Gracie Greer age validation (1888-2000)
Gracie Johnnie Glass was born July 12 1888, to John and Tempie (nee Griswold) Glass, in Ullin, Pulaski County, Illinois, USA. She had at least three siblings. By 1900, Gracie’s father had died – her mother went on to remarry.
On May 29 1907, Gracie married Peter Elzie Greer, a farmer, in Ullin and they went on to have at least four children together. They continued to live in Ullin, with Gracie eventually living there for her whole life.
On September 17 1964, Gracie was widowed. She didn’t remarry after this and the following year started to claim Social Security.
Gracie Greer passed away in the same town she was born on August 15 2000, aged 112 years, 34 days.
Validation
Gracie’s case came to light by two means – findagrave.com (where her gravestone is shown) and her Social Security correspondence (SSA/SSDI). On investigating, she was enumerated as age 11 in the 1900 census, recorded as born “July 1888” (the earliest evidence we have). No birth record can be found, which is not unusual for blacks at the time.
Although later censuses would point to around 1889 or 1890 as year of birth, the earliest records are often considered the most accurate. Parents don’t often forget their children’s ages. After marriage, age deflation was common for women born in the 1800’s and early 1900’s. Also, the siblings enumerated in the 1900 census have consistent ages. Given that Gracie’s claimed date of birth did not change throughout life and the earliest record concurs with this, we can be reasonably sure her age claim was correct. There also appears to be no evidence of identity swap.
Her age was considered validated by the GRG from March 3 2025.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/235830259/gracie-glass-greer
