List of American supercentenarians


American supercentenarians are citizens or residents of the United States who have attained or surpassed 110 years of age., the Gerontology Research Group had validated the longevity claims of 782 American supercentenarians. As of, the GRG lists the oldest living American as Hester Ford, aged. The longest-lived person ever from the United States was Sarah Knauss, of Hollywood, Pennsylvania, who died on December 30, 1999, aged 119 years, 97 days.

100 oldest American people ever

Below is a list of the longest lived American supercentenarians according to the GRG.
RankNameSexBirth dateDeath dateAgeBirthplacePlace of death
or residence
1Sarah KnaussFSeptember 24, 1880December 30, 1999PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
2Lucy HannahFJuly 16, 1875March 21, 1993AlabamaMichigan
3Susannah Mushatt JonesFJuly 6, 1899May 12, 2016AlabamaNew York
4Gertrude WeaverFJuly 4, 1898April 6, 2015ArkansasArkansas
5Elizabeth BoldenFAugust 15, 1890December 11, 2006TennesseeTennessee
6Besse CooperFAugust 26, 1896December 4, 2012TennesseeGeorgia
7Jeralean TalleyFMay 23, 1899June 17, 2015GeorgiaMichigan
8Maggie BarnesFMarch 6, 1882January 19, 1998North CarolinaNorth Carolina
9Dina ManfrediniFApril 4, 1897December 17, 2012ItalyIowa
10Christian MortensenMAugust 16, 1882April 25, 1998DenmarkCalifornia
11Edna ParkerFApril 20, 1893November 26, 2008IndianaIndiana
12Margaret SkeeteFOctober 27, 1878May 7, 1994TexasVirginia
13Bernice MadiganFJuly 24, 1899January 3, 2015MassachusettsMassachusetts
14Gertrude BainesFApril 6, 1894September 11, 2009GeorgiaCalifornia
15Bettie WilsonFSeptember 13, 1890February 13, 2006MississippiMississippi
16Marie Josephine GaudetteFMarch 25, 1902July 13, 2017New HampshireItaly
17Susie GibsonFOctober 31, 1890February 16, 2006MississippiAlabama
18Augusta HoltzFAugust 3, 1871October 21, 1986PrussiaMissouri
19Maude Farris-LuseFJanuary 21, 1887March 18, 2002MichiganMichigan
20Antonia Gerena RiveraFMay 19, 1900June 2, 2015Puerto RicoFlorida
21Hester FordFAugust 15, 1905LivingSouth CarolinaNorth Carolina
22Mary BidwellFMay 19, 1881April 25, 1996ConnecticutConnecticut
23Iris WestmanFAugust 28, 1905LivingNorth DakotaNorth Dakota
24Mary Josephine RayFMay 17, 1895March 7, 2010CanadaNew Hampshire
25Goldie SteinbergFOctober 30, 1900August 16, 2015MoldovaNew York
26Delphine GibsonFAugust 17, 1903May 9, 2018South CarolinaPennsylvania
27Neva MorrisFAugust 3, 1895April 6, 2010IowaIowa
28Blanche CobbFSeptember 8, 1900May 1, 2015GeorgiaFlorida
29Mathew BeardMJuly 9, 1870February 16, 1985VirginiaFlorida
30Carrie LazenbyFFebruary 9, 1882September 14, 1996GeorgiaIllinois
31Myrtle DorseyFNovember 22, 1885June 25, 2000OhioOhio
32Walter BreuningMSeptember 21, 1896April 14, 2011MinnesotaMontana
33Eunice SanbornFJuly 20, 1896January 31, 2011LouisianaTexas
34Grace ClawsonFNovember 15, 1887May 28, 2002United KingdomNew York
35Wilhelmina KottFMarch 7, 1880September 6, 1994IllinoisIllinois
35Adelina DominguesFFebruary 19, 1888August 21, 2002Cape VerdeCalifornia
37Charlotte BenknerFNovember 16, 1889May 14, 2004GermanyOhio
38Ettie Mae GreeneFSeptember 8, 1877February 26, 1992West VirginiaWest Virginia
39Dominga VelascoFMay 12, 1901October 11, 2015MexicoCalifornia
40Irene FrankFOctober 1, 1881February 28, 1996TexasMissouri
41Olivia Patricia ThomasFJune 29, 1895November 16, 2009IowaNew York
41Alelia MurphyFJuly 6, 1905November 23, 2019North CarolinaNew York
43Anna HendersonFMarch 5, 1900July 1, 2014GeorgiaPennsylvania
44Emma Verona JohnstonFAugust 6, 1890December 1, 2004IowaOhio
44Mamie ReardenFSeptember 7, 1898January 2, 2013South CarolinaGeorgia
