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 1870's, of the 100th birthday test: was 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 to 125) and the "myth of longevity" claim, whereby a spontaneous claim is made that a certain village elder is "150" or "167." 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.

Demographic gerontology recognizes three primary stages of extreme longevity claims: pre-literate, transitional, and modern. The claims of pre-literate society tend to correspond to Longevity Myths. The age of the oldest village elder is often a source of pride in a rural area, far from the metropole, lacking not only official records but also local records. The illiteracy rate is usually very high, such that the highest age claims are often correlated with areas with the lowest rates of literacy. In the second stage, transitional, some records are kept, such as church records, but there is no central registry of record-keeping, and the system of records does not extend to the poor. It has been shown that in this stage, age claims tend to fall from the 150+ range to about 115-130. Also of note, a few cases may be true, but most are exaggerated. The third and final stage of the demographic longevity transition involves the "modern" or "literate" stage. This stage sees official recordkeeping for 100% of the population. This stage was first achieved in Sweden in 1749; in England and Wales in 1837; in Scotland in 1855; in the U.S. in 1933. Because it takes more than 100 years for the persons born (or claiming to be born) before the stage began, often the records begin achieving accuracy a century later: hence, the Swedish records achieved accuracy around 1860. The United States is still in the transitional stage. Currently, the oldest U.S. claimant is Alberta Davis (claims to be 124), while the oldest person whose age can be documented is Elizabeth Bolden, 115.

A statement mentioned by Diogenes Laertius (c. 250) is the earliest (or at least one of the earliest) references about (plausible centenarian) longevity given by a scientist, the astronomer Hipparchus of Nicea (c. 185 – c. 120 B.C.), who, according to the doxographer, assured that the philosopher Democritus of Abdera (c. 470/460 – c. 370/360 B.C.) lived 109 years. All other account given by the ancients about the age of Democritus, appears to, without giving any specific age, agree in the fact that the philosopher lived over 100 years; possiblility that turns out to be likely given, not only by the fact that many ancient greek philosophers are thought to have lived over the age of 90 (e.g.: Xenophanes of Colophon, c. 570/565 – c. 475/470 B.C., Pyrrho of Ellis, c. 360 - c. 270 B.C., Eratosthenes of Cirene c. 285 – c. 190 B.C., etc.), but also because of the difference that the case of Democritus evidences from the case of, for example, Epimenides of Crete (VII, VI centuries B.C.) of whom it is said to have lived 154, 157 or 290 years, like it has been said about countless elders even during the last centuries (as well as in present time) being these cases most likely (or at least in most cases), exagerations if not deliverate frauds.

Problems with 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, we have the problem of many cases whereby no actual birth record exists. Since some were recorded in the census, however, we may be able to obtain some 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) claims to be born Oct 31 1889, but no birth document has been located. The earliest record available, the 1900 census, lists her as born Oct. 1890. Hence, since the 1900 census is a proximate record (not written in 1890), it can be said that there may be a 95% certainty that Susie is at least 115, but it's still possible that she is in fact 116.

In some cases, a person may just miss the standards required for acceptance. Rosa Williams of College Park, Georgia, died in Jan 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."

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 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 gray area between validated (certainly true cases) and mythical (scientifically false cases that nonetheless may be accepted as valid under non-scientific discourses, such as religion). For example, Hanna Barysevich of Belarus, who claims to be 117, can neither be verified nor debunked, and the age claim is within the realm of possibility (the maximum proven age being 122). Hence, her case is a longevity claim.

Lists of longevity claims

The below lists are meant to show the present and past range of longevity claims, in the gray 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 gray-area cases (such as Maria Strelnikova of Russia) that could be true but have not 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. For example, the person may be listed in the 1930 census or Social Security Death Index (in the U.S.).

Du Pinhua of China claims birth Apr 22 1886
Li Ada of China claims birth Apr 11 1889
Pawel Parniak of Poland claims birth Feb 27 1890 (mother born in 1875 suggests younger than claimed)
Minnie Lee Nave of Mississippi claims birth Aug 15 1890 (1900 census suggests 1893)
Maxima Cabrera-Alfaro of Uruguay claims birth Nov 18 1893
Florence Finch of New Zealand claims birth Dec 22 1893

Recent claims with no records (presumed to be living)

These cases have no publically 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 date of birth to be listed here. Claims that don't should be listed in Longevity myths. Only claims of at least 113 are included here.

