List of American supercentenarians

American supercentenarians are citizens or residents of the United States who have attained or surpassed 110 years of age. By January 2015, the Gerontology Research Group had validated the longevity claims of 782 American supercentenarians. The oldest living American is Naomi Whitehead, aged. The longest-lived American ever was Sarah Knauss, of Hollywood, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, who died on December 30, 1999, aged 119 years and 97 days.

100 oldest known Americans

Below is a list of the 100 longest-lived American supercentenarians, according to the GRG and reliable sourcing.

Rank	Name	Sex	Birth date	Death date	Age	Birthplace	Place of death or residence
1	Sarah Knauss	F	September 24, 1880	December 30, 1999		Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania
2	Maria Branyas	F	March 4, 1907	August 19, 2024		California	Spain
3	Delphia Welford	F	September 9, 1875	November 14, 1992		Mississippi	Tennessee
4	Susannah Mushatt Jones	F	July 6, 1899	May 12, 2016		Alabama	New York
5	Gertrude Weaver	F	July 4, 1898	April 6, 2015		Arkansas	Arkansas
6	Elizabeth Bolden	F	August 15, 1890	December 11, 2006		Tennessee	Tennessee
7	Besse Cooper	F	August 26, 1896	December 4, 2012		Tennessee	Georgia
8	Easter Wiggins	F	June 1, 1874	July 7, 1990		Mississippi	Mississippi
9	Jeralean Talley	F	May 23, 1899	June 17, 2015		Georgia	Michigan
10	Edith Ceccarelli	F	February 5, 1908	February 22, 2024		California	California
11	Ella Miller	F	December 6, 1884	November 21, 2000		Tennessee	Virginia
12	Maggie Barnes	F	March 6, 1882	January 19, 1998		North Carolina	North Carolina
13	Dina Manfredini	F	April 4, 1897	December 17, 2012		Italy	Iowa
14	Christian Mortensen	M	August 16, 1882	April 25, 1998		Denmark	California
15	Hester Ford	F	August 15, 1905	April 17, 2021		South Carolina	North Carolina
16	Edna Parker	F	April 20, 1893	November 26, 2008		Indiana	Indiana
17	Margaret Skeete	F	October 27, 1878	May 7, 1994		Texas	Virginia
18	Bernice Madigan	F	July 24, 1899	January 3, 2015		Massachusetts	Massachusetts
19	Gertrude Baines	F	April 6, 1894	September 11, 2009		Georgia	California
20	Bettie Wilson	F	September 13, 1890	February 13, 2006		Mississippi	Mississippi
21	Iris Westman	F	August 28, 1905	January 3, 2021		North Dakota	North Dakota
21	Naomi Whitehead	F	September 26, 1910	Living		Georgia	Pennsylvania
23	Marie-Josephine Gaudette	F	March 25, 1902	July 13, 2017		New Hampshire	Italy
24	Susie Gibson	F	October 31, 1890	February 16, 2006		Mississippi	Alabama
24	Thelma Sutcliffe	F	October 1, 1906	January 17, 2022		Nebraska	Nebraska
26	Edna Kern	F	October 14, 1900	January 20, 2016		California	Nevada
27	Elizabeth Francis	F	July 25, 1909	October 22, 2024		Louisiana	Texas
28	Augusta Holtz	F	August 3, 1871	October 21, 1986		Prussia	Missouri
29	Bessie Hendricks	F	November 7, 1907	January 3, 2023		Iowa	Iowa
30	Katie Hatton	F	December 18, 1876	January 24, 1992		Texas	Texas
31	Maud Farris-Luse	F	February 21, 1887	March 18, 2002		Michigan	Michigan
32	Antonia Gerena Rivera	F	May 19, 1900	June 2, 2015		Puerto Rico	Florida
33	Mary Bidwell	F	May 9, 1881	April 25, 1996		Connecticut	Connecticut
34	Hazel Plummer	F	June 19, 1908	May 25, 2023		Massachusetts	Massachusetts
35	Ophelia Burks	F	October 25, 1903	September 27, 2018		Louisiana	Louisiana
36	Eliza Underwood	F	March 15, 1866	January 27, 1981		North Carolina	District of Columbia
37	Mary Josephine Ray	F	May 17, 1895	March 7, 2010		Canada	New Hampshire
38	Goldie Steinberg	F	October 30, 1900	August 16, 2015		Moldova	New York
39	Delphine Gibson	F	August 17, 1903	May 9, 2018		South Carolina	Pennsylvania
40	Mary Royster	F	April 15, 1875	December 28, 1989		Virginia	North Carolina
41	Neva Morris	F	August 3, 1895	April 6, 2010		Iowa	Iowa
42	Mary Ana Long	F	February 18, 1905	October 16, 2019		Kentucky	Kentucky
43	Blanche Cobb	F	September 8, 1900	May 1, 2015		Georgia	Florida
44	Mila Mangold	F	November 14, 1907	July 2, 2022		Nebraska	California
