). After a woman has moved her **KOSEKI** from her original family to her new family, it generally becomes unimportant to her and to her offspring, except if they are involved in a court case to negotiate property succession. Therefore, the woman and her children and grandchildren tend to lose interest in their origins, and gradually disconnect from their original family members. In such cases, the offspring of a woman centenarian may not be able to access the original **KOSEKI** that contains information about the woman's parents and siblings.

As this chapter has shown, these kinds of diffculties have arisen in our survey. In addition, having lived in big cities (C.M. and M.O.) or having been repatriated after WWII (C. M.) increases the risk that a centenarian will have lost important documents needed to prove his/her identity. In these cases, it is diffcult to fnd evidence to verify the person's age. Various kinds of interference can have a negative impact on the age verifcation process in Japan. The case of J.K. is exceptional for being

affected by none of these interfering factors. Although the resources available for age verifcation differ across cases, the reported ages of the individuals profled in this chapter were found to be accurate. We could show consistency in their life histories based on the testimonies of the centenarian themselves, their relatives, their care workers, media reports, and offcial documents.

Finally, we should mention the importance of taking into account changes in the testimonies made by a single individual, and discrepancies in the evidence provided in other testimonies and records. In the case of M.O., two different stories were told about the elementary school she attended: one source (the nursing home record) reported that she went to elementary school in the Temma area where she was born; while another source (testimony by her son) reported that she went to school in Takarazuka city where she grew up. We selected the latter report because M.O. herself mentioned that she attended elementary school in Takarazuka, and because her son recalled that M.O. pointed out the house she used to live in as a child when visting Takarazuka with her family to watch the Takarazuka Revue. In the case of C.M., her account of her marriage changed between interviews that took place 14 years apart. Even in the case of J.K., he said he believed that the earlier date of birth was the correct one.

When verifying the age of an extremely old person, the careful examination of the centenarian's life history by double- or even triple-checking the evidence is essential. Consequently, to verify the age of a supercentenarian, it is necessary to check both face validity, which involves confrming the plausibility of an individual's life history based on offcial and non-offcial documents; and concurrent validity, which entails checking the identity of the target individual by cross-referencing life episodes told by the individual with historical or offcial records (Gondo et.al. 2017).

#### **References**

**Open Access** This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

## **Chapter 22 Age 115+ in the USA: An Update**

**Robert Young and Waclaw Jan Kroczek**

## **22.1 Validated Cases: Updated Since 2010**

This section updates the last "Americans 115+" chapter on cases validated since the previous chapter went to publication. For "validated" cases, we begin with the same standards that were used in the frst book chapter, and similar to those used in the SSA study: original proof of birth issued within 20 years of the birth event; proof of survival to 115+; and intervening life documents that show that the person in the death record is the same as the person in the original birth record. Note that, going beyond the mere "three-document" check of a case for age 110, for cases 115+, an additional level of scrutiny is performed, locating the person within the context of their family, and fnding as many intervening life documents as is practical (Poulain, 2010). For the purposes of this section, in order to make it easier to follow, we will discuss the individual new US validated Gerontology Research Group (hereinafter GRG) cases in chronological order by birth, not the order in which the cases were validated in real time.

#### *22.1.1 Augusta Holtz (1871–1986)*

U.S. news reports in the 1980s touted a German-born Missouri woman as possibly the world's oldest person. Ms. Holtz was said to be 114 years old at the time. However, the family could not locate the initial birth record, and so Guinness World Records (hereinafter GWR) at the time gave the title to a younger person aged 112. Many years later, new evidence has emerged that indicates that Augusta Holtz may have been the frst person in documented history to have reached age 115.

R. Young (\*) · W. J. Kroczek

Gerontology Research Group, Los Angeles, CA, USA

H. Maier et al. (eds.), *Exceptional Lifespans*, Demographic Research Monographs, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49970-9\_22

Augusta Holtz was born in Germany, Posen province (an area now part of Poland) as Augusta Louise Hoppe, on Aug. 3, 1871. The town of her birth was Czarnikau (now Czarnków). Augusta was the daughter of Michael and Wilhelmine Hoppe (nee Quade). Two years later, the Hoppe family migrated to the United States and settled on a farm near Troy, Illinois. In her later years, Ms. Holtz mentioned her earliest memories being the U.S. Centennial in 1876 and pioneers in ox-drawn covered wagons stopping at her father's farm for water as they travelled westward. On Apr. 17, 1900, Augusta Hoppe married Edward Holtz in Madison, Illinois. Thereafter, the couple moved to Missouri. They had four children: Edward, Hester, Gertrude, and Augustus. Edward Holtz died in 1922. Ms. Holtz moved to St. Sophia Geriatric Center in Florissant, Missouri at age 109. On her 114th birthday, she was reported as still mentally alert but also confned to bed and having failing eyesight and hearing. One year later, she reached her 115th birthday, possibly becoming the frst validated person in history to do so (the next validated person after Ms. Holtz to reach this age was Jeanne Calment, who turned 115 in 1990). The Holtz family had initially applied to Guinness World Records, but her original proof of birth was not located then. Having been born in the German Empire in a province that later became part of Poland, fnding the original proof of birth was not an easy task1 . Ms. Holtz died 79 days later, having not attained Guinness World Records recognition at the time. The original proof of birth remained unlocated.

About 15 years later, the Augusta Holtz case was included in the SSA Study "group 2" cases (neither validated nor invalidated), indicating that the original proof of birth had still not been located. But the SSA Study records left mid-life documents as clues, such as the names of her parents from the SS-5 (application for a social security number numident fle). An application for a Social Security Number Numident fle has unique identifying information for the individual such as birthdate, place of birth, and the names of parents (death dates were often added later as most Social Security applicants in the 1950s were alive at the time of application). Verifying overseas births at the time was more diffcult, as many records of birth were not yet computerized.

In this case, we already knew that we had proof of death [the National Death Index (NDI) from the Social Security Administration Supercentenarian Study] and an intervening mid-life document that identifed the names of her parents, Michael Hoppe and Wilhelmina Quade. We also knew that this woman's story stayed the same throughout her life course, and the Social Security Record listed her as born Aug. 3, 1871 and dying Oct. 21, 1986. All that was needed, then, was to fnd the original proof of birth from Germany. This was located in April 2012 by GRG-Germany researcher Stefan Jamin: an 1871 German baptismal record, recording Augusta's birth and matching the parental information in the much-later SSA Study records. Also located by Stefan Jamin was an 1873 immigration document. Gabriel Ainsworth helped fnding census matches.

<sup>1</sup> In 1985, the Iron Curtain has not yet fallen, so East German and Polish records were not then accessible to the West.