Moloko Temo of South Africa claims birth July 4, 1874
Cruz Hernandez of El Salvador claims birth May 3, 1878
Habib Miyan of India claims birth May 22, 1878
Maria Olivia da Silva of Brazil claims birth February 28, 1880
Tsunyelo Dora Muzila of South Africa claims birth May 4, 1880
Benito Martinez of Cuba claims birth June 19, 1880
Alberta Davis of Thomson, Georgia claims birth December 24, 1881
Oberia Coffin of Texarkana, Texas claims birth Dec 1 1883
Noninji Elizabeth Bete of South Africa claims birth May 21 1886
Józef Piotrowski of Poland claims birth Sept 8 1887
Pearl Gartrell of Jacksonville, Florida claims birth Apr 1 1888
Hanna Barysevich of Belarus claims birth May 5 1888
LaJean Smith of Arkansas claims birth June 23 1889
Floripes Luzia Damasio of Brazil claims birth Dec 13 1889
Clara MacLeash of Jamaica claims birth Jan 1 1890
Katie Bruce of Saint Louis, Montana claims birth Mar 11 1890
Maria Strelnikova of Russia claims birth Mar 15 1890
Pa Igboezu Asoegwu of Nigeria claims birth April 20 1890
Khabibamal Khamitova of Russia claims birth July 1 1890
Baji Safaorva of Azerbaijan claims birth July 3 1890
Elias Athanasiades of Greece (born Turkey) claims birth May 14 1891
Clementina Rodriguez Quiros of Panama claims birth Nov 13 1891
Rebecca Lanier of Ohio claims birth Mar 24 1892
Carmen Catrileo Hualla of Chile claims birth July 18 1892
Ellen Spencer of Jamaica claims birth Jan 3 1893
Roxene Riggs of Florida claims birth Apr 12 1893
Richard Washington of Darlington, South Carolina claims birth April 13 1893
Benedykta Mackiello of Poland claims birth May 1 1893

Limbo cases (no updates within 2 years)

Juan Ramos of Tampa, Florida claimed birth June 24 1880 in 1997; last heard from in 2001 at 121
Goshada Tsallaeva of Russia claimed birth Nov 15 1886; last known to be living Nov 2002 at 116

Longevity claims of the past

Note: this section is a stub and many more cases are planned to be added later. This could use a Table format.

Maria do Carmo Geromimo of Brazil March 5 1871?-June 14 2000 claimed 129, also claimed to be last Brazilian slave
Elizabeth Israel of Dominica January 27 1875?-October 14 2003 claimed 128
Swami Kalyan Dev of India June 26 1876?-July 12, 2004 claimed 128
Jackson Pollard of Georgia (USA) Dec 15 1869?-Oct 25 1995 claimed 125 (claimed 128; 125 was according to his social security record)
Abewara Grace of Ghana Aug 16 1878?-Jan 18 2004 claimed 125
Anna Visser of Namibia Dec 25 1878?-Jan 8 2004 claimed 125
Augusta Watts of Florida (USA) Aug 15 1876?-July 9 2001 claimed 124
Maria Etelvina dos Santos (Brazil) July 15 1878?-Mar 8 2003 claimed 124
Armando Frid (Argentina) May 24 1866?-July 28 1990 claimed 124
Ana Martinha da Silva (Brazil) Aug 27 1880?-July 27 2004 claimed 123
Arthur Reed of South Carolina (USA)June 28 1860?-Apr 15 1984 claimed 123, also claimed to be last U.S. slave
Hava Rexha (Albania) Aug 14 1880?-Nov 8 2003 claimed 123
Mark Thrash of South Carolina (USA) Dec 25 1820?-Dec 17 1943 claimed 122; listed as 77 in the U.S. Census in 1900
Dora Jacobs (South Africa) May 6 1880?-Jan 19 2003 claimed 122
Mamie Evans of North Carolina (USA) July 2, 1872?-Jan 15 1995 claimed 122
David Peterson of Texas (USA) Nov 22 1850?-May 31 1973 claimed 122
Sarah Hoover of Texas (USA) June 25 1874?-Dec 15 1996 claimed 122
Lich Nguyen of Vietnam (died USA) Dec 4 1876?-Dec 11 1998 claimed 122
Mary Duckworth of Mississippi (USA) June 4 1861?-Apr 19 1983 claimed 121
William DuBerry of South Carolina (USA) Feb 7 1870?-Nov 14 1991 claimed 121
Fred Greenwell of Tennessee (USA) Jan 26 1880?-Jan 22 2001 claimed 120
Atidje Starkova of Bulgaria May 12 1875?-Jan 24 1996 claimed 120
Li Cairong of China Nov 12 1885?-May 10 2005 claimed 119

References

The idea of the demographic transition of longevity claims can be found in books published by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research. http://www.demogr.mpg.de/
Lists and further discussion of cases may be found at http://www.grg.org/ or http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Worlds_Oldest_People/

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