45	Myrtle Dorsey	F	November 20, 1885	June 25, 2000		Ohio	Ohio
46	Bonita Gibson	F	July 4, 1911	Living		Kansas	Michigan
47	Carrie Lazenby	F	February 9, 1882	September 4, 1996		Georgia	Illinois
48	Walter Breuning	M	September 21, 1896	April 14, 2011		Minnesota	Montana
49	Eunice Sanborn	F	July 20, 1896	January 31, 2011		Louisiana	Texas
50	Grace Clawson	F	November 15, 1887	May 28, 2002		United Kingdom	Florida
51	Wilhelmina Kott	F	March 7, 1880	September 6, 1994		Illinois	Illinois
51	Adelina Domingues	F	February 19, 1888	August 21, 2002		Cape Verde	California
53	Lucy Mirigian	F	August 15, 1906	February 12, 2021		Armenia	California
54	Charlotte Benkner	F	November 16, 1889	May 14, 2004		Germany	Ohio
55	Ettie Mae Greene	F	September 19, 1877	February 26, 1992		West Virginia	West Virginia
56	Dominga Velasco	F	May 12, 1901	October 11, 2015		Mexico	California
57	Irene Frank	F	October 1, 1881	February 28, 1996		Texas	Missouri
58	Georgia Ella Jordan	F	September 18, 1880	February 9, 1995		Georgia	Virginia
59	Olivia Patricia Thomas	F	June 29, 1895	November 16, 2009		Iowa	New York
59	Alelia Murphy	F	July 6, 1905	November 23, 2019		North Carolina	New York
61	Irene Dunham	F	December 16, 1907	May 1, 2022		Michigan	Michigan
62	Nina Willis	F	January 14, 1909	May 17, 2023		Georgia	Georgia
62	Pearl Berg	F	October 1, 1909	February 1, 2024		Indiana	California
64	Anna Henderson	F	March 5, 1900	July 1, 2014		Georgia	Pennsylvania
65	Emma Verona Johnston	F	August 6, 1890	December 1, 2004		Iowa	Ohio
65	Mamie Rearden	F	September 7, 1898	January 2, 2013		South Carolina	Georgia
65	Erna Zahn	F	April 14, 1908	August 9, 2022		Wisconsin	Minnesota
68	Bettie Chatmon	F	April 30, 1884	August 16, 1998		Louisiana	Texas
68	Lessie Brown	F	September 22, 1904	January 8, 2019		Georgia	Ohio
70	Odie Matthews	F	December 28, 1878	April 14, 1993		Texas	Arizona
71	Mary Harris	F	May 13, 1911	August 22, 2025		New York	Tennessee
72	Florence Knapp	F	October 10, 1873	January 11, 1988		Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania
72	Elena Slough	F	July 4, 1889	October 5, 2003		Pennsylvania	New Jersey
74	Mary Anna Boone	F	February 10, 1887	May 13, 2001		Kentucky	Kentucky
75	Minnie Whicker	F	July 24, 1906	October 22, 2020		Arkansas	California
76	Delma Kollar	F	October 31, 1897	January 24, 2012		Kansas	Oregon
77	Ila Jones	F	August 21, 1903	November 10, 2017		Georgia	Georgia
78	Maggie Renfro	F	November 14, 1895	January 22, 2010		Louisiana	Louisiana
79	Emma Tillman	F	November 22, 1892	January 28, 2007		North Carolina	Connecticut
79	Anna Stoehr	F	October 15, 1900	December 21, 2014		Iowa	Minnesota
81	Leila Denmark	F	February 1, 1898	April 1, 2012		Georgia	Georgia
82	Adele Dunlap	F	December 12, 1902	February 5, 2017		New Jersey	New Jersey
83	Naomi Conner	F	August 30, 1899	October 18, 2013		Texas	Texas
83	Ora Holland	F	December 24, 1900	February 11, 2015		Missouri	Oklahoma
85	Winnie Felps	F	October 10, 1911	November 20, 2025		Texas	Texas
86	Ellen Goodwill	F	February 2, 1907	March 2, 2021		Kentucky	Michigan
87	Grace Thaxton	F	June 18, 1891	July 6, 2005		New York	Kentucky
88	Soledad Mexia	F	August 13, 1899	August 30, 2013		Mexico	California
89	Minnie Ward	F	November 19, 1885	December 2, 1999		Tennessee	Massachusetts
90	Arbella Ewing	F	March 13, 1894	March 22, 2008		Texas	Texas
91	Catherine Hagel	F	November 28, 1894	December 6, 2008		Minnesota	Minnesota
92	Emma Otis	F	October 22, 1901	October 25, 2015		Washington	Washington
93	Ellen Jurick	F	July 15, 1895	July 13, 2009		Pennsylvania	Michigan
94	Fred Harold Hale	M	December 1, 1890	November 19, 2004		Maine	New York
95	Miriam Carpelan	F	July 8, 1882	June 22, 1996		United Kingdom	California
95	Elsie Thompson	F	April 5, 1899	March 21, 2013		Pennsylvania	Florida
97	Bertha Fry	F	December 1, 1893	November 14, 2007		Indiana	Indiana
98	Mae Harrington	F	January 20, 1889	December 29, 2002		New York	New York
99	Ellen Thomas	F	December 25, 1877	December 2, 1991		Tennessee	Michigan
99	Daisey Bailey	F	March 30, 1896	March 7, 2010		Tennessee	Michigan

