Katie Hatton revalidation announcement

The GRG recently conducted a revalidation of Katie Hatton’s age claim.

All available documents from Katie’s life were gathered again and reviewed.

Although originally validated as born December 18 1877, which was Katie’s reported date of birth in her obituary and at some other times in later life, this has now been revised.

Life story

Katie Jefferson was born in Camp Zion, Wharton County, Texas, USA to Harrison and Nellie (nee Hooks) Jefferson. Her parents were freed slaves and had married on December 24 1875. It would appear that Katie had a brother born in 1872, before her parents had married. She had a number of siblings born after her.

On October 4 1900, Katie married her first husband – Nora Ray (also known as Noah). They had one son together – Zennie Ray. Zennie died at c.87 years old (claimed c.93 years old).

On December 2 1917, Katie married for a second time, this time to a man named Jim Hatton (also known as John). They had two children together – John Jr and Naomi. Katie was widowed on February 12 1957. She continued to live in Camp Zion for the rest of her life, living with her son Zennie.

Katie passed away on January 24 1992, at the final claimed age of 114 years, 37 days. She was survived by Zennie and John Jr, as well as her grandchildren and other relatives. She had lived in Camp Zion for her whole life.

The revalidation

During her later years, Katie seems to have given her year of birth as 1876 and 1877. This is shown by one article in particular, although there may be others, – a story from early January 1990 where she was reported to have just celebrated her 113th birthday. 113 in December 1989 would put her year of birth in 1876. Indeed, according to her page on the Gerontology Wiki, Katie reportedly had claimed birth in 1875 and 1876 (although this is unsourced here – https://gerontology.fandom.com/wiki/Katie_Hatton).

In another article, in 2001, she was quoted as stating her year of birth as 1877. So, looking at every document with a recorded age for Katie was important.

As far as we know, Katie did not have a birth record – at least, none has been located to this day. In June 1880 in the census, she is first recorded with an age – given as four years old. As she had always claimed birth in the month of December, this would point us to 1875 as her year of birth. However, this could have been a rounded age – ‘in her fourth year’ or ‘approaching age four’. To err on the side of caution here, we can go with 1876. The reliability of census entries can vary, as shown in many other supercentenarian cases. However, we can only go by the records available.

Next, on June 25 1900, Katie is again enumerated with her family in the census. Here, her age is given as 25, with a month and year recorded as December 1874! Again, this points to Katie having been born before 1877.

Interestingly, after her marriage later that year, Katie started to understate her age – which can be seen in the censuses. In 1910, her age pointed to birth in c.1879. In 1920; to c.1877. In 1930; to c.1877. In 1940; to c.1880. And in 1950; to c.1877. Katie’s first husband was younger than her by several years, born in February 1881. This could possibly account for a jump in claimed age downwards by several years. This was not uncommon for women born at the time – wanting to appear closer in age to a younger husband to avoid social stigma. This is only a theory however, but either way her claimed age clearly reduced after her marriage in October 1900.

Taking into account all the documents available, it has been decided to upgrade Katie’s age by one year; to 1876. The earliest two documents with an age recorded, one being within the first twenty years of life, show Katie was very likely born before 1877. Indeed, it is possible that Katie was older than 115 even. Taking the 1880 census as factual, for instance, would show she may have been born in 1875, with a final age of 116. As stated before, to err on the side of caution, 1876 has been decided on as her most likely year of birth.

Therefore, the GRG finds that Katie Hatton reached a more likely final age of 115 years, 37 days.