So you have just discovered what supercentenarians are? Well, you’re in for a long ride as there have to date been over 3,000 supercentenarians validated by LongeviQuest and there are thousands of other claims that are either debunked or incomplete. This means that you have a long way to go before you’ve learned about each and every one of them and you won’t be able to remember them all (I’ve since long given up). Still, some supercentenarians stand out more than others in various ways (not to say that they were more important people than any of the other supercentenarians), be it from being the first, oldest, most well-known or any other interesting tidbit, meaning that supercentenarian fans generally know these supercentenarians well.

I remember when I started doing supercentenarian research over a decade ago and just saw a wall of various names being listed without knowing who these people were and I found it a bit difficult to know where to start when learning about exceptional longevity. So see this editorial as a brief overview of a few supercentenarians that it’s good to get acquainted with.

Jeanne Calment (21 February 1875 – 4 August 1997) – 122 years, 164 days

Jeanne Calment at the age of 114. (Photo: Eric CATARINA/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

If you have ever heard of supercentenarians before, chances are that you are at least somewhat familiar with Jeanne Calment. Calment was a French woman who became the oldest person ever in 1990 or 1991 but wasn’t recognized as such until 1995, when she surpassed the now disputed claim of Shigechiyo Izumi (1865?-1986).

Calment led a fairly normal life, allegedly meeting Vincent van Gogh as a child, marrying her cousin and having a daughter in the late 1800s. She would spend her life in Arles, outliving both her daughter and grandson who both died young. When Calment was 90 years old she sold her apartment to a lawyer on a contingency contract, meaning that the lawyer (age 47 at the time) would pay a monthly sum of 2,500 Francs until she died. Calment continued to live in her apartment until she was 110 years old. The lawyer died at age 77 in 1995 (when Calment was a mere 120) and had by that time paid about double the value of the apartment to Calment. His widow ended up paying the final payments until Calment died in 1997.

Jeanne Calment is the oldest person ever to be featured in a movie, having appeared in the French movie “Vincent and Me” when she was 114 years old. She recorded a CD when she was 120 called “Maîtresse du temps” in which she “rapped” to music. When Calment died in 1997 she was more than five years older than any other person alive and is still the oldest person ever, being more than three years older than Kane Tanaka (1903-2022) of Japan, who died at age 119.

In recent years some people have attempted to discredit the validity of Calment’s final age, arguing that the person who died in 1997 was in fact Calment’s daughter, Yvonne. Serious researchers, such as Calment’s original validators have refuted these claims and at present the “groundbreaking evidence” that has presented pretty much amounts to a few grainy photos, a slight change in signature in the 1930s and interviews from when Calment was in her 110s where she misremembered minor details.

Geert Adriaans Boomgaard (21 September 1788 – 3 February 1899) – 110 years, 135 days

Geert Boomgaard at age 100. Photo: J.G. Kramer.

Someone has to be the first to push beyond a certain threshold and when it comes to supercentenarian status, Geert Adriaans Boomgaard of the Netherlands was the first. Still, for a long time Boomgaard wasn’t recognized as such, however, as the cases of Pierre Joubert and Thomas Peters were considered accepted but later disregarded due to identity-mix-ups (Joubert) or a lack of evidence (Peters). Like Calment, Boomgaard was born and died in the same place; Groningen.

Boomgard’s father was a boat captain, and Boomgaard would also spend a life at sea. Prior to that Geert Boomgaard served as a soldier and would fight for Napoleon in Russia. Upon his return to the Netherlands he would marry and have children. His wife would die shortly after the birth of their eighth child and he remarried. Boomgaard outlived both wives and all of his children. Later in life he gained notoriety for his long life and his photograph was even sent to Dutch royalty. He became the oldest person ever after having surpassed Kirsti Skagen’s final age of 109 years, 200 days in 1898 and would “reign” as the oldest person ever for about three and a half years, when Margaret Ann Neve (1792-1903) of Guernsey would surpass his final age.

Delina Filkins (4 May 1815 – 4 Dec 1928) – 113 years, 214 days

Delina Filkins. Source: Star-Gazette, 18 May 1928

Just like Jeanne Calment eclipsed the previous human longevity record in the 1990s, Delina Filkins of New York did the same in the 1920s. Delina Filkins led a life of hard work, working with spinning yarn from a young age. She married as a teen and had seven children. Filkins and her husband would make cheese for a living. After being widowed at age 75 she would manage on her own for a few years before moving in with her son Frank. Filkins would feature in the newspaper from when she was about age 100 and it was noted when she turned 101 that she had only travelled a couple of miles away from her birthplace at most and had only ridden a car once.

It was noted that Filkins still retained most of her faculties until late in life, still walking with a cane at the time of her 113th birthday. She is also one of the oldest patients ever to have undergone surgery, having received treatment for a hernia at age 107. Delina Filkins became the oldest person ever after having surpassed the final age of Louisa Thiers (1814-1926, 111 years, 138 days) in 1926. Filkins would extend the human longevity record by over two years before her death in December 1928 at 113 years, 214 days of age. This record would stand for over 50 years, until 1980, when Eliza Underwood (1867-1981), Fannie Thomas (1867-1981) and Anna Murphy (1867-1980) would all surpass it within just over a month, with Underwood holding the record until being surpassed by Augusta Holtz (1871-1986) a few years later.

Jiroemon Kimura (19 April 1897 – 12 June 2013) – 116 years, 54 days

Jiroemon Kimura. Photo: AP/Kyotango City

Let’s round out this field with the oldest man of all time, Jiroemon Kimura of Japan, who died just over a decade ago. In recent years it has been very uncommon for a man to hold the title as the world’s oldest living person, but Kimura managed to hold the title for about half a year following the death of Dina Manfredini (1896-2012) in December 2012. A few days later Kimura would become the oldest man ever, surpassing the final age of Christian Mortensen (1882-1998).

There were claims that Jiroemon Kimura had been born as early as March 1897 but this was refuted by a team of Japanese researchers who validated his age as it appeared that his family exaggerated his age in order for him to begin school earlier.

Kimura also came from humble beginnings, being the son of farmers in a fishing village, Kamiukawa, in the southwestern part of Japan. None of Kimura’s siblings lived especially long lives, only two siblings living over 90 years. Kimura would work for the post office after leaving school when he was 14 years old. He served in the military on and off between 1918-1921. Jiroemon Kimura married in 1920 and had eight children. After retiring from his work at the post office at age 65, Kimura would help his eldest son with farmin until he was 90. He also gained notoriety shortly around the time of age 100 after being featured in the media. Eating small portions and never until you were full was Kimura’s “secret” to a long life.

What Next?

Well, now you know of the oldest woman and oldest man of all time as well as the first supercentenarian and the person to have held the record for the oldest person for the longest time. You can now branch out in a variety of directions, perhaps read about veterans such as Henry Allingham, or about supercentenarians who stayed active until well past age 100 (Hatsuno Goto springs to mind)? Or maybe you want to read about strange life stories? The case of Monroe Rutty/Joe Steele is definitely up there… Feel free to explore the website and new supercentenarians are continuously being added!