**Table 22.1** Augusta Holtz document summary

a Lower age documented

b Higher age documented

Documents supporting the Augusta Holtz case include the 1871 German Christening index; US 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, and 1940 censuses; the SS-5 (Numident) fle; the SSDI; the newspaper reports; and the gravestone. Only the 1873 immigration record, which recorded her as age "1" (and thus would suggest a birthdate in 1872), clearly disagreed (the 1900 marriage record suggests birth in 1870, but might have been rounded up) (see Table 22.1, Augusta Holtz document summary, below):

With the oldest document written in 1871, it would be virtually impossible for Augusta Holtz to have been younger, unless a hypothetical younger sibling of the exact same name was also born in 1872. But so far, no evidence to support this has been detected. Moreover, additional case research in Poland in 2017 by GRG-Poland correspondent and paper co-author Waclaw Jan Kroczek further narrowed the possibility of identity-switching. Waclaw's research on Augusta Holtz's siblings basically ruled out this scenario: the discovery of the birth records of Augusta Holtz's siblings. It was established that Bertha Marie Hoppe was born on Feb. 24, 1867 and Emma Pauline Hoppe on July 1, 1869 (see Box 22.1). This piece of information is very important as it suggests that Augusta's older sisters' ages in the immigration record were also underestimated; namely, Bertha's age as "5" and Emma's as "2". According to the birth record, their ages should have been recorded as, respectively, "6" and "4" as of December 1873. Likewise, Augusta's age seems to have been underreported as "11 months" instead of "2" years old. Meanwhile, no documents for a potential second sibling of the same name were located. Given the timeframe of just one year open between the 1871 birth (9 months after August 1871 is mid-1872) and the 1873 migration, the document period is short. No infant death record was located for this period, either. Finally, Augusta did have one additional older sibling (Paul died at birth in 1870) and one younger sibling (Louise) but she was born in the USA, after the migration…which already records Augusta. Thus, Louise cannot be Augusta.

**Box 22.1 Family Tree2 of Augusta Holtz Parents (Married Apr. 15, 1866)** Michael HOPPE (Sept. 3, 1838 – Aug. 11, 1918) (79 years old)

Wilhelmina Henrietta QUADE HOPPE (Dec 11, 1831 – Dec 19, 1922) (91 years old)

#### **Siblings**

#### **Spouse (married Apr. 17, 1900)**

• John Edward HOLTZ (Mar. 6, 1873 – Mar. 6, 1922) (49 years old)

#### **Children**

The vast majority of the evidence supports 1871 (including the oldest record, from 1871) and this case as "validated". There is only a very small hypothetical window whereby another child of the same name could have been born in this case (1872), and this wasn't located (although absence of proof doesn't completely rule this option out, hypothetically, a checking of the books virtually does). This isn't a case of missing documents or having gaps in the record. We should also note that Augusta was recorded in the June 1900 census as having been born in August 1871. The 1910, 1920, 1930, and 1940 censuses also support this. Augusta Holtz's identifed year of birth has been consistent with just one exception, a document whose age reporting has already been shown to be unreliable. Considering the weight of the evidence, and that this case is a proof of birth case, not a validation by proxy case, it seems reasonable, based on the evidence, to conclude that Augusta Holtz reached the age of 115 years in 1986 and was the frst validated person to do so, so far known, based on the research currently available.

The Augusta Holtz case changed history. Augusta Holtz became the oldest validated German-born person in history, displacing Charlotte Benkner, 114 (and that

<sup>2</sup>All family tree dates listed are birth/death dates unless otherwise indicated. These family trees were reconstructed with the assistance of genealogy websites and, in some cases, family input. Information in these family trees is meant to provide context for the birth, growth, life, and death of the supercentenarian claimant. Information as provided in these trees varies in reliability depending upon the sources used…with primary documents closer to the birth events being more reliable than later census approximations or mid-to-late life claims.

makes Germany's two oldest persons on record emigrants to the USA).3 More importantly, Augusta Holtz was the frst validated person to reach age 115, displacing Jeanne Calment (who reached age 115 in 1990) and moving back the start of validated 115+ cases four years. Yet, from a larger perspective, Augusta Holtz's case only moves the highest datapoint in the 1980s marginally higher, as age 114 had been achieved already by 1985, according to International Database on Longevity (hereinafter IDL) data.

#### *22.1.2 Edna Parker (1893–2008)*

Edna Parker was born as Edna Scott in Morgan, Indiana, on Apr. 20, 1893. She was the daughter of Frank and Mary Eads Scott. In the early 1890s, the family moved to Johnson, Indiana.  Edna taught in a two-room school in the Shelby County town of Smithland for a short time until she married her childhood friend, James Earl Parker, on Apr. 12, 1913. The marriage took place in Shelby, Indiana. That same year she graduated from Franklin College with a degree in education. But as was the tradition of that era, her teaching career ended with her marriage. She began the arduous life of a farm wife, preparing meals for as many as 12 persons who worked on her husband's farm. She had two sons: Clifford and Earl, Jr. Edna Parker was widowed in 1939. Thereafter, she outlived both her sons. On her 113th birthday, Edna Parker said that the biggest difference between the present times and a century ago was that people had been more friendly then and worked together more.

The Edna Parker case was validated in 2005, and that validation process included locating her in census matches, as well as reviewing documents sent in by the family. The family said that Edna herself was an extraordinary woman: she was said by family to have shoveled snow off her roof at age 100. Having spent her entire life in the same Indiana area, within the family and location context, it was an easy case to verify.

Below, please fnd Table 22.2, a summary of public documents for this case:

From the above family tree information, there's little room for uncertainty. An older sibling, Opal, was born in 1892; a younger sibling, Harry, was born in 1895 (see Box 22.2). An 1894 birth would be unlikely, although not impossible. The 1900 census clearly identifes Edna as 7 years old, born in April 1893. Later documents are all consistent: Edna was born in April 1893.

Note that, in addition to the public documents, the GRG also has documents from the family, such as a "recent ID". With the strong family connection, the possibility of identity-switching is minimized. What is clear from the evidence trail is that we have a relatively strong proxy proof of birth (the 1900 census was written

<sup>3</sup>Germany's third-oldest person on record, Adelheid Kirschbaum, 113, was also an emigrant to the USA. This migration pattern strongly suggests that Germany's lack of anyone 113+ in Germany itself may have had to do with Germany's twentieth-century history (including WWI, WWII, and the interwar and postwar periods). Persons born in Germany that migrated to the safer haven of the USA achieved age 113+ at least three times, compared to none for Germany itself from that same time frame.

**Table 22.2** Edna Parker document summary

a Lower age documented

b Higher age documented

#### **Box 22.2 Family Tree of Edna Parker Parents**

• Frank SCOTT (Apr. 29, 1872 – May 23, 1944) (72 years old) Mary EADES SCOTT (June 2, 1872 – July 16, 1925) (53 years old)

#### **Siblings**

#### **Spouse (married Apr. 12, 1913)**

• Earl PARKER (Nov. 24, 1884 – Feb. 23, 1939) (54 years old)

#### **Children**

7 years after the birth event), a consistent year of birth4 , and strong evidence (including the marriage certifcate) that ties the identity of the person in the 1900 and other census records (the 1930 and 1940 censuses were as of April 1), with the woman who died in 2008, as well as the family records. In short, Edna Parker was validated to be 115 years old, with a large set of consistent documents over her life course, and this case presents little room for doubt.

<sup>4</sup>The 1930 and 1940 censuses were supposed to give Edna's age "as of" April 1, so the ages given were technically correct, preceding her next birthday by 5 days.

