| Sarah Knauss | |
 Knauss at the age of 115. | |
| Birth: | 24 September 1880 Hollywood, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Death: | 30 December 1999 Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Age: | 119 years, 97 days |
| Country: |  USA
|
| Validated | |
Sarah DeRemer Knauss (née Clark; 24 September 1880 – 30 December 1999) was a validated American supercentenarian who was the oldest living person in the world from the death of Marie-Louise Meilleur on 16 April 1998 until her own death on 30 December 1999 at the age of 119 years, 97 days. She is the third-oldest validated person in history, behind only Kane Tanaka and Jeanne Calment.
Biography
Sarah DeRemer Clark was born in Hollywood, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, USA on 24 September 1880, a "mining patch" community that no longer exists, at a time when the now-famous Hollywood, California did not yet exist. She lived much of her life in Allentown, where she brought up her daughter Kathryn Sullivan (17 November 1903 – 21 January 2005).
There was also a history of longevity in her family: her paternal grandmother lived to the age of 98, and her cousin Minnie Kresge (2 October 1893 – 24 February 1999) lived to the age of 105. In addition, her daughter Kathryn Sullivan lived to the age of 101.
She married Abraham Lincoln Knauss in 1901. Their only child was Kathryn Sullivan.
Knauss lived with her daughter from the age of 96 and moved into a nursing home at the age of 111. At the age of 118, Knauss was still able to have a conversation with her daughter, but in the last six months of her life, she did not respond to conversations.
Knauss died rather abruptly while sitting in her chair on 3:00 p.m. of 30 December 1999, caused by natural causes. She died 33 hours before the millennium year 2000, and was survived by five generations of descendants. Some of her organs were bequeathed to the New England Centenarian Study, which did an autopsy.
Longevity Records
On 27 December 1994, she surpassed the age of Florence Knapp to become the oldest person ever from Pennsylvania state.
On 9 February 1995, at 114-years-old, she became the oldest living person in the United States, after the death of Georgia Ella Jordan just 6 days older than her. Knauss became also on this day the last American person born in 1880.
On 12 July 1995, Knauss became the third-oldest living person in the world (behind Jeanne Calment and Marie-Louise Meilleur), after the death of Tane Ikai from Japan aged of 116.
On 24 September 1995, she celebrated her 115th birthday, becoming the 9th person in the history to reach this age and the 5th American to do that.
On 25 April 1996, Knauss became the last American born before 1882, after the death of Mary Bidwell aged of 114.
On 24 September 1996, she celebrated her 116th birthday, becoming the 6th person in the history to reach this age (after Easter Wiggins in 1990, Jeanne Calment and Delphia Welford in 1991, Tane Ikai in 1995, and Marie-Louise Meilleur also in 1996).
On 4 August 1997, Knauss became the second-oldest living person in the world (behind Marie-Louise Meilleur) after the death of the French woman Jeanne Calment aged of 122.
On 24 September 1997, Knauss celebrated her 117th birthday, becoming the 4th person in the history to reach this age (after Jeanne Calment and Delphia Welford in 1992 and Marie-Louise Meilleur also in 1997) and the second American to do that (after Welford).
On 30 November 1997, Knauss surpassed the age of Welford to become the oldest American ever.
On 16 April 1998, she became the oldest living person in the world and the last survivor born in 1880, after the death of Marie-Louise Meilleur of Canada who was just 26 days older than Knauss. When she got the title, Knauss was 117 years, 204 days, it was the oldest age at which anyone has ever gained the title at that time.
On 25 April 1998, just 9 days after becoming the world's oldest living person, Knauss became also the last survivor born before 1884, after the death of the 115-year-old American man Christian Mortensen (born in 1882).
On 13 May 1998, Knauss surpassed the age of Marie-Louise Meilleur to become the second-oldest person ever (behind Jeanne Calment).
On 24 September 1998, Knauss celebrated her 118th birthday, becoming the 2nd person in the history to reach this age (after Jeanne Calment in 1993).
On 24 September 1999, Knauss celebrated her 119th birthday, becoming the 2nd person in the history to reach this age (after Jeanne Calment in 1994).
She died on 30 December 1999, less than 48 hours before the year 2000, at the age of 119 years and 97 days. At the time of her death, Knauss was the oldest living person in the world, the last survivor born in 1880 and the last living person born before 1884. She remains the oldest person ever from USA and North America and the only person from this region to reach 118 and 119. She had also the record of the oldest person ever to have received the title of the world's oldest living person, because Knauss was exactly 117 years, 204 days when she got the title, until Lucile Randon of France broke this record, obtaining the title on 19 April 2022 at the age of 118 years, 67 days after the death Kane Tanaka from Japan. For a long time, Knauss remained the only other verified people who has celebrated her 118th and 119th bithday (the other being Jeanne Calment), until Kane Tanaka from Japan reached these ages in 2021 and 2022. Knauss remained, for almost 25 years, the second-oldest person ever, until Kane Tanaka of Japan, surpassed her age on 10 April 2022 (Tanaka died only 9 days after). Knauss remained the third-oldest person ever, behind Calment and Tanaka and one of only three people to reach the age of 119.
After her death, Ella Miller became the oldest living person in USA and in the world.
Gallery
References
- Sarah Knauss, 119 Photo Gallery, Gerontology Research Group
- Jeanne Calment and Her Succesors Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
- Morning Call, October 9, 1986
- Morning Call, October 1, 1987
- Morning Call, September 29, 1988
- Morning Call, September 26, 1991
- Morning Call, September 30, 1993
- Morning Call, September 25, 1994
- Morning Call, September 24, 1995
- Morning Call, September 22, 1996
- Morning Call, September 25, 1997
- Morning Call, April 18, 1998
- Morning Call, September 25, 1999
- Morning Call, January 1, 2000
- Morning Call, January 8, 2000
- Mrs Sarah DeRemer Clark Knauss Find A Grave