Eliza Underwood revalidation

The Gerontology Research Group recently gathered all the available documents from Eliza Underwood’s life to take another look at her age claim for accuracy.

Life

Eliza Jane Brown was born in Clinton, Sampson County, North Carolina, USA to freed slaves Charles (known as Charlie) Brown and Violet Butler. She was brought up by a nearby white family. In 1890 she married Isham Underwood, afterwards moving to Georgia where their first daughter was born in 1891. In 1912 they adopted another daughter. In the 1900 census, it appears the couple may also have had a son born in 1897. The family later moved to Mississippi, where Eliza was widowed in 1953. In 1973, she moved to Texas to live with her daughter, but was only there for a few years until her daughter died. Eliza then moved to Washington DC to live with her adopted daughter, where she would spend her final two years. She passed away there on January 27 1981.

Revalidation

Eliza claimed various years of birth, such as 1877, 1869, 1867, 1865. There is no known birth record for Eliza, which was not uncommon at the time for blacks in the United States, particularly in the Southern States. This leaves us with census documents and some other documents to examine her age claim.

At the end of her life, her final claimed date of birth was March 15 1867. In the 1900 census, she gave ‘October 1865’. In 1944, on applying for Social Security, she gave May 15 1877. In the United States Social Security Death Index, she was listed as born March 15 1869. So there is quite a variance here. The month of May used in the Social Security Application may have been a clerical error, as March is seen used at most other times, including articles about her life in newspapers. It is not known why October was chosen as the month of birth in the 1900 census – the age and year given here are still interesting, however.

Age understatement was common for women of the time, which can perhaps account for using much later years of birth in mid and late life. As with other similar cases, looking at the early-life documents that recorded an age, are usually more accurate. Parents are less likely to get ages incorrect while their children are still under their roof.

The most telling and important information comes from the 1870 and 1880 census entries. In 1870, Eliza was recorded as four years old. In 1880, she was recorded as 14 years old. Very consistent! Both censuses were taken in June of their respective years. Given that she claimed birth in March most consistently, this would point to birth in 1866. In fact, other than the 1870 and 1880 census, the 1900 supports 1865 and the 1910 supports 1866. All early life records support being born before 1867.

It has therefore been decided to upgrade Eliza’s initial validated age of 113 years, 318 days to 114 years, 318 days.

Eliza was the first validated person to ever reach the age of 114, the oldest validated person to have ever lived and the oldest living person in the world.

March 15 1866 – January 27 1981