#### *22.1.3 Gertrude Baines (1894–2009)*

Gertrude Baines was born in Shellman, Georgia on Apr. 6, 1894 as the third daughter of Jordan Baines and Amelia Daniel. According to the family stories, she married Sam Conley at a young age and had a daughter named Annabelle, who was said born in 1909. The family moved to Hartford, Connecticut and resided there for some time. Gertrude's daughter died of typhoid fever at the age of 18 and Gertrude and Sam separated thereafter. Gertrude resumed her maiden name Baines. She later relocated to Ohio, where she worked as a dormitory housekeeper at Ohio State University in the 1940s, before retiring and moving to California many years later. She lived on her own until 1999, when she was 105 years old, and later moved to Western Convalescent Home in Jefferson Park, Los Angeles. In the 2008 U.S. presidential election, at age 114, Gertrude Baines voted for Barack Obama, becoming perhaps the oldest person to vote all-time.5 Gertrude Baines died in Los Angeles, California, on Sept. 11, 2009, aged 115 years and 158 days.

Gertrude Baines was only "discovered" by the media at age 112. Having previously gone unnoticed and appearing to be in remarkably good health, Robert (who met Gertrude Baines in person, twice) was initially skeptical whether her age claim was correct. This was a woman who had no close family with her, and so offered a bit of a mystery when it came to identifcation. She did have social security records supporting her age claim (which are mid-life to recent documents), but no birth record or early-life document initially. Yet, even at 114, when Robert frst met her, she was a still-lucid woman. Her recall of her own past history (including that she had once worked at the dormitory at Ohio State University) helped establish the parameters for the documents check. It should be noted that, at the time, Gertrude was not aware of many of the documents that were later found and that helped to confrm her claimed date of birth of April 6, 1894, including the 1900 census, which listed her as born in April 1894 and confrmed her age. After the 1900 census and accompanying mid-life documents from Ohio from the 1940s surfaced, it was clear that her story checked out. Later, at her 115th birthday party, Ms. Baines offered a wonderful juxtaposition of society: she, at 115, an African American daughter of an ex-slave, was photographed by then-25-year-old celebrity photographer and LGBT rights activist, Adam Bouska.6 While Ms. Baines's 114th birthday article said that "she made 114 look easy"7 , it was clear that, by age 115, she was starting to fade physically and mentally. She passed away fve months later, in Sept. 2009, at the age of 115.8 Ms. Baines was the last validated person from the year 1894.

Table 22.3 lays out a summary of the documents for this case:

<sup>5</sup>LA Times video by Sachi Cunningham shows Gertrude Baines, 114, voting for US President in Nov 2008: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMOYHpA3C08 (accessed Sept. 20, 2016).

<sup>6</sup>Photo by Robert Young shows Adam Bouska, 25, with Gertrude Baines, 115. http://www.bouska. net/?blog\_id=267 (accessed Sept. 21, 2016).

<sup>7</sup> http://articles.latimes.com/2008/apr/07/local/me-baines7 (accessed Sept. 21, 2016).

<sup>8</sup> http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-gertrude-baines12-2009sep12-story.html (accessed Sept. 21, 2016).

**Table 22.3** Gertrude Baines document summary

a Lower age documented

b Higher age documented

In Gertrude's case, the evidence is inconsistent and appears to both overstate and understate Ms. Baines's age. The 1910 census overstated Gertrude's age as "20", as she was 15 (almost 16), married, with an infant child (it was common for young mothers to add a few years when young). Later, in mid-life, Gertrude's census age is understated, at a time when it was culturally acceptable for women in their midyears to understate their age. However, signifcantly, both the oldest document (the 1900 census) and the social security records match for the year of birth, month of birth, and the names of the parents. The 1940 census age can be discarded, as "39" would make Gertrude younger than the oldest document. Also, the context of the 1900 census record needs to be considered: we have an age given (6); a year and month of birth given (April 1894); and we have a younger sibling listed as born in May 1895, which would make it very unlikely that Gertrude were born later than 1894. While this case may not pass the strongest possible skepticism (for example, some may claim a remote possibility that the Gertrude who died in Los Angeles in 2009 was not the one who was born in 1894, but was an impostor or younger sibling), the fact that she was able to recall events that only later were checked out and found to be correct makes that very unlikely. Ms. Baines also gave birth to her only child, Annabelle, circa 1910,9 which would have made her about 15 years old at the time, leaving not much room for age infation. Also, the names of Ms. Baines's parents were not common (Jordan and Ammie; see Box 22.3), making the census match very likely to be true. Finally, the 1910 census listing for Jordan and "Amy" Baines listed only two children: Ada, "20", and Ister, 13 (Gertrude had already moved out and gotten married). While the ages of the children are again off by a bit (Ada should be "18" and Ister should be "14"), what we can confrm is that no additional children are listed. Had there been a later child listed, it could have raised the possibility of "sibling switching", but by 1910 Jordan and Amy "Ammie" Baines had stopped having children for over a decade. In short, in evaluating the Gertrude Baines case, the early-life 1900 census substitution matches well with the mid-life and late-life data and provides strong evidence (listing Gertrude's year and month

<sup>9</sup>The 1920 census lists Gertrude's daughter Annabelle as age 10 (suggesting birth in January 1910 or 1909). However, the April 1910 census does not list a child living with Gertrude and her husband Sam, suggesting that Annabelle was not born yet. Hence, the most likely approximation of her daughter's age would have her born in mid-1910. (added Apr. 16, 2018).

```
Box 22.3 Family Tree of Gertrude Baines
Parents:
• Jordan Baines (Apr. 1863)
Ammie Baines (Oct. 1867)
  Siblings:
1. Fannie Baines (Mar. 1887)
2. Ada Baines (Nov. 1891)
3. Gertrude Baines (Apr. 1894 – Sept. 11, 2009) (115 years old)
4. Ister Baines (May 1895)
Spouse:
• Sam Conley (divorced)
  Children:
1. Annabelle Conley (1910–1928)
```
of birth as well as age), with only a short six-year gap between the birth event and the recording of age. While not the most solidly-validated case, we have original proof of birth, mid-life records including work records from Ohio State, a family tree check, and late-life ID documents. We feel that the evidence is suffcient to conclude that the person who passed away in 2009 was the one who was born in 1894.

#### *22.1.4 Besse Cooper (1896–2012)*

Besse Cooper was born as Besse Berry Brown in Sullivan, Tennessee, on Aug. 26, 1896, the third of eight children born to Richard Brown (1861–1932) and Angeline Berry (1866–1927). In 1916, she graduated from the East Tennessee State Normal School. She worked as a teacher in Tennessee before moving to Georgia in 1917. In 1922, Besse Brown married Luther Cooper. The couple had four children: Angie, Luther, Sidney, and Nancy. Luther (the father) died in 1963. Thereafter, Besse Cooper lived alone until 2001, when she moved to a nursing home.

One of us (Robert Young) frst met Besse Cooper when she was 111, as part of a Georgia State University (GSU) student oral history project (this helps to establish identity by connecting the person alive at 111 with their memories of the past). At the time, she was in remarkable shape, as can be attested to in her oral history recordings.10 At 111, Ms. Cooper was able to read books. At her 113th birthday

<sup>10</sup> http://www.100wisdom.com/Super-Centenarians/ (accessed Sept. 21, 2016).

party, Besse tended house like a family matriarch, giving a 30-minute speech before a room of family, friends, and invited guests.

