Easter Wiggins | Gerontology Research Group

Full name: Easter Wiggins
Lifespan: (01.06.1874 – 07.07.1990)
Age: 116 years, 36 days
Birthplace: USA (Mississippi)
Last residence: USA (Mississippi)
Application date: 31.05.2017
Validation date: 29.08.2020
Validation source: United States (SSA)/Jimmy Lindberg/Robert Young/Sylvia Gholston/Evangeline Cessna-Warren

Biography

Easter Wiggins was born in Bovina, Warren County, Mississippi on June 1 1874 to Sally Brown (nee Grant) and an unknown father. She had at least three siblings – Chaney, Jacob and Alfred.

Easter lived in Tensas Parish, Louisiana, for a time while she was young (a neighboring county to where she was born), but then moved back to Warren County, Mississippi.

Easter had one son, Ezekiel Tanner, in May of 1891. She went on to marry Joseph Wiggins on February 10 1897. Easter was sadly widowed at some point between 1910 and 1920, after which she did not remarry. She lived in the Warren County area for most of her life, before moving to Rolling Fork, Sharkey County, Mississippi in late life.

Easter Wiggins died there in a care home on July 7 1990 at the age of 116 years, 36 days. She was the oldest known and validated person in the world from the death of Florence Knapp on January 11 1988 until her passing in 1990. Jeanne Louise Calment (1875–1997) of France then took the title of Oldest Living Person upon her passing.

Thanks go to all involved in the validation of Easter Wiggins’s age, especially the family for providing information and photos.

Validation

Her age was verified by the United States (SSA) study, Jimmy Lindberg, Robert Young, Sylvia Gholston and Evangeline Cessna-Warren, then validated by the Gerontology Research Group from August 29 2020.