Geert Adriaans Boomgaard

Geert Adriaans Boomgaard was a Dutch supercentenarian and is generally accepted by scholars as the first validated case on record.

Biography

Early life

Little is known about Boomgaard's life: he was born in Groningen, Netherlands. His parents were Adriaan Jacobs Boomgaard and Geesje Geerts Bontekoe. His father was captain on a boat, and civil records say that Geert had the same job. In addition to captaining a boat, other sources say that he also served as a soldier in the Dutch-recruited 33e Regiment d'Infanterie Legere in Napoleon's Grande Armée.

Marriages

Aged 29, on 4 March 1818, Boomgaard married Stijntje Bus. Stijntje died aged 33, a month after the birth of their eighth child. A year later, on 17 March 1831, Boomgaard married Grietje Abels Jonker, with whom he had four more children, for a total of 12.

Longevity

On 8 January 1897, Boomgaard surpassed the final age of Belgian Pierre Darcourt to become the oldest man ever, and by 10 April 1898, he was older than the previous titleholder, 109-year-old Norwegian woman Kirsti Skagen, therefore making him the oldest ever verified person at that time.
Boomgaard outlived all of his children: his last surviving child, Jansje Hinderika, died aged 56 on 24 May 1885.
Boomgaard died aged 110 years and 135 days. The first female supercentenarian and his successor was Margaret Ann Neve — who surpassed Adriaans' final age, dying at almost 111 — although his lifespan as the longest-lived male was not surpassed until 21 February 1960, by Robert Early of the United States.