Over the course of fve years, Robert had gotten to know Besse Cooper's family, especially her son, Sidney, and grandson, Paul. They assisted in documenting Ms. Cooper's life (she still had a teaching certifcate from 1911, when she graduated at 15) and also flling in the stories that Ms. Cooper herself might not have told—such as their saying that she chopped down a tree for Christmas at 86. She lived on her own until 105. But Ms. Cooper herself also reminded people that she sailed down the Tennessee River in 1899 with her dad, at age three. Besse may have been the last living person with frm memories of the 1800s.

Besse Cooper appeared to still be in good shape when she suddenly got caught up in the "worst fu outbreak in Georgia in a decade," while a norovirus outbreak was also occurring. Over 100 nursing home residents were taken ill, including Ms. Cooper's grandson.  On her last day, she had her hair done and watched a movie before breathing issues led to her death on Dec. 4, 2016.

Regarding Besse Cooper's age, the evidence for her age built up over time. At 109, she was a participant in the Georgia Centenarian Study when she came to Robert's attention. Among the documents located were the 1900 census, listing her as age "3" and born Aug 1896 in June 1900. This document, and the following census and other documents in Table 22.4, support Besse's age also (see below):

Besse had four children between 1929 and 1944…the last at age 48! Having a natural child at age 48 may be a sign that Ms. Cooper was in better health than most—a slower-aging individual. In some instances, a relatively high generation gap can raise suspicions, but we frstly have an explanation (Ms. Cooper delayed child-bearing due to being a teacher early in life) and the documentation and life history for Ms. Cooper is too solid for this to raise any unaddressed concerns. See Box 22.4, below, for family history details.

From the family tree information, a skeptic would also note that there is a large gap between the birth of Besse (the third child) and Edward (the fourth child). One reason for this gap is that the family moved from Tennessee to Georgia in 1899. As Ms. Cooper stated, long before becoming the Guinness "oldest living person", that

**Table 22.4** Besse Cooper document summary

a Lower age documented

b Higher age documented

#### **Box 22.4 Family Tree of Besse Cooper Parents**

• Richard Kitzmiller BROWN (May 16, 1861 – Jan. 20, 1932) (70 years old) Barsheba Angeline "Angie" BERRY BROWN (Oct. 27, 1866 - Jan. 9, 1927) (50 years old)

#### **Siblings**

#### **Spouse**

• Luther Harris COOPER (Apr. 1, 1895 – Dec. 11, 1963) (68 years old)

#### **Children**

she remembered sailing down the Tennessee River in 1899, and for someone to remember indicates that they must have been two or older, Ms. Cooper's story fts the evidence well. From the census and social security information, we can see that every document supports "1896" (and not one document contradicts 1896, although the marriage record does not state an age); there is strong proof of identity from parental and sibling matches; the marriage record attests to the name change; the recent news reports, SSDI record, and the gravestone records all match. While, hypothetically, one could argue that the 1900 census is a refected memory and Besse might have been a year younger, there's no evidence to support a younger age. One of the best-documented US 115+ cases, there's little reason to doubt that Ms. Cooper was 116 years old when she passed away in 2012. We thus concluded that she was 116.

#### *22.1.5 Dina Manfredini (1897–2012)*

Dina Manfredini was born as Dina Guerri, the daughter of Carlo Guerri and Maria Manfredini, in Pievepelago in the Province of Modena in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna in the northern Apennine Mountains, on Apr. 4, 1897. Dina had two sisters (Lucia and Esterina) and a brother, Angelo. Dina Guerri married Riccardo Manfredini (1885–1965) in Oct. 1920 and came to the USA late in the same year (Dec. 22, 1920), sailing from Le Havre, France to New York City for their transatlantic voyage to the USA. The couple settled in Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa and had four children: Mary Russo (born Aug. 17, 1921), Dante (a WWII veteran) (Nov. 4, 1922–Nov 2016), Rudolph (a WWII veteran) (May 2, 1924–Jan. 15, 1997) and Enes (born May 26, 1928). Riccardo passed away in 1965, age 79. Dina was primarily a mother and homemaker, but later cleaned houses until the age of 90. Dina Manfredini lived independently until the age of 110 and later moved to a nursing home in Johnston, Iowa.

An inspection of the records for this case is essential due in part to Ms. Manfredini being initially reported in the Iowa media as born May 4, 1897, and with Jiroemon Kimura of Japan being born Apr. 19, 1897, a one-month discrepancy would have been enough to deny Dina the Guinness "world's oldest person" title11. Yet a closer look at the documents, including the original Italian record of birth, confrms that Dina was, indeed, born Apr. 4, 1897. What quickly became clear was that the "April 4" birthdate was supported by multiple sources, including the original birth registration. The "May 4" birthdate may have been a reporting error by the Iowa department of Elder Affairs. The other documents all supported "April 4, 1897" (Table 22.5).

In this case, Dina Manfredini's age claim to 115+ is not in doubt, with nearly all documents supporting "1897" as the year of birth. Given the earliest document is from

**Table 22.5** Dina Manfredini document summary

a Lower age documented

b Higher age documented

<sup>11</sup>For the purpose of this chapter, the focus is on the individual case and the investigation by the GRG. Guinness World Records has accepted the following cases reviewed in this chapter as "World's Oldest Person" titleholders: Parker, Baines, Cooper, Manfredini, Weaver, Talley, Jones. Madigan, Rivera, and Hannah were never old enough to be considered, and the Holtz and Miller cases were incomplete at the time the title was awarded.

1897, only the slight possibility of "identity switching" could cast hypothetical doubt on this case. However, the 1920 immigration record precludes the kind of issue seen with the Damiana/Dimina Sette case. Also, the 1930 naturalization record gives detailed information, including the birthdates of Dina's children. When Dina passed away in 2012, her oldest child, Mary, was 91, and Dante was 90. It's clear that Dina's age was well tracked consistently throughout her life, the only error coming at 110+, and that from a local government centenarian list. We thus conclude that the documentary evidence and the family tree together, though missing records on siblings, is enough to validate that Dina Manfredini was indeed 115 in 2012.

#### *22.1.6 Gertrude Weaver (1898–2015)*

Gertrude Weaver was born as Gertrude Gaines, the daughter of African American sharecroppers, Charles Gaines and Ophelia Jeffreys, in Lafayette County, Arkansas. She married Gennie Weaver in Arkansas on July 18, 1915. The couple had four children: Cab, Marie, Joe, and Ruby. Her husband died in 1969. At 104, Gertrude Weaver moved to the Silver Oaks Health and Rehabilitation Center in Camden, Arkansas after breaking her hip. After successful rehabilitation, she was able to move back to her home with the help of her granddaughter. At 109, she returned to the nursing home. When interviewed about the secret of her longevity, Gertrude Weaver told that there were three factors that have contributed to it: "Trusting in the Lord, hard work and loving everybody." Later, she added a fourth factor: "Just do what you can, and if we can't, we can't" or, in other words, "Kindness".

Gertrude's story is also one of overcoming odds. A woman who was of mixedrace heritage (African-American, Caucasian-American, and Native-American), her case was not even featured in the major media until age 112 (at which point, she looked extraordinary for her age). By December 2012, she was still missing proof of birth. The fact that she married in 1915, however, was compelling evidence of this woman's extreme age. Yet, initial proof of birth was diffcult to come by. A potential 1900 census match had been located, but the name given in the document wasn't exactly "Gertrude": it was a nickname: "Tonpon." It took some additional

**Table 22.6** Gertrude Weaver document summary Claimed date of birth: July 4, 1898

a Lower age documented

b Higher age documented research to ensure that the woman who was alive in 2014 was the same as the woman who was born in 1898. This included oral-history interviews with her then-93-year-old son, Joe Weaver, in 2014.