46Bettie ChatmonFApril 30, 1884August 16, 1998LouisianaTexas
46Lessie BrownFSeptember 22, 1904January 8, 2019GeorgiaOhio
48Odie MatthewsFDecember 28, 1878April 14, 1993TexasArizona
49Florence KnappFOctober 10, 1873January 11, 1988PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
49Elena SloughFJuly 4, 1889October 5, 2003PennsylvaniaNew Jersey
51Mary Anna BooneFFebruary 10, 1887May 13, 2001KentuckyKentucky
52Delma KollarFOctober 31, 1897January 24, 2012KansasOregon
53Ila JonesFAugust 21, 1903November 10, 2017GeorgiaGeorgia
54Maggie RenfroFNovember 14, 1895January 22, 2010LouisianaLouisiana
55Emma TillmanFNovember 22, 1892January 28, 2007North CarolinaConnecticut
55Anna StoehrFOctober 15, 1900December 21, 2014IowaMinnesota
57Leila DenmarkFFebruary 1, 1898April 1, 2012GeorgiaGeorgia
58Adele DunlapFDecember 12, 1902February 5, 2017New JerseyNew Jersey
59Naomi ConnerFAugust 30, 1899October 18, 2013TexasTexas
59Ora HollandFDecember 24, 1900February 11, 2015MissouriOklahoma
61Grace ThaxtonFJune 18, 1891July 6, 2005New YorkKentucky
62Soledad MexiaFAugust 13, 1899August 30, 2013MexicoCalifornia
63Minnie WardFNovember 19, 1885December 2, 1999TennesseeMassachusetts
64Arbella EwingFMarch 13, 1894March 22, 2008TexasTexas
65Catherine HagelFNovember 28, 1894December 6, 2008MinnesotaMinnesota
65Minnie WhickerFJuly 24, 1906LivingArkansasCalifornia
67Emma OtisFOctober 22, 1901October 25, 2015WashingtonWashington
68Fred HaleMDecember 1, 1890November 19, 2004MaineNew York
69Miriam CarpelanFJuly 8, 1882June 22, 1996United KingdomCalifornia
69Elsie ThompsonFApril 5, 1899March 21, 2013PennsylvaniaFlorida
71Bertha FryFDecember 1, 1893November 14, 2007IndianaIndiana
72Mae HarringtonFJanuary 20, 1889December 29, 2002New YorkNew York
73Daisey BaileyFMarch 30, 1896March 7, 2010TennesseeMichigan
74Agatha MitchellFMarch 26, 1887February 25, 2001VirginiaVirginia
75Goldie MichelsonFAugust 8, 1902July 8, 2016UkraineMassachusetts
76Merle BarwisFDecember 23, 1900November 22, 2014IowaCanada
77Clara HuhnFJanuary 28, 1887December 20, 2000NebraskaCalifornia
78Corinne Dixon TaylorFApril 2, 1893February 14, 2007District of ColumbiaDistrict of Columbia
79Mary ChristianFJune 12, 1889April 20, 2003MassachusettsCalifornia
80Ruth NewmanFSeptember 23, 1901July 29, 2015CaliforniaCalifornia
81Thelma SutcliffeFOctober 1, 1906LivingNebraskaNebraska
82Irene DuttonFJuly 16, 1906May 15, 2020MichiganMichigan
83Evelyn KozakFAugust 14, 1899June 11, 2013New YorkNew York
84Louisiana HinesFApril 13, 1899February 1, 2013AlabamaMichigan
85Mississippi WynnFMarch 31, 1897January 14, 2011LouisianaLouisiana
86Fannie ThomasFApril 14, 1867January 22, 1981IllinoisCalifornia
87Opal ThompsonFJanuary 13, 1901October 20, 2014OklahomaCalifornia
88Johnson ParksMOctober 15, 1884July 17, 1998GeorgiaFlorida
89Mary ParrFJanuary 29, 1889October 29, 2002IndianaFlorida
90Beatrice FarveFApril 30, 1895January 19, 2009GeorgiaGeorgia
91Amalia BaroneFOctober 6, 1884June 26, 1998ItalyConnecticut
92Zora WriggleFFebruary 24, 1880November 7, 1993PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
93John Ingram McMorranMJune 19, 1889February 24, 2003MichiganFlorida
94Mary McKinneyFMay 30, 1873February 2, 1987CaliforniaCalifornia
95Ella SchulerFSeptember 5, 1897May 7, 2011NebraskaKansas
96Gladys SwetlandFApril 18, 1892December 14, 2005PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
96Beulah MelocheFDecember 5, 1906LivingNew YorkNew York
98Meta DishmanFJune 1, 1903January 20, 2017VirginiaVirginia
99Mary RandallFApril 1, 1887November 12, 2000ArkansasTexas
100Delina FilkinsFMay 4, 1815December 4, 1928New YorkNew York

