Maria Raquel de Almeida Guerra (25.08.1914 - 01.10.2021) 107 years and 37 days
She was born in Benedita, Leiria District and died in the same place.
She was the second-oldest known living person in Leiria District, at the time of her death.
Arnaldo Sousa Branco (16.12.1911 - 07.01.2017) 105 years and 22 days
He died in Silves, Faro District.
He was the oldest known living man and oldest known living person in Faro District, at the time of his death.
ESO Correspondent for Portugal
Matilde da Conceição Cruz (08.12.1910 - 17.04.2018) 107 years and 130 days
She was born in Alfaião, Bragança District, and died in Gimonde, Bragança District.
She was the second-oldest known living person in Bragança District, at the time of her death.
ESO Correspondent for Portugal
I found another Portuguese supercentenarian:
Her name was Domingas and she was born on 13 November 1903.
Her nephew made two facebook posts about her on her 110th and 111th birthdays. Her nephew lives in Lisbon.
Probably she was the oldest person in Portugal since the death of Maria Dolores Ferreira, aged 111, who died on 31 July 2013.
110th birthday:
111th birthday:
ESO Correspondent for Portugal
João Sebastião Ferreira (27.01.1889 - 13.04.1998) 109 years and 76 days
He was born in the parish of Santa Maria Maior, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal and died in the parish of São Pedro, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal.
He was the oldest known person ever from Madeira at the time of his death and the oldest known living man from Portugal at that time.
On his baptism record it is mentioned that he was born on 27 January 1889 (not 20 January 1889).
Joao Sebastião Ferreira (1889 - 1998) - Genealogy (geni.com)
ESO Correspondent for Portugal
Elídia Nogueira da Silva (07.12.1911 - 10.09.2021) 109 years and 277 days
She was born in Angeja, Albergaria-a-Velha, Aveiro District and died in the same place.
She was the oldest known living woman in Aveiro District and the second-oldest known living person in Aveiro District, behind Alberto Andrade.
A voz de Albergaria | **dos Bombeiros Albergaria-a-Velha ** | Facebook
À família e aos amigos, a Freguesia de... - Freguesia de Angeja | Facebook
ESO Correspondent for Portugal
Maria Ribeiro (07.01.1907 - c.2014) 107 years and 0+ days
She was born in Rabacinas, Proença-a-Nova, Castelo Branco District and must have died in the same place around 2014. Her granddaughter made a Facebook Post in 2015, indicating that her grandmother died at the age of 107.
She was the second-oldest known living person in Castelo Branco District, behind Piedade da Conceição Vicente.
Aldeia de Rabacinas faz festa a aldeã de 105 anos - Portugal - Correio da Manhã (cmjornal.pt)
Ela tem razão eh eh , a minha avó chegou aos... - Sílvia Gonçalves | Facebook
ESO Correspondent for Portugal
Maria Jesus, from Lisbon, died on 24 October 1934 at the claimed age of 116. While already far-fetched, this claim becomes even stranger when you see what her cause of death was:
It would be interesting to see how old she actually was, although her name is extremely generic, so I'm not sure how easy this would be.
Profile picture: Marita Camacho Quirós (1911-Present)
@mendocino in Portugal, until the 1950s there were many longevity myths. Despite the Portuguese population being registered/baptized since the 16th or 17th centuries, most people was illiterate and did not know exactly their date of birth.
I have a few more cases here, but I doubt that any of them were really a supercentenarian:
ESO Correspondent for Portugal
I always like researching very old claims because I am sure that there probably is a true 110+ claim from the late 1800s and several from the early 1900s out there waiting to be discovered and researched.
Is there a possibility to easily investigate some of these old claims?
Several Western European countries have their old longevity claims been more or less researched (UK, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy) but I've never seen anything like this for Spain and Portugal. I think these two countries can hide some interesting cases, not necessarily SCs, but maybe potential WOPs of 107, 108 or 109 years from the 19th or the beginning of the 20th century.
@guillaume I have already researched some cases of Portuguese longevity myths and of the ones that I researched, none of them was actually a centenarian.
These are some examples:
Salvador Nunes (they didn't know exactly how old he was, but they believed he was 108 years old at the time of his death)
I found his marriage record which has information about his date of birth
He was born on 16 January 1855 and died on 16 January 1954, at the age of 99.
Josefa Fernandes (it was said in the news at the time that she was 110 years old)
I found her death record and her birth record:
She was born on 25 December 1781 and died on 22 September 1872, at the age of 90.
Prudência da Trindade (it was said in the news that she died at the age of 109)
When I investigated this case, I found her marriage record which indicated how old she was when she got married. I think it also said that she was an orphan.