In reviewing the documentation available (see Table 22.6, below):

The oldest document (the 1900 census) supports 1898. Given that the census report was so close to the birth event, the chances of Gertrude being even a year younger are slim: most people could tell the difference between a 2-year-old and a 1-year-old. July 1900 is defnitely out, as the record itself is older than that. The 1910 census supports 1899/1900, but is a refected memory a decade later. The 1915 marriage record listing of "17" again supports "1898", but not a specifc month (but given that it was recorded in July, it supports that Gertrude was born earlier than July 17, 1898). Mid-life documents understate Gertrude's age, but these documents are much further from the birth event. Gertrude being born in 1903/1904 is also impossible, with the oldest document being from 1900 itself. It was not uncommon in the mid-twentieth century US for women to understate their age, so a pattern of older documents showing an older age is not unusual.

Gertrude Weaver's case is another example of a "fuzzy" validation, although the age discrepancy is one of only three months. Ms. Weaver patriotically claimed to be born July 4, 1898 in her later years, yet the 1900 census lists her as born in April 1898, and the family indicated that they believed she may have been born in April. Taking a look at the family tree information (Box 22.5), since Gertrude was the youngest child, this rules out "sibling switching" with a younger sibling.

#### **Box 22.5 Family Tree of Gertrude Weaver Parents: (married in 1885)**

• Charles GAINES (1861 – July 4, 1928) (67 years old) Ophelia GAINES (Dec. 1866 - Apr. 2, 1916) (49 years old)

#### **Siblings (as recorded in the 1900 US census):**

#### **Spouse:**

• Genie WEAVER (1896–1969) (c73 years old)

#### **Children:**

In summation, Gertrude Weaver's case is one that took years of research to convince skeptics (including myself) that the 1900 census listing, in particular, really was her. My own case investigation, along with the work of local genealogist Carolyn Stratton Cox, is suffcient to convince most skeptics. Whether Gertrude was 116 or 117 is another matter. In the larger picture, Gertrude's validated age of 116 years, 276 days could possibly be upgraded to two months older, should additional material be located to support "April" as the month of birth. Only the 1900 census lists "April", and a single document that is a refected memory is not enough, in my estimation, to grant her an age upgrade. But if we did, Gertrude could have been as old as just reaching 117. However, that also leaves reasonable uncertainty. We thus decided to go with age 116. In summation, the only issue regarding Gertrude Weaver's age is a matter of months, not years: she was clearly over 116.

#### *22.1.7 Jeralean Talley (1899–2015)*

Jeralean Talley was born as Jeralean Kurtz, one of 12 children of Samuel James Kurtz and Amelia Kurtz nèe Jones, in Montrose, Laurens, Georgia, on May 23, 1899. She spent her early years living on a farm picking cotton and peanuts and harvesting sweet potatoes. She grew up in Laurens County before moving with her family to Inkster, Michigan before 1930. Jeralean Kurtz married Alfred Talley (January 30, 1893 – October 17, 1988) in Lucas, Ohio, on Dec. 10, 1936. The couple had one child, a daughter, Thelma Holloway, born in 1937. "Mother Talley", as the New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church community she was a member of called her, stayed active in her later life. She bowled until she was 104. Reportedly, Mrs. Talley lived by the Golden Rule: "Treat others the way you want to be treated". She was known in the community for her wisdom and wit. Jeralean advised people to use common sense, saying "I don't have much education but what little sense I got, I try to use it". On her 114th birthday, she received a personalised letter from U.S. President Barack Obama, who wrote that she was "part of an extraordinary generation".

Jeralean Talley was a remarkable woman even before her world recognition: she still lived in her daughter's home (not a nursing home) and even went fshing at age 114 (though with younger relatives assisting)12. Jeralean was lucid during her interviews as well. At frst glance, one must have wondered if this woman were the age claimed, and how much longer she might live. Let's take a look at Table 22.7, below, which summarizes Jeralean's recorded age in various documents:

For the frst issue, there really was little doubt: documents supporting her age included the June 1900 census listing her as born in May 1899, located in 2009, and included matches for her parents. A later, undated family Bible entry did list her as born in June 1899 instead, but the census record is more sure because it is certain when it was written (close to the birth event), not potentially decades later. Social security and other

<sup>12</sup> https://www.huffngtonpost.com/2015/06/18/oldest-person-dies-jeralean-talley\_n\_7614112. html (accessed Apr. 16, 2018).

**Table 22.7** Jeralean Talley document summary

a Lower age documented

#### **Box 22.6 Family Tree of Jeralean Talley Parents:**

• Samuel James KURTZ (Aug. 17, 1866 – Jan. 30, 1941) (74 years old) Aurelia Amelia KURTZ (June 4, 1869 – Feb. 24, 1952) (82 years old)

#### **Siblings**

#### **Spouse (married Dec. 10, 1936)**

• Alfred TALLEY (Jan 30, 1893 - Oct. 17, 1988) (95 years old)

#### **Children**

1. Thelma TALLEY HOLLOWAY (born 1937)-f. 2020 at 83

family records also supported her age claim. A marriage record from 1936 was also located, again supporting the age claim, as well as her identity. While there were some small discrepancies in the census records (the 1900 census is transcribed as "Kuntz", but, due to the cursive writing, it may very well mean "Kurtz"), the numerous matching points (including the names of parents and siblings, and location) made it certain that the woman who was born in 1899 was the same woman who was alive in 2015. One small issue, the one-month discrepancy in the month of birth, does not affect whether she was 115+ or not, although it has bearing on whether Jeralean was 116 (if born June 23, she would have been six days short of her 116th birthday).

A larger potential issue is one of "identity-switching". What happened to younger sister Louverta Kurtz, born in 1905 (see Box 22.6)? One counter-argument is that

the names "Jeralean" and "Louverta" are not similar. Also, the family Bible entries indicate a close-knit family that tracked births, at least. Finally, the 1920 census lists both sisters in the same document (one is 19; the other is 13). Thus, Jeralean and Louverta cannot be the same person. The only other younger sibling is male. Sibling-switching seems to be ruled out here. Further family tree research found that Louverta died in 2003, age 98. Together with sister Ida,who also lived to 98, this shows a pattern of sibling longevity.

Despite being in great apparent shape at her 116th birthday celebration in May 2016, just a month later, Ms. Talley had passed away, several days after experiencing heart trouble. Jeralean lived her life to the fullest, staying active until almost the end. This was a woman who was never confned to a nursing home; never confned to bed. She walked, with the assistance of a walker and others, rather than settle for a wheelchair. If we need a poster woman for "plateau aging", Jeralean Talley is it.

