A few weeks ago, as my thoughts wandered hither and yon, as they tend to do, it suddently occurred to me that every living thing (animal, not vegetable or mineral) on the earth 125 years ago, with the exception of a few Galapagos tortoises, is dead.
That's right. Every single person, dog, cat, bird, lion, tiger, bear, (oh my) is gone. If it was alive in 1881, it ain't no more.
All dead. Dead, dead, dead.
Kind of puts things into perspective doesn't it?
Oldest Authenticated Supercentenarians
122 years, 164 days : Jeanne Calment (France) Feb. 21, 1875 - Aug. 04, 1997
119 years, 097 days : Sarah Knauss (U.S. (PA)) Sept. 24, 1880 - Dec. 30, 1999
117 years, 248 days : Lucy Hannah (U.S. (AL)) July 16, 1875 - Mar. 21, 1993
117 years, 230 days : Marie-Louise Meilleur (Canada (QUE)) Aug. 29, 1880 - Apr. 16, 1998
116 years, +++ days : Maria Esther Capovilla (Ecuador) Sept. 14, 1889 - fl. Jun. 2006
116 years, 175 days : Tane Ikai (Japan) Jan. 18, 1879 - July 12, 1995
115 years, 319 days : Maggie Barnes (U.S. (NC)) Mar. 06, 1882 - Jan. 19 1998
115 years, 252 days : Christian Mortensen (Denmark) Aug. 16, 1882 - Apr. 25, 1998
115 years, 228 days : Charlotte Hughes (England (UK)) Aug. 01, 1877 - Mar. 17, 1993
115 years, 192 days : Margaret Skeete (U.S. (TX)) Oct. 27, 1878 - May 07, 1994
Oldest Living Person
116 years ++ : Maria Esther Capovilla (Ecuador) Sept. 14, 1889 - [fl. Jun. 2006]
Oldest Living Man
114 years ++ : Emiliano Mercado Del Toro (Puerto Rico) Aug. 21, 1891 - [fl. Jun. 2006]
Progressive List of Currently Authenticated World Record Holders
Thomas Peters : 111 years, 354 days (06 April 1745 - 26 March 1857)
Delina (Ecker) Filkins : 113 years, 214 days (04 May 1815 - 04 December 1928)
Martha Graham : 114 years, c. 180 days (December 1844 - 25 June 1959)
Jeanne Calment : 122 years, 164 days (21 February 1875 - 04 August 1997)
3 comments:
suddenly you're thinking about mortality? it isn't too bad until the first thing you look at online each day is the obits from the Enterprise, as do I.
I'm wondering about the record keeping, not much confirmed before the 1990s Laurie.
LG - My cousin who lives in Houston is obsessed with reading obituaries.
Peter - Maybe that's because the listings are qualified as *authenticated*. Whoever made the list evidently didn't go back past birth records from the 1800's.
Post a Comment