Posted by: @930310

@josia9353 this is pure speculation. Maggie Barnes has plenty of documentation supporting her having been 116.

But does she even have anything from before the 1900 census and 1899 marriage to support her age? I feel that the traditional proof standard for American SCs is extremely low, especially when we're talking about someone who claimed to be 115+. All of the cases validated by LAS have either baptismal or birth records to support their exact claimed age, whereas most American cases lack any early life documentation aside from census records, which sometimes get the exact age wrong. The American cases born in the 1880s are particularly weak due to the loss of the 1890 census, so Maggie Barnes is an especially uncertain case for this reason.

If you think it's impossible for her to have been several years younger than claimed due to her age in 1899 marriage document, take the case of Juana Santos Caballero of Mexico: her marriage record and census document from her early 20s supported a birth year of ~1906, but her baptismal record later showed she was actually born in 1910. It would be one thing if Maggie was consistent about her age throughout her entire life (like Sarah Knauss), but the fact that her age reporting in censuses was inconsistent means that we'll probably never know with confidence what her age was, let alone her exact age down to the day, aside from saying she was "maybe around 115". 

The only "early life" evidence actually given to support her age that I've heard of is an alleged family bible entry, but I don't think anyone knows when that was written, and I'm pretty sure it stated her DOB as 1882.

@mendocino This is off-topic but the standard for U.S. cases has been two documents from the first 20 years of life to upgrade a case to a higher age than claimed. Maggie Barnes claimed to be 117, which was disproven by the 1880 census not listing her. Her next four records (1899 marriage + 1900-1920 census) all suggest a birth in 1881 or earlier. Age deflation was common for women, so that should not be held against her.