Longevity claims

Longevity claims are claims to extreme longevity (usually 110 or older) that either cannot be verified or for whom only some evidence is available. Longevity claims differ from existing verified supercentenarian cases, and also from longevity myths in that either some evidence exists, the case has not been proven false, and/or the claim was not constructed as a result of a longevity myth, which tends to focus on the "village elder" concept, "fountain of youth" concept, nationalist mythology, racial mythology, patriarchal mythology, etc. One test of this is the idea, put forth by William Thoms in the 1870s, of the 100th birthday test: is there evidence of the person claiming to be age 100 some 10 or more years prior to their claim? This test does not prove a person's age (indeed, Susie Brunson passed this test, but later was shown to have exaggerated her age well before this time). However, this test does separate the typical pension-claim longevity exaggeration (which tends to run to about age 115 up to 125) and the "myth of longevity" claim, whereby a spontaneous claim is made that a certain village elder is "150" or "167." E.g.: Bir Narayan Chaudhuri may have claimed to be 141 years old in 1998, but there was no evidence of a 100th birthday party 41 years earlier.

Problems with the documentation process

In the transitional period of record-keeping, records tend to exist for the wealthy and upper-middle classes, but are often spotty and non-existent for the poor. In the United States, birth registration did not begin in Mississippi until 1912 and was not universal until 1933. Hence, there is the problem of many cases whereby no actual birth record exists. Since some were recorded in the census, however, there may be obtainable evidence that tends to support the age claim. Sometimes, however, a single year may be off. In the case of Susie Gibson, for example, the family (and Susie herself) claimed her to be born on October 31, 1889, but no birth document has (yet) been located. The earliest record available, the 1900 census, lists her as born in October 1890. Hence, since the 1900 census is a proximate record (not written in 1890), it can be said that there is a near-certainty that Susie was at least 115, and it's still possible that she was in fact 116. In a similar, related case, inconsistent records suggested that Maggie Barnes was at least 115, but possibly a year older. Documentarians tend to 'err on the side of caution'. Thus, Ms. Barnes claimed to be 117, and was at least 115, but could have been 116.

In some cases a person may just miss the standards required for acceptance. For example, Rosa Williams of College Park, Georgia died in January 2001, allegedly born in May 1886. The 1910 census listed her as 22, suggesting she was born in May 1887 or May 1888. Hence, we cannot be certain of her age, but some evidence exists to support the claim. This type of case is said to be "partially validated", although she was at least 112, so a supercentenarian regardless.

In another type of case, the only records that exist are late-life documents. Because age inflation often occurs in adulthood (to avoid military service; to apply for a pension early, or because the government began record-keeping during their mid-lifetime), unverified claims also exist. Unverified claims are less likely to be true (because the records are written later), but are still possible. However, because demographic mortality tables show ages above 130 to be extremely unlikely to be true (on the order of trillions to one odds), it would be best to assume that unverified claims to age 130 and above are automatically false, and hence best served by longevity myths. The purpose of longevity claims, then, is to serve as an inventory for the grey area between validated (certainly true cases) and mythical (cases improbable in the extreme that nonetheless may be accepted as valid under non-scientific discourses, such as religion). For example, Hanna Barysevich of Belarus, who claimed to have been 118, can neither be verified nor debunked, and the age claim was within the realm of possibility (the maximum proven age being 122). Hence, her case was a longevity claim.

Lists of longevity claims

The below lists are meant to show the present and past range of longevity claims, in the grey area between verified and impossible. The lists should be viewed as a spectrum, with the lower ages being more likely to be true and the higher ages less likely to be true.

These lists also serve the purpose of showing the wide range of distribution of extreme claims, which refutes the contention that such claims are particular to only certain "longevity villages". The lists also help to dispel the notion that one claimant should be accepted (without records) while ignoring all the other claims out there (which would also have to be accepted if records weren't required). Finally, because a few of the claims may be true but records do not exist or have not been found, the lists serve the third purpose of categorizing those grey area cases (such as the one of Maria Strelnikova of Russia) that could be true, but have not (yet) been proven as such.