Biographies

Delphia Welford

Delphia S. Welford was an American supercentenarian claimed to have been born on September 9, 1881; however, research conducted by the Gerontology Research Group between 2016 and 2023 concluded that she was actually born in 1875, and that she was born in Okolona, Mississippi.
Welford's parents were Richard and Heddie Welford. The family moved to Humboldt, Tennessee, when she was a teenager. She had one son, Leo Mathis, in the late 1890s. Welford never married and spent the rest of her life in Humboldt. She was a homemaker and a member of the Lane Chapel C.M.E Church.
Welford died at Parkview Manor Health Care Center in Humboldt, on November 14, 1992, at the age of 117 years, 66 days. She had been the oldest person ever from the United States after surpassing the age of Easter Wiggins on October 16, 1991. Welford would continue to hold this distinction until November 30, 1997, when Sarah Knauss lived past her final age.

Mary Bidwell

Mary Electa Bidwell was an American supercentenarian. She died aged 114 years and 352 days and 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 schoolhouse 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, of gangrene.
Her exact year of birth has been disputed. Though the year 1882 is written in her family bible, her marriage license claims that she was born in 1880.

Adelina Domingues

Adelina Domingues was a Cape Verdean American supercentenarian who was the world's oldest person from the death of 114-year-old British-American woman Grace Clawson on May 28, 2002, to her own death less than three months later. Domingues was born in Cape Verde. Domingues's Italian father was a harbor pilot by profession, and her mother was Portuguese by ethnicity. She married 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 also a religious preacher when she lived in Massachusetts, as well as an expert seamstress.
Domingues was deeply religious, had conservative political views and was a pen pal of former President of the United States Ronald Reagan. She had four children, but only one of them reached adulthood. Frank died in 1998 at the age of 71. Domingues died at a nursing home in the San Diego, California, area on August 21, 2002, at age 114 years and 183 days. She had claimed she was actually one year older, 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 U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. After 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 and 180 days, after a brief hospital stay in Youngstown, Ohio.