Unfortunately I didn't keep the marriage record and I don't know how to find it anymore. But she was 92 when she died in 1943, according to her age on the marriage record.
EDITED: I found her marriage record from 1878 when she was 27 years old.
ESO Correspondent for Portugal
Moreover, in the annual demographic statistics of Portugal, there are many centenarians and supercentenarians who died every year:
For example, in 1954 died in Portugal:
1 man aged 108 (Salvador Nunes - 99 years old)
1 woman aged 108 ?
1 man and 1 woman aged 109 ?
2 women aged 110 ?
1 woman aged 112 ?
ESO Correspondent for Portugal
Brezaliza de Amorim (27.03.1916 - 05.07.2023) 107 years and 100 days
She was born in Cedrim, Aveiro District and died in Paçô de Cedrim, Aveiro District.
She was the second-oldest known living person in Aveiro District, at the time of her death.
(her case was unknown until her death/obituary)
ESO Correspondent for Portugal
Liberalina Violante Medina (1850? - 1960) 109 years old.
Liberalina was born in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1850, the daughter of slaves. She was also a slave in the first years of her life, until they were all freed.
At the age of 39 she moved to the archipelago of Azores with her employers. She lived for several years on the island of Graciosa, then she moved to the island of Terceira, where she died in January 1960, at the claimed age of 109.
She was the second-oldest person to die in Portugal, in 1960 (supposedly), based on Portugal's 1960 demographic statistics, behind a 112-year-old woman.
ESO Correspondent for Portugal
A few days ago I found in a newspaper the news of the death of a lady named Virgínia Ornelas Mendes aged 109, who died on 5 May 1960, in Funchal, Madeira Archipelago, Portugal.
It was reported that she was an official teacher and that she had been retired for 65 years. It was also reported that she had never been sick, until December 1959, having always been lucid until her death. She had 4 children, who died long time before her and had 9 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great-grandchildren.
I easily found her marriage record from 1873, where it was reported that she was 26 years old at that time.
Then I also found the baptism records of her 4 children: Romana (b.23.09.1873); João (b.04.03.1875); Abel (b.12.09.1879) and Jordão (b.08.01.1882).
I also discovered her parents' marriage record, from 1858, where it is written that they legitimized their daughter, Virgínia (her). Her parents were Matilde Adelaide Jardim (after the wedding - d'Ornelas) and António Marcial d'Ornelas.
Unfortunately it is not known where are the baptismal books of the parish of Santana, where she was born, between 1835 and 1859. I contacted the Madeira archive and they don't know where are these books, or it is possible that they have been included in the baptismal books from other parishes.
However, the Madeira archive gave me a copy of her death record, which confirms that she was married to António Frederico Mendes and her parents' names match with those from 1858. There was also an amendment dated 13-4-1852 (it should have been her date of birth that was on her baptismal record). She was 108 years old in her death record (in the newspaper it was reported as 109).
Her age of 108 years matches with the demographic statistics of Portugal from 1960, where it is possible to see that died one woman aged 108.
Death Record:
Her parents' marriage record from 1858:
Her marriage record from 1873:
Baptism record of Virgínia's first child from 1873:
Baptism record of Virgínia's second child from 1875:
Baptism record of Virgínia's third child from 1879:
Baptism record of Virgínia's fourth child from 1882:
So it is possible to conclude that it is very likely that she was really 108 years old, being currently the earliest known Portuguese centenarian.
If her date of birth was 13 April 1852, then she was 108 years and 22 days. Her full name was Virgínia Adelaide d'Ornelas (current portuguese: de Ornelas) Mendes.
ESO Correspondent for Portugal
I found two articles about João Sebastião Ferreira, from Madeira, who died aged 109. He was the oldest known living man in Portugal, at the time of his death.
He was born in the parish of Santa Maria Maior, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal and died in the parish of São Pedro, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal.
He claimed to be born on 20 January 1889, but in his baptism record it is written that he was born on 27 January 1889.
He was a lawyer and was considered the doyen of Portuguese lawyers.
109th birthday:
PT-ABM-COLJOR-DN_19980121.pdf (madeira.gov.pt)
Obituary:
ESO Correspondent for Portugal
@seto2001 discovered another Portuguese supercentenarian: Laurinda da Conceição (18.05.1904 - 09.11.2015) 111 years and 175 days
It was through this Facebook post that it was possible to seto2001 discover this Portuguese supercentenarian! She was the oldest person in Portugal at that time:
Luis Marques - Finalmente consegui falar com a pessoa mais idosa... | Facebook
@seto2001 also located Laurinda da Conceição’s baptism record.