Partially-validated cases (presumed to be living)

These cases have some evidence of validity, but do not meet the criteria for full validation. F.e.: the person may be listed in the 1930 census or Social Security Death Index (in the U.S.).

Name	Claimed birth	Alleged age	Residence
Richard Washington	April 13, 1893	131 years, 42 days	Darlington, South Carolina, United States
Virginia Call	January 4, 1894	130 years, 142 days	Illinois, United States

Recent claims with no records (presumed to be living)

These cases have no publicly available early-life records to support them, but have been made in the press. At the very least, the person should have a claimed year, month and day of birth to be listed here. Claims that don't should be listed in the article about longevity myths. Only claims of at least 113 are included here. Note: the current oldest verified living person is Edna Parker from the United States.

Name	Claimed birth	Alleged age	Residence
Moloko Temo	July 4, 1874	149 years, 326 days	South Africa
Habib Miyan	22 May, 1878	146 years, 3 days	India
Maria Olivia da Silva	28 February, 1880	144 years, 87 days	Brazil
Tsunyelo Dora Muzila	4 May, 1880	144 years, 21 days	South Africa
Du Pinhua	22 April, 1886	138 years, 33 days	China
Alberto Yoip	12 May, 1886	138 years, 13 days	Cuba
Noninji Elizabeth Bete	21 May, 1886	138 years, 4 days	South Africa
Ida Stewart	5 November, 1886	137 years, 202 days	Jamaica
Józef Piotrowski	7 September, 1887	136 years, 261 days	Poland
Józef Buszyło	7 October, 1887	136 years, 231 days	Poland
Pearl Gartrell	1 April, 1888	136 years, 54 days	Florida, United States
Amelia Costa dos Santos	15 May, 1888	136 years, 10 days	Brazil
LaJean Smith	23 June, 1889	134 years, 337 days	Arkansas, United States
Floripes Luzia Damasio	13 December, 1889	134 years, 164 days	Brazil
Clara MacLeash	1 January, 1890	134 years, 145 days	Jamaica
Pa Igboezu Asoegwu	20 April, 1890	134 years, 35 days	Nigeria
Varvara Semennikova	10 May, 1890	134 years, 15 days	Russia
Khabibamal Khamitova	1 July, 1890	133 years, 329 days	Russia
Baji Safaorva	3 July, 1890	133 years, 327 days	Azerbaijan
Manuel Alvarez	15 September, 1890	133 years, 253 days	Cuba
Hryhoriy Nestor	15 March, 1891	133 years, 71 days	Ukraine
Sostenes Martinez	22 April, 1891	133 years, 33 days	Mexico
Elias Athanasiades	14 May, 1891	133 years, 11 days	Greece (born in Turkey)
Clementina Rodriguez Quiros	13 November, 1891	132 years, 194 days	Panama
Angel Alberto Rengifo Cerqura	31 December, 1891	132 years, 146 days	Colombia
Rebecca Lanier	24 March, 1892	132 years, 62 days	Ohio, United States
Carmen Catrileo Hualla	18 July, 1892	131 years, 312 days	Chile
Marie Ribet Davis	10 December, 1892	131 years, 167 days	Cuba
Elizabeth Johnson	25 December, 1892	131 years, 152 days	Mississippi, United States
Ellen Spencer	3 January, 1893	131 years, 143 days	Jamaica
Lu Zijian	March 5, 1871?	July 14, 2000	129 years 101 days	Brazil
Mary Ewen	May 5 1878?	April 10 2007	128 years 340 days	Jamaica
Cruz Hernández	May 3, 1878?	March 8, 2007	128 years 309 days	El Salvador
Elizabeth Israel	January 27 1875?	October 14 2003	128 years 260 days	Dominica
Swami Kalyan Dev	June 26 1876?	July 12, 2004	128 years 16 days	India
