| Easter Wiggins | |
 Easter Wiggins at the age of 114 | |
| Birth: | 1 June 1874 Bovina, Warren County, Mississippi, USA |
| Death: | 7 July 1990 Rolling Fork, Sharkey County, Mississippi, USA |
| Age: | 116 years, 36 days |
| Country: |  USA
|
| Validated | |
Easter Wiggins (1 June 1874 – 7 July 1990) was an American supercentenarian who has retroactively been recognized as the world's oldest person by Guinness World Records from the death of Florence Knapp on 11 January 1988 to her own death. She was also the oldest validated person ever recorded until Jeanne Calment surpassed her record on 30 March 1991.
Biography[]
Easter Wiggins was born in Bovina, Warren County, Mississippi, USA, on 1 June 1874 to Sally Brown (nee Grant) and an unknown father. She had at least three siblings – Chaney, Jacob and Alfred.
Easter lived in Tensas Parish, Louisiana for a time while she was young (a neighboring county to where she was born), but then moved back to Warren County, Mississippi.
Easter had one son, Ezekiel Tanner, in May 1891. She went on to marry Joseph Wiggins on 10 February 1897. Easter was widowed at some point between 1910 and 1920, after which she did not remarry. She lived in the Warren County area for most of her life, before moving to Rolling Fork, Sharkey County, Mississippi in late life.
She died in a care home in Rolling Fork, Sharkey County, Mississippi, USA, on 7 July 1990, at the age of 116 years, 36 days. After her death, Jeanne Calment of France became the oldest living person in the world and Delphia Welford became the oldest living person in the United States.
Longevity records[]
On 6 November 1987, at the of 113 years, 158 days she became the last surviving validated person born in 1874 following the death of Caroline Mockridge of Australia.
Two months later, on 11 January 1988, at the 113 years, 224 days she became the oldest living person in the world after the death Florence Knapp of USA.
On 1 June 1988, she celebrated her 114th birthday, becoming the fifth verified supercentenarian to reach this age, after Eliza Underwood (in 1980), Augusta Holtz (in 1985), Anna Eliza Williams and Florence Knapp (in 1987).
On 1 June 1989, she celebrated her 115th birthday, becoming the second supercentenarian verified to reach this age, after Augusta Holtz (in 1986).
On 20 August 1989, at the of 115 years, 80 days, she surpassed Holtz's age to become the oldest person ever.
On 1 June 1990, she celebrated her 116th birthday, becoming the first verified supercentenarian to reach this age.
She remained the oldest person ever until Jeanne Calment surpassed her record on 30 March 1991. Her national record has been broken by Delphia Welford on 16 October 1991.
She is currently the 32nd-oldest validated person ever and the seventh-oldest validated person ever to reside in the United States, behind Sarah Knauss, Delphia Welford, Susannah Mushatt Jones, Gertrude Weaver, Elizabeth Bolden, and Besse Cooper.
Age validation[]
Wiggins' age was verified by the SSA study, Robert Young, Sylvia Gholston, Evangeline Cessna-Warren, Jimmy Lindberg, and (posthumously) validated by the GRG on 29 August 2020.
At the time of her death, she was the first known person to have undisputedly reached the age of 116.
Gallery[]
References[]
- Easter Wiggins Gerontology Research Group
- 2020 validations Gerontology Research Group
- Easter G. Wiggins (1874–1990) AncientFaces