Can you imagine being born near the end of one century, seeing the entirety of another century and the beginning of not only the next century but a new millennium? Just think of the amazing and awful and wonderful things you would experience in your life to have lived so long! It’s not very often that this type of thing happens, but to 5 women who have lived over 115 years that is exactly what they have done! These 5 women were born in the 1800’s! Two of the five women are still living today, however the other 3 just recently died. I would have LOVED to be able to sit down with any one of these women and talk to them about their view on what has happened during their lives! Meet the oldest women in the world who were all born in the 1800’s:
Misao Okawa
Born On March 5, 1898
Misao was the oldest living Japanese person who had ever lived. Sadly, she recently died in April of this year, just one month shy of her 117th birthday due to heart failure! She had been a widow for 83 years so it’s bittersweet that she has finally left this earth. She says the secret to a long life is Good Genes, Good Sleep, Exercise and Sushi. She claimed if you “eat and sleep you will live a long time.” And she was obviously someone who knew just how to do that!
Susannah Mushatt Jones AKA Miss Susie
Born July 6, 1899
Miss Susie is almost 117 years old! She was born in Alabama and is the 3rd of 11 children. She moved to New York City in 1923 and still lives there. She is a huge advocate for education and has helped many of her descendants afford their college education. She says that “[she] wants everyone to go to college.”
Gertrude Weaver
Born July 4, 1898
Gertrude was born in Arkansas and recently died there as well less than 3 months from her 117th birthday. She is survived by one son who is in his 90’s (apparently a long life runs in the family) but she joins her 3 other children and her husband in death. Before she died she said that she enjoyed manicures and wheelchair dancing because “we can’t get up anymore”
Emma Morano
Born November 29, 1899
Emma is still living a healthy life in Italy, in fact she is still living on her own! She is the oldest of 8 children and the only one of her family that still remains alive today. She attributes her long life to some advise that she received from her doctor when she was 20 years old: To eat one raw and one cooked egg every day.
Jeralean Talley
Born May 23, 1899
Jeralean died less than 2 weeks ago in Michigan. She was born in Georgia and had a rough life picking cotton and peanuts. When she was 36 years old she moved to Michigan where she married Alfred Talley and had one daughter. Her husband died 27 years before Jeralean but she spent her time with her large family, fishing, gambling, bowling and gardening!
To live so long would be simply amazing! However, it would be incredibly sad as well. These women have seen almost everyone they knew and loved pass away before them. I hope we can all use them as an example because most of us (those of us that are older than 15) have the unique opportunity of being able to say that we were born in the previous millennium. If we were to live as long as these women someone may ask us what it was like to be born, not only in a previous century but a previous millennium. Those of us born in the 1900’s (and the 5 ladies we met above) are the last people to bring in a new millennium for the next 985 years! That is pretty awesome! Hopefully we live our lives in a way that makes us proud to tell our progeny in years to come what it was like living now!