#### *22.1.8 Susannah Mushatt Jones (1899–2016)*

Susannah Mushatt Jones was born as Susannah Mushatt, the daughter of Callie and Mary Mushatt, in Lowndes county, Alabama, on July 6, 1899. Her parents were African-American sharecroppers. The family stories said Susannah wanted to escape from the life on a farm and she turned to education as a way to accomplish this goal. She graduated from the Calhoun Boarding High School on Mar. 4, 1922. She wanted to become a teacher and was accepted to Tuskegee Institute's Teacher's Program; however, she could not afford tuition and moved to New York in 1923 where she worked for wealthy families taking care of their children. Since 1929, she was married with Henry Jones, but they divorced soon after – in 1933. She supported many of her relatives as they moved to New York. She also helped to establish a college scholarship fund for African-American students at her high school. Susannah Mushatt Jones was blind after her 100th birthday and partially deaf. She used a wheelchair. For breakfast, she always ate four strips of bacon along with scrambled eggs and grits. She resided at Vandalia Senior Center in Brooklyn, New York where she had an open party on each of her consecutive birthdays (Watson, 2014).

Susannah Mushatt Jones was the last American from the 1800s and the next-tothe-last validated supercentenarian from the 1800s. Her case is particularly important. Robert met Ms. Jones in person on April 1, 2016, at the age of 116 years, 270 days. At this point in time, she was still able to eat a banana, but didn't do much else. When she said things like "I want to go home", her family took it to mean that she wanted to pass away ("Go see the Lord"). About six weeks later, on May 12, 2016, Susannah passed away at the age of 116 years, 311 days. Her death marked the end of an era: the last American from the 1800s; she was also the last American from 1900 or 1901 as well.

But was Ms. Jones the age claimed? Let's take a look at the documents for this case in Table 22.8.

The June 1900 census alone was almost 116 years older than her month of death (May 2016). The record lists a "Suzy Mudhat" as 11 months old. While this

**Table 22.8** Susannah Mushatt Jones document summary

a Lower age documented

#### **Box 22.7 Family Tree of Susannah Mushatt Jones Parents:**

• John Callie MUSHATT (1868 – Apr. 1, 1931) (c62 years old) Mary Cook MUSHATT (1875 – July 27, 1940) (c65 years old)

#### **Siblings:**

particular census-taker didn't record the year of birth, there can be no doubt that June 1900 minus 11 months equals birth frmly in the 1800s. In addition, the April 1910 census lists Ms. Jones as "10" (which accords with a July 1899 birth). Ms. Jones was only briefy married but had no children, but she lived her entire life with her family, as a member of society, including attending school and working as a nanny, making identity-switching unlikely. Her job taking care of the children of others included for some Hollywood stars in the 1940s. A niece, Dr. Lavilla Watson, wrote a 100+ page biography of her aunt (Watson, 2014).

With the June 1900 census so close to the time of birth, the only major issue is whether the woman who died in 2016 was the same as the woman who was born in 1899. Given that the family tree information on siblings (see Box 22.7) shows that all younger siblings are accounted for and the only siblings missing death records are two older brothers, it seems reasonable to us to rule out this issue. While Ms. Jones had no children and was only married briefy, she was connected to society and her age claim was for the most part consistent throughout her life course. We thus conclude that this case is valid: Susannah Mushatt Jones was 116 and possibly the oldest African American on record, excluding the Lucy Hannah case.

#### *22.1.9 Bernice Madigan (1899–2015)*

Bernice Madigan was born as Bernice Marina Emerson, the daughter of Harry Emerson and Grace Emerson (nee Bennett) in West Springfeld, Hampden, Massachusetts, on July 24, 1899. At the age of six, the family moved to Cheshire, MA. Bernice Emerson graduated from Adams High School in 1918, and thereafter moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked as a secretary for the Veterans Administration, then the Treasury Department. On Sept. 10, 1925, Bernice Emerson married Paul H. Madigan in Washington and later moved to Maryland. They had no children. Paul Madigan died in 1976. Bernice returned to Massachusetts in 2007. A lifelong Republican, she attended the Inauguration of Warren G. Harding in 1921, and cited Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan as her favorite U.S. Presidents. Reportedly, she did not take any medicine nor a daily vitamin. Bernice maintained exceptional mental and physical health to the point she would have an open birthday party each year until aged 114. Bernice Madigan died in her sleep in Cheshire, Berkshire, Massachusetts on Jan. 3, 2015, aged 115 years and 163 days.

Bernice Madigan was an ebullient personality who countered conventional wisdom by eating doughnuts, and yet living to an extreme old age. A career woman, she moved to Washington, D.C. for a typing job. Bernice Madigan, despite living to 115 years of age, never made it to higher than the world's ffth-oldest person (trailing Misao Okawa, Gertrude Weaver, Jeralean Talley, and Susannah Mushatt Jones) in the GRG rankings (despite making it clear in interviews that she coveted the #1 position, it was not to be). Yet despite coming along at a time when age "115" was less rare than it was in the past, this woman's personality ft right up with the best of them. Her birthdays often featured some special local event, such as riding in an antique fre truck. Bernice had a Facebook account which documented her life almost until the last. When she fell in 2014, injuring her hip, her recovery T-shirt said it all: "I intend to live forever. So far, so good." While, in her earlier years, she appeared to be in fairly good health, Bernice's last year or so included being on oxygen as an attempt to keep her going. Her last New Year's celebration on Jan. 1, 2015 was just two days before she passed away and her last photo, on Jan. 2, 2015, included her making toast.13

<sup>13</sup> https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10206322935171370&set=o.385969844848669&t ype=3&theater (accessed Sept. 25, 2016).

Bernice's age is well-attested to by documentation (see Table 22.9 and Box 22.8, below).

Bernice's birth in July 1899 was recorded in a December 1899 birth registration. This is backed up with a 1900 census listing (July 1899), as well as census matches in 1910, 1920, 1930, and 1940. There's also a marriage record and a recent ID (not all documents privately sent in will be shared here; only those that are publicly available). The bottom line: this case is one of the best-validated cases; all documents agree. We are confdent, based on the records produced, that Bernice (Emerson) Madigan lived to 115 years, 163 days of age.

**Table 22.9** Bernice Madigan document summary

a Lower age documented b Higher age documented

## **Box 22.8 Family Tree of Bernice Madigan**

#### **Parents**

• Harry G Emerson (Dec. 19, 1876–1927) (50 years old)

Grace E Bennett Emerson (Apr. 19, 1878 – Jan. 1963) (84 years old)

#### **Siblings**

#### **Spouse**

• Paul H Madigan (May 21, 1896 – May 1976) (c80 years old)

#### *22.1.10 Antonia Gerena Rivera (1900–2015)*

Antonia Gerena Rivera was born in Loiza, Puerto Rico, a US possession, on May 19, 1900 as the daughter of José Felix Gerena Agosto and Basilia Rivera Diana14. At 15, she left her parents' farm and married Jose Solis y Serrano (died 1943). Her frst daughter, Isabelle, was born in November 1917, when Antonia was 17. At this time, she had to work on a farm and raise children herself as her husband fought in the First World War. Afterwards, Antonia worked as a teacher in a rural schoolhouse in the Puerto Rican countryside. Overall, Antonia had nine children, two of whom (Carmen and Fermina) survived her. Antonia had two additional husbands in later life. She came to Florida, USA in the 1970s.

