| 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, 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 the afternoon of 30 December 1999, survived by five generations of descendants. She died 33 hours before the year 2000. Some of her organs were bequeathed to the New England Centenarian Study, which did an autopsy.
Longevity Records
Knauss's longevity first came to light after the death of Jeanne Calment in 1997, when she and Marie-Louise Meilleur were first authenticated (previously, Mary Bidwell (19 May 1881 – 25 April 1996) had been believed to be the oldest American).
Knauss was the seventh validated person to reach the age of 115, the fourth to reach 116, the third to reach 117, the second to reach 118, and 119. She is also the third-oldest validated person ever, after Jeanne Calment of France and Kane Tanaka of Japan.
Knauss remains the only person from the United States to reach the ages of 117, 118, and 119, one of only two people from North America to reach the age of 117 (the other being Marie-Louise Meilleur), one of only four people to reach the age of 118 (the others being Jeanne Calment, Kane Tanaka, and Lucile Randon), and one of only three people to reach the age of 119 (the others being Jeanne Calment and Kane Tanaka).
Until December 2020, Knauss was thought to have been one of only two validated American supercentenarians to have reached the age of 117 until Lucy Hannah’s age would end up being debunked, meaning that Knauss was the only validated supercentenarian in the history of the United States to reach the age of 117.
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