Benito Martínez Abrogán	June 19 1880?	October 11 2006	126 years 114 days	Haiti/Cuba
Jackson Pollard	Dec 15 1869?	Oct 25 1995	125	Georgia United States
Juan Ramos	June 24 1880?	Jan 24 2006	125 years 214 days	Cuba-USA
Abewara Grace	Aug 16 1878?	Jan 18 2004	125 years 155 days	Ghana
Alberta Davis	Dec 24 1881?	Jan 27 2007	125 years 34 days	Georgia United States
Anna Visser	Dec 25 1878?	Jan 8 2004	125 years 14 days	Namibia
Augusta Watts	Aug 15 1876?	July 9 2001	124 years 328 days	Florida United States
Maria Etelvina dos Santos	July 15 1878?	Mar 8 2003	124 years 236 days	Brazil
Armando Frid	May 24 1866?	July 28 1990	124 years 65 days	Argentina
Ana Martinha da Silva	Aug 27 1880?	July 27 2004	123 years 337 days	Brazil
Arthur Reed	June 28 1860?	Apr 15 1984	123 years 292 days	South Carolina United States
Hava Rexha	Aug 14 1880?	Nov 8 2003	123 years 86 days	Albania
Mark Thrash	Dec 25 1820?	Dec 17 1943	122 years 357 days	South Carolina United States
Oberia Coffin	Dec 1 1883?	Oct 18 2006	122 years 321 days	Texas United States
Dora Jacobs	May 6 1880?	Jan 19 2003	122 years 258 days	South Africa
Mamie Evans	July 2, 1872?	Jan 15 1995	122 years 197 days	North Carolina United States
David Peterson	Nov 22 1850?	May 31 1973	122 years 190 days	Texas United States
Sarah Hoover	June 25 1874?	Dec 15 1996	122 years 173 days	Texas United States
Lich Nguyen	Dec 4 1876?	Dec 11 1998	122 years 7 days	Vietnam/United States (died USA)
Mary Duckworth	June 4 1861?	Apr 19 1983	121 years 319 days	Mississippi United States
William DuBerry	Feb 7 1870?	Nov 14 1991	121 years 279 days	South Carolina United States
Annibal Camoux	1638?	1759	121 years	France
Fred Greenwell	Jan 26 1880?	Jan 22 2001	120 years 362 days	Tennessee United States
Atidje Starkova	May 12 1875?	Jan 24 1996	120 years 257 days	Bulgaria
Ruperto Hernandez	13 June, 1887?	August 10, 2007	120 years 58 days	Nicaragua
Li Cairong	Nov 12 1885?	May 10 2005	119 years 178 days	China
Emma Bodie Begay	Nov 3 1887?	April 6 2007	119 years 154 days	Gallup, New Mexico United States
Hanna Barysevich	May 18 1888?	Feb 23 2007	118 years 281 days	Belarus
Dominga Pantoja Nique	May 11 1889?	Feb 14 2007	117 years 279 days	Peru
Maria Andersson	Dec 24 1828?	Aug 24 1946	117 years 243 days	Finland
Li Ada	Apr 11 1889?	Sept 27? 2006	117 169?	China
Katie Bruce	Mar 11 1890?	July 16 2007	117 years 127 days	Mississippi/Missouri United States
Nellie Chee	Oct 15 1889?	Nov 14 2006	117 years 30 days	New Mexico United States
Anton Adner	1705?	1822	117 years	Bavaria, Germany
Amanda Aguilar	May 3 1890?	Feb 14 2007	116 years 287 days	Nicaragua
Minnie Lee Nave	Aug 15 1890?	Nov 21 2006	116 years 98 days	Mississippi (USA)United States
Paweł Parniak	Feb 27 1890?	Mar 27 2006	116 years 28 days	Poland
Franz Josef Eder	1794?	May 05 1911	116 years	Germany

False and exaggerated claims (living)

These are claims that have been shown to be exaggerated:

• Rosa Brown of Pleasantville, New Jersey alleged to be born Mar 15, 1890; now said born in 1901

External links

• The idea of the demographic transition of longevity claims can be found in books published by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research at [1].
• Lists and further discussion of cases may be found at [2] or [3].