Biographies

Ann Pouder

Ann Pouder was one of the first modernly recognized British American supercentenarians, living to an age of. Born in London, she emigrated with her family to the United States at the age of 12, settling in Baltimore, Maryland, where she lived for 98 more years, the remainder of her life. She married Nepalese American Alexander Poudar, though she became a widow very early and had no children. Her extreme longevity claim was certified by Alexander Graham Bell. In her last few months, she was bedridden, blind, and almost deaf, but her mind remained sharp.

Lucy Hannah

Lucy Hannah was an American supercentenarian. She is considered the second-oldest person from the United States, the oldest black person and the world's fourth-oldest verified person.
Before her death, Hannah claimed to be 118, but investigation by the Social Security Administration's "Kestenbaum" study in 2003 determined that her age at death was actually 117 years, 248 days.
At the time of her death in March 1993, Hannah was recognized as the oldest American ever and second-oldest person ever whose age had been verified, behind only Jeanne Calment. She may have been the world's second-oldest living person, after Jeanne Calment, because Shigechiyo Izumi’s record was withdrawn by Guinness World Records in 2010.

Mary Bidwell

Mary Electa Bidwell was an American supercentenarian. She died at age 114 years, 342 days on April 25, 1996. She is the oldest person on record ever to die in Connecticut.
Her parents were Charles Woodruff Bidwell and Alice Beach Nobel. She was a descendant of John Bidwell, one of the founders of Hartford, Connecticut. Bidwell worked as a teacher in a one-room school house for six years. She married Charles Hubbell Bidwell, a distant cousin, in 1906. Bidwell lived on her own in North Haven, Connecticut, until she was 110. Bidwell died at the Arden House, a nursing home in Hamden, Connecticut.

Maggie Barnes

Maggie Pauline Barnes was an American supercentenarian. She was born to a former slave and married a tenant farmer. Barnes died on January 19, 1998 in Johnston County, North Carolina. She was survived by four of her fifteen children.
Her date of birth has been disputed. Though the year 1882 is written in her family bible, the 1900 US Census records birth year 1881, and her marriage license says she was born in 1880. Authenticating to the most recent of those dates, Barnes lived for 115 years and 319 days.