Fred Harold Hale

Frederick Harold Hale Sr. was born in New Sharon, Maine. He married Flora Mooers in 1910, and had five children, three of which he outlived. Throughout his life, he worked as a railroad worker and a beekeeper, before retiring to pursue gardening and canning produce. At the age of 95, he surfed for the first time in Hawaii, while on his way back to the U.S. from visiting his grandson in Japan. He was recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest driver in the world at the age of 104, and he continued driving until age 108. At 109, he moved to the Syracuse area in New York State. A lifelong fan of the Boston Red Sox, he was alive to see both their 1918 and 2004 World Series victories.
On March 5, 2004, upon the death of 114-year-old Joan Riudavets of Spain, Hale became the Oldest people#Chronological list of the [oldest living man since 1954|world's oldest living man]. He died on November 19, shortly before his 114th birthday, and was succeeded as the world's oldest man by Emiliano Mercado del Toro.

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. Three months later, on the occasion of her 114th birthday, she was presented with a proclamation signed by then 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 and 117 days.

Bettie Wilson

Bettie Antry Wilson was thought to be 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.

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 and 204 days. He was also the oldest living man in the United States, following the death of then 111-year-old Antonio Pierro on February 8, 2007. Francis was from New Orleans, Louisiana, but after 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.

Evelyn Kozak

Eva Chavka Rivka "Evelyn" Kozak was an American Jewish supercentenarian, born in New York City to Isaac and Kate Jacobson, who fled from the Russian Empire, and the oldest verified Jewish person in history from November 6, 2012, 12 weeks after turning 113, when she broke fellow German-born American Adelheid Kirschbaum's record of 113 years and 83 days, through until August 27, 2014, when fellow Russian-born American Goldie Steinberg, who was the oldest living Jewish person after her death, broke her record.
Kozak died of a heart attack at a hospital in Brooklyn, New York City, on June 11, 2013.

Bernice Madigan

Bernice Madigan was born in West Springfield, Massachusetts, and moved to Cheshire when she was six. In 1918, after graduating from Adams High School, she responded to government drives to recruit women into employment during WWI, and moved to Washington, D.C. After the war, she worked as a secretary for the Department of the Treasury and the Veterans Administration. She married Paul Madigan in 1925; they lived in the Washington, D.C., area and then in Silver Spring, Maryland. She retired in 1942, after which she volunteered with the church and at nursing homes, playing the piano for residents. She returned to live with family in Massachusetts in 2007. She participated in Boston University School of Medicine's New England Centenarian Study, and was interviewed and filmed by the Center for Aging at the University of Chicago and the ABC World News. She is one of 100 centenarians in The Archon Genomics XPRIZE. She joined social media, with profiles on Facebook and Twitter. Madigan died in her sleep at the age of 115 years and 163 days on January 3, 2015.

Gertrude Weaver

Gertrude Weaver was an American supercentenarian who held the title of world's oldest living person for six days in 2015. She gained the title after the death of Misao Okawa on April 1, 2015, and was succeeded by Jeralean Talley upon her death on April 6, 2015. Weaver became the oldest person in the United States at 114 years old on December 17, 2012.
Gertrude Gaines was born on July 4, 1898, in Lafayette County, Arkansas to sharecroppers Charles and Ophelia Gaines. Gaines married Gennie Weaver, with whom she had four children, on July 18, 1915. Gertrude was outlived by her second son and third child, Joe, who died at 93 in 2018. Weaver worked as a domestic helper for her entire life.
On July 4, 2014, the mayor of Camden declared July 4 to be "Gertrude Day" in Weaver's honor. She died on April 6, 2015, of complications with pneumonia.