I found two editions of the newspaper "Serras de Ansião" where she was reported as the oldest person in Portugal:
Thanks for the great discovery @seto2001!
ESO Correspondent for Portugal
Maria das Dores Pais (08.07.1904 - 17.11.2012) 108 years and 132 days
She was born in Póvoa de Santo António, Nelas, Viseu District and died in the same place.
She was the oldest known living person in Viseu District, at the time of her death.
Para que a memória não se apague | Jornal Online do Concelho de Nelas (nelasonline.blogspot.com) - poem that she recited when she was 100 years old
PT-ADVIS-PRQ-PNLS01-001-0013_m0282.tif - Baptismos - Arquivo Distrital de Viseu - DigitArq (arquivos.pt) - page 282 (baptism record)
ESO Correspondent for Portugal
Fantina Veríssimo Coelho (06.02.1913 - 20.07.2021) 108 years and 164 days
She was born in Sesimbra, Setúbal District and died in the same place.
She was the oldest known living person in Setúbal District, at the time of her death.
ESO Correspondent for Portugal
António Guerreiro Fome (c.1909 - 12.02.2016) 107 years and ? days
He died in Loulé, Faro District.
He was the oldest known living man in Faro District and the second-oldest known living man in Portugal, at the time of his death.
(5) Faleceu o louletano mais antigo. Penso que... - António Palma Clareza | Facebook
ESO Correspondent for Portugal
This previous unknown woman died today, aged 110.
She was born in Guarda district, and was living in Setúbal. She is the first known supercentenarian that lived in Setúbal district.
I will investigate her case in the next days, to validate her.
May she rest in peace 🌻
ESO Correspondent for Portugal
Edviges Joaquina (20.01.1906 - 07.06.2015) 109 years and 138 days
She was born in Alcobertas, Rio Maior, Santarém District and died in the same place.
PT-ADSTR-PRQ-PRMR01-001-0027_m0009.tif - Registo de batismos - Arquivo Distrital de Santarém - DigitArq (arquivos.pt) - baptism record (page 9)
(2) Facebook - obituary
ESO Correspondent for Portugal
I have been investigating Portuguese centenarians (107+): I obtained documentation of several cases and discovered that Rosa Cadete and António de Almeida were not the age that was reported in the media. Both had been reported to have lived to 108 years old.
António de Almeida:
He claimed to have been born on 6 September 1867, but he was actually born on 20 September 1875. He died on 11 December 1975, aged 100.
Representação digital - Arquivo da Universidade de Coimbra - Archeevo (uc.pt) (n.21)
Rosa Cadete:
She claimed to have been born on 27 March 1881, but she was actually born on 27 March 1887. She died on 7 October 1989, aged 102.
Representação digital - Arquivo da Universidade de Coimbra - Archeevo (uc.pt) (n.19)
ESO Correspondent for Portugal
@gabriel_pt Congrats on debunking these two historical cases!
ESO Correspondent for Hungary (since 2020)
GRG Correspondent for Hungary (2020-2023)
Tracker and researcher of Hungarian and other Central European (super)centenarians (since 2016)
Enthusiast of extreme longevity (since childhood)
I discovered that António Guerreiro Fome was born on 6 March 1908, making him the oldest living man in Portugal at the time of his death on 11 February 2016, aged 107 years and 342 days. After his death, then 107-year-old Manuel Rodrigues Horta, born on 16 March 1908, became the oldest living man in Portugal.
He was born in Loulé, Faro District, and died in the same place.
ESO Correspondent for Portugal
Adelaide Sofia, from Melcões, Lamego, Viseu district, passed away on 12 July 2024 at the age of 110.
May she rest in peace.
ESO Correspondent for Portugal
Maria Joaquina (04.05.1885 - 08.08.1992) 107 years and 96 days
She was born in the village of Souto, municipality of Abrantes, district of Santarém on 4 May 1885. She married José Simões on 6 February 1907, at the age of 21. Then she moved to the village of Alferrarede Velha, municipality of Abrantes, district of Santarém, where she lived the rest of her life. Throughout her life she worked as a weaver and at the age of 100 she was still doing some work. She was widowed in 1951, aged 66. "Ti Maria Simões", as she was known, died on 8 August 1992, at the age of 107. She was one of the oldest living people in Portugal at that time.
Sources:
Baptism record (includes the dates of her marriage, her husband's death, and her own death).
PT-ADSTR-PRQ-PABT14-001-0023_m0032.tif - Registo de batismos - Arquivo Distrital de Santarém - DigitArq - page 32 (Nº37)
ESO Correspondent for Portugal