Adelina Domingues

Adelina Domingues was a Cape Verdean American supercentenarian who was the world's oldest person from the May 28, 2002, death of fellow 114-year-old American woman Grace Clawson until her own death less than three months later. Domingues was born in Cape Verde. Her family was not very well off financially at the time of her birth. Domingues's Italian father was a harbor pilot by profession, and her mother was Portuguese by ethnicity. She married a ship captain in 1907, and moved to the United States that year. Her husband died from cancer in 1950. Domingues was a missionary from the Church of the Nazarene in Cape Verde and other parts of Africa and was also a religious preacher when she lived in Massachusetts, as well as an expert seamstress.
Domingues was a firm believer in the American Dream, was deeply religious, had conservative political views, and was a pen pal of U.S. President Ronald Reagan. She had four children, but only one of them reached adulthood. Frank died in 1998 at the age of 71, with Adelina outliving him by four years. Domingues died at a nursing home in the San Diego, California, area in August 2002, at age 114 years and 183 days. Domingues claimed she was actually 115 years old, but her family and Cape Verdean diplomats did some research and discovered her baptismal information, from which they concluded that Domingues was 114 years old when she died.

Charlotte Benkner

Charlotte Benkner was an American supercentenarian and considered the world's oldest person from 2003 to 2004. Subsequent recognition of other supercentenarians ranked Benkner as the third oldest at the time of her death.
Benkner was born in Leipzig, Germany, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1896. She grew up in Peekskill, New York, where her family ran the Albert Hotel, and as a young woman once met then President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt. On her 1908 marriage to Karl Benkner, she moved west, living in Pennsylvania and Ohio before retiring to Arizona. Already a supercentenarian and the oldest person in Arizona, Benkner returned to Ohio to live in North Lima with her sister Tillie O'Hare, her youngest sibling. Tillie died in January 2004, just three weeks shy of becoming a centenarian. Benkner survived her sister by only four months, and died at age 114 years 180 days, after a brief hospital stay in Youngstown, Ohio.

Emma Verona Johnston

Emma Verona Johnston was an American supercentenarian who was born in Indianola, Iowa to a large family. She graduated from Drake University in the Class of 1912 and went on to work as a Latin teacher before she married ophthalmologist Harry Johnston; at the time of her death, she was the university's oldest living graduate.
At age 98, Johnston moved from Iowa to Ohio in order to live with her daughter and son-in-law. Even after turning 110, she continued to be in good health, alert and engaging in conversations, and was still able to walk up steps. She became the oldest known living American in May 2004. Shortly afterwards, on the occasion of her 114th birthday, she was presented with a proclamation signed by Drake University President David Maxwell. The University's Vice President for Institutional Advancement, John Willey, nominated her for an honorary degree. Johnston died in Worthington, Ohio on December 1, 2004, at age 114 years, 117 days.

Bettie Wilson

Bettie Antry Wilson was the oldest resident of Mississippi ever recorded, and was considered the oldest living person in the United States from December 2004 until the subsequent verification of Elizabeth Bolden. Both were born in the rural South, where they lived less than 100 miles apart. Wilson was the daughter of freed slaves, Solomon and Delia Rutherford.
In April 2005, Wilson moved into a new home funded by donations, in New Albany. She celebrated her 115th birthday in September 2005, and died on February 13, 2006, aged 115 years, 153 days. She was survived by her son, five grandchildren, 46 great-grandchildren, 95 great-great-grandchildren and 38 great-great-great-grandchildren.

George Francis

George Rene Francis was an American supercentenarian and the joint second-oldest living man in the world, together with Englishman Henry Allingham, also born on June 6, 1896, until Francis's death aged 112 years, 204 days. He was also the oldest living man in the United States, following the death of Antonio Pierro on February 8, 2007. Francis was from New Orleans, Louisiana, but since 1949 lived in Sacramento, California, where a local newspaper published a poem that Francis enjoyed reciting to friends and the public throughout his life. He credited his longevity to nature, and enjoyed a rich diet of pork, eggs, milk and lard. He gave up smoking cigars at the age of 75.
Francis attempted to join the army in World War I but was rejected for service in 1918 as being too short and small. Despite this, he later was a boxer before becoming a barber and then a chauffeur.