Antonia, whose ancestors came to Puerto Rico from the Canary Islands, came from a long-lived family. Her brother Francisco Genera Rivera, a World War I veteran, was born in 1898 and died at 105 in 2003. A sister, Maria (married to a WWI veteran), lived to 103. The ages of the two centenarian siblings have been documented. Antonia's family longevity also extended to her children. Her oldest surviving daughter, Carmen, was 90 as the time of her mother's passing (and is now 95), while her frst-born daughter, Isabel, lived to 92. A third daughter, Fermina, is now 91. Less certain are the ages of Antonia's mother (said to have been 95–98) and sister Augustina (said to have lived to 98). The age of Antonia's father is not certain (his death certifcate claimed he was 110!) but early census records suggest he was about 87.

Healthwise, Antonia was a remarkable woman. She could walk until age 113. According to granddaughter Jennie Jimenez, she drank brandy every day until she was 110. Mrs. Gerena Rivera herself believed that the key to being successful in life is to be independent as an individual while maintaining close ties to your family. Antonia was in good health at age 111 but a fall at 113 weakened her. Antonia Gerena Rivera died in Kendall, Miami-Dade, Florida, on June 2, 2015 at the age of 115 years and 14 days.

Following Emiliano Mercado Del Toro (1891–2007)15, Antonia is the second validated Puerto Rico-born 115-year-old. While Puerto Rico is not counted as part of the US population by the US Census Bureau, Puerto Ricans became US citizens in in 1917, and Antonia Gerena Rivera passed away in Florida, on US soil, in 2015, after having lived in the US for many years.

When Robert frst met Antonia and her family, she was doing well for 110 ½: still drinking shots of brandy, still able to walk about. However, at age 113 years 11 months, Antonia fell, and was in delicate condition after that. The family even asked Robert for care advice, and the family agreed that Robert's advice helped Antonia do better. She recovered gradually over the next year. When Robert met her again in January 2015, it was clear that this woman of 114+ years of age was no

<sup>14</sup>Alternate spelling: Viana.

<sup>15</sup> http://www.foxnews.com/story/2007/01/24/emiliano-mercado-del-toro-world-oldest-persondies-at-115.html (accessed July 252,018)

longer the ebullient walker at age 110. Yet, she was still happy to meet and greet. One thing that was clear was that this woman's health depended on the care and attention she received from her loving family. When, in May 2015, the granddaughter (herself age 70) checking up on her was hospitalized, Antonia's care at a local care home foundered. Antonia soon took ill with pneumonia and died a few weeks later, June 2, 2015, just two weeks after her 115th birthday.

But was Antonia the age claimed? Let's review the documents for this case in Table 22.10, below.

**Table 22.10** Antonia Gerena Rivera document summary

a Lower age documented

b Higher age documented

#### **Box 22.9 Family Tree of Antonia Gerena Rivera Parents**

• Jose Félix GERENA AGOSTO (1855? – Aug. 5, 1942; Rio Grande, Puerto Rico) (87 years old) (said to be 110 in his death certifcate)

Basilia RIVERA VIANA (April 10, 1863? - May 2, 1958; Rio Grande, Puerto Rico) (95 years old)

#### **Siblings**

#### **Box 22.9** (continued)

#### **Children**

From the family tree records shown in Box 22.9, we can ascertain that Rivera's family tree came from a time of transition. Early-life documents are missing for Antonia's parents and most of her older siblings, but especially for the period from 1898 onward (when Puerto Rico was transferred from Spanish to US control as a consequence of the Spanish-American War), the coverage improves markedly. There are birth records or early-life census matches (all less than 10 years after the birth events) for the last fve siblings. Antonia's own birth of May 19, 1900 was established as early as the Mar. 15, 1904 delayed birth record (and two other siblings were also registered at the same time). Moreover, the tightness of the births leaves little margin for differences: only the year 1901 is hypothetically open, but a May 1901 birth would be only 10 months prior to the birth of younger sister Maria, so it is unlikely.

Though there is also some messiness when it comes to records for her husbands and children, the records for the oldest children have been located. That Antonia gave birth in 1917 (also backed by a birth record which records the mother as "Antonia Gerena") is also a testament to this woman's great age.

While the 1920 census overstates her age (probably due to her having a child as a teenager) and the 1930 and 1940 census understate her age, the two earliest documents and those from 1961 onward all accord with a birth in 1900. When Antonia died, her second-oldest daughter was 90 and her granddaughter was 70. The birth of a child in 1917 leaves little room for age infation. With the delayed birth record being less than four years after the birth event and with the 1910 census supporting, we thus conclude that Antonia Gerena Rivera reached age 115 in 2015.

#### **22.2 Invalidated (False), Exaggerated, and Unvalidated Claims**

While the 10 new 115+ American cases researched in section one of this chapter might at frst give an impression that "most" claims to 115+ are now correct, such is not the case.16 Even with the purported age of the oldest American claimant declining from "128" in the 1990s to "125″" in 2007, there is still plenty of age-infated literature out there for review. Social Security Death Index (SSDI)-generated frequencies of alleged supercentenarians whose deaths were reported between 1980 and 2009 found only fve validated cases among 233 claims of age 115+ in the United States, which results in the 2.1% validation rate in this extreme age group (Young et al., 2010). Below, we will review one of the more problematic recent cases, the Lucy Hannah case.

#### *22.2.1 Lucy Hannah (1875/1895?-1993)*

The Lucy Hannah case is one of the most-important cases being reviewed in this chapter (the other being Augusta Holtz, the frst validated person to reach age 115). The offcial position of the IDL and GRG since 2003 has been that this case is "validated" and that, at 117 years 248 days, this woman was the third-oldest validated person all-time17 and the oldest African-American person on record. For the frst book chapter on American supercentenarians 115+, this case was not reviewed because there was not enough information publicly available (Young, 2010). However, given additional U.S. records that were released online in 2015, additional

<sup>16</sup>There were other false claims that we researched other than this one, but were not included due to limitations of space. The below case is the only case among them that was considered "validated". Thus, the below invalidation is a retraction, and the most important of the false cases. Thus, the below case was selected for this chapter to be a type case of how a seeming census "match" could be a mismatch, and why more detailed research (such as family-tree reconstruction) is needed for the most extreme age claims (age 115+).

<sup>17</sup> In April 2018, Nabi Tajima of Japan ostensibly passed this apparently false milestone of 117 years, 248 days, but her claim is also under review.

research is presented here which will call the "validation" status of this case into question.

Before we get to that, it would be appropriate to review how this case came to be accepted as "validated". The GRG backing came from the IDL backing; the IDL backing came from the SSA study backing. So, in order to check further, we need to know how the SSA study came to decide that this case was "valid". The frst thing to know is that Lucy Hannah's SSDI listed her as "118". The second thing to know is that the "SSA study" was employed on a "group scale", not a focus on single cases. More details on the SSA study efforts can be found at their book chapter in the 2010 Supercentenarians book (Kestenbaum and Ferguson, 2010). Having been an SSA study contributor, I summarize the basics here: the study began with claims to age 110+ between Jan. 1, 1980 and Dec. 31, 1999. Efforts were made to verify, frstly, the dates of death to flter out "ghost cases" (persons "alive on paper" but who had died years or decades earlier). The Lucy Hannah case passed this initial test, as her death date was confrmed in the National Death Index (NDI). Second, mid-life ID/proof of name change was generally considered to be the SS-5 (Numident) application, which in most cases includes the names of the SS applicant's parents, place of birth, etc. With this information, an attempt was made to match the parental information to an early-life census match (Lucy Hannah, being African American and born in Alabama, likely had no birth record).  Potential census matches were checked for strength/goodness of ft using a formula, and the match came back as solid. This included correct geographic location, correct name, and a close age. That decision was made in 2003, and has stood since then. Even today, not all details of that scoring "match" have been released.

The SSA study methodology probably was effective over 97% of the time (recent GRG re-investigations have found that to be the case). But, as Jean-Marie Robine and other skeptics have stated, extraordinary claims to 115+ should get a further look, including an attempt to ft the case within a family-tree reconstitution, or at least a check to see what further documents may be available. In 2003, relatively few additional documents were available for this case: there were no news reports, no photos, nothing other than the basic SSDI listings, NDI record, and the census matches. No major breakthroughs came until 2015, when the SSA released details of SS application reports, and a marriage record for Lucy Hannah was located. What the newly-released records showed would fnally shine additional light upon this case.

The frst new document to be located, the 1972 social security application, didn't shed any new light: it still listed Lucy Hannah's parents as Sol and Sally Terrell. But this clue was now more easily accessible to the general public, and led to the larger discovery: the 1943 marriage application "bombshell": In short, the 1943 (second) marriage application suggests that Lucy Hannah was born Aug. 12, 1895, and that her husband, Fred, actually was the one with a "July 16" date of birth. Fred's 1942 WWII draft card further confrms his date of birth. Had Lucy been born in 1875, she should be 68 years of age here, not 48 years old as listed.

It has been said that just one major piece of evidence could be enough to invalidate a case, but it's possible that this person understated their age in mid-life. In a situation like this, we can look at the larger context: are there multiple lines of evidence to support the earlier birth record and show that the mid-life age statement was an understatement? In this case, the answer is "no". The few additional mid-life census matches returned, such as the 1930 census, cast further doubt that the Lucy Hannah who died in 1993 was born in 1875. Upon further inspection, even the 1880 census "match" appears to be in error: while the right state, it's the wrong county (Marengo) and Lucy "Terrell" is listed with grandparents, not parents. Furthermore, an alternative 1880 census "match" listed Sol and Sally "Terrill" (slightly misspelled) in the correct county (Elmore) with three older siblings…but no Lucy. A check of one of these siblings, Elmore, confrmed from his later-life records that Sol Terrell and Sally Edwards were his parents. And then we located a likely 1930 census record, listing Lucy Brown (her frst husband's name), age 36! So, we are left with a weak (not strong) 1880 census assertion, versus a better-ft 1880 census match for Lucy's parents not listing her as born yet.

The lack of a media claim to "117" further speaks against this case, as does the date of birth being transposed from the husband. Taken together, all these clues lead us to the conclusion that this case is one where the ostensible age may have been altered or switched in mid-life. And this raises the issue: how could the 1880 census "match" have been wrong? Problem number one is that the 1880 census "match" shows Lucy Terrell living with "grandparents", not the parents. It is possible that this is another Lucy Terrell, not the one who later became Lucy Brown, then Lucy Hannah. With the parents living a few counties away and with three of Lucy's siblings listed (but not Lucy), we must assume that she was not born yet in 1880 and the census "match" was a case of misidentifcation. This is a plausible solution to this case's mystery. For a review of fndings, please see Table 22.11, below.

There is more to still investigate on this case: indeed, we have not yet located even a single photo, nor interviewed surviving family members for their say on this claim. However, the information that has already come to light is suffcient, in our estimation, to withdraw "validation" support for this case. The concept of validation is for a high degree of certainty (98% or more confdent), and a claim of this magnitude must be able to withstand reasonable documentary scrutiny in order to remain as "validation". Yet the only document issued within 20 years of the birth event is

**Table 22.11** Lucy Hannah document summary

a Lower age documented

b Higher age documented not incontrovertible, and a mid-life document says that this woman was born Aug. 12, 1895, which would make her only "97" years of age, not "117", at death. The 1930 census age of "36" suggests birth in 1893 (and thus suggests Lucy was 99). It may not be certain what age Lucy Hannah actually was, and more may be investigated, but already the approximately 20-year discrepancy between the late-life and mid-life year of birth claims is quite concerning, and supplementary investigation has not turned up suffcient evidence that would support retaining validation status for this case. Given the seriousness of the above fndings, we recommend the scientifc community withdraw support for this case upon the publication of this chapter. It should be noted that this case is more similar to the Shigechiyo Izumi (1865?/1880−1986) case of Japan in that the original case validation remains not fully public, and that the "debunking" of the case is not as clear as with a case such as Pierre Joubert. Yet we must remember that extraordinary cases require extraordinary evidence. And while checking a case such as Sarah Knauss has only turned up more evidence in favor of her being age 119 (recently, a transcription of the 1890 census has been located, adding further support to Sarah Knauss's case validation), a checking of the Lucy Hannah case did just the opposite.

With the retraction of this case, suddenly the USA has only one validated person 117+ (Sarah Knauss). The new "oldest African American on record" is, however, still fuzzy, with the cases of Gertrude Weaver, Maggie Barnes, and Susannah Mushatt Jones being possibilities. All three are confrmed to be 115+ but when it comes to "fuzzy validations", there is a margin of error. Susannah Mushatt Jones's age of 116 years, 311 days is certain and that must stand as the offcial record, even if the other two might have been older. Note that, in addition, Violet Brown of Jamaica (March 10, 1900-Sept. 15, 2017) likely becomes the oldest offcially validated Black person on record, with the retraction of the Lucy Hannah case.

#### **22.3 Conclusion**

After this second book chapter on American supercentenarians age 115+, we now have a clearer picture than after the frst chapter (Young, 2010) about the American 115+ population. Of the 18 USA cases aged 115+ which have now been validated, only one was male, and this was an immigrant from Europe (Chris Mortensen). Indeed, the USA has gained several cases through immigration: in this chapter, Augusta Holtz from Germany; Dina Manfredini from Italy; and Antonia Gerena Rivera from Puerto Rico. As in Europe and Japan, age 115 is becoming more common over time: one case in the 1980s, four cases in the 1990s, seven cases in the 2000s, and seven cases so far in 2010s. There does not seem to be a halt in the increasing number of those reaching the age of 115 years or more in the USA.

**Acknowledgments** We would like to thank Dr. James Vaupel, founding head of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research; Dr. Bernard Jeune of Odense University, Denmark; and Heiner Maier of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research for providing us with this opportunity to publish research regarding the maximum observed human lifespan in the USA.

We would also like to thank GRG-Puerto Rico Correspondent, Mrs. Jennie Jimenez, for invaluable genealogical information and help in the reconstruction of the family tree of Mrs. Antonia Gerena Rivera, and GRG-Spain correspondent Miguel Quesada who helped with document locating and translations.

Robert would also like to thank Jimmy Lindberg and Waclaw Jan Kroczek for assistance with compiling case data and reviews for this book chapter.

Robert would also like to dedicate this work in memory of the late Dr. L. Stephen Coles (1941–2014), whose vision of a GRG organization that tracked validated supercentenarian cases from across the globe has slowly become a reality over his 21 years (from 1999) with the GRG organization.

#### **References**

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