Editing Sarah Knauss

{{short description|American supercentenarian (1880–1999)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2021}}
{{distinguish|Sarah Kauss}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Sarah Knauss
| image              = Sarah Knauss 1897.jpg
| caption            = Sarah Clark aged 17, {{circa|1897}}
| birth_name         = Sarah DeRemer Clark
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1880|09|24}}
| birth_place        = [[Hollywood, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania|Hollywood, Pennsylvania]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{death date|1999|12|30}}<br/>(aged {{ayd|1880|09|24|1999|12|30}})
| death_place        = [[Allentown, Pennsylvania]], U.S.
| spouse             = {{marriage|Abraham Lincoln Knauss|1901|1965|end=died}}
| children           = 1
| known for          = The oldest person ever from the United States
}}
'''Sarah DeRemer Knauss''' ({{nee|'''Clark'''}}; September 24, 1880 – December 30, 1999) was an American [[supercentenarian]]. She is the [[List of supercentenarians from the United States|oldest person ever from the United States]] and, on April 16, 1998, became the world's [[oldest people|oldest living person]]. She is the third-oldest verified person ever, living to the age of 119 years and 97 days. Her birthdate has been independently verified through numerous [[United States census|census]] and other records.

==Early life==
Sarah DeRemer Clark was born on September 24, 1880, to Walter Clark and his wife Amelia, the daughter of [[Germany|German]] immigrants,<ref name="1890 Census">{{cite news | title= South Bethlehem 1890 Census. |url = http://www.bethlehempaonline.com/beth1890/abc.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080907235734/http://www.bethlehempaonline.com/beth1890/abc.html |url-status = usurped |archive-date = September 7, 2008 |publisher=bethlehempaonline|access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref> in [[Hollywood, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania|Hollywood, Pennsylvania]], a small [[coal mining]] community in the [[Coal Region]] of [[Northeastern Pennsylvania]]. She was the third of her parents' seven children, but three of her brothers died in infancy and childhood.

Her family later moved to [[South Bethlehem Downtown Historic District|South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania]], in the [[Lehigh Valley]] region of the state.<ref name="Jeune Robine Young Desjardins 2010 pp. 285–323">{{cite book | last1=Jeune | first1=Bernard | last2=Robine | first2=Jean-Marie | last3=Young | first3=Robert | last4=Desjardins | first4=Bertrand | last5=Skytthe | first5=Axel | last6=Vaupel | first6=James W. | title=Demographic Research Monographs | chapter=Jeanne Calment and her successors. Biographical notes on the longest living humans | publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg | publication-place=Berlin, Heidelberg | year=2010 | isbn=978-3-642-11519-6 | issn=1613-5520 | doi=10.1007/978-3-642-11520-2_16 | pages=285–323}}</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1901, at 20 years old, she married Abraham Lincoln Knauss (1878–1965).<ref name="century">{{cite news|first = Ron|last = D.|date = January 1, 2000|df = mdy-all|title = Sarah's Century|url = https://www.mcall.com/2000/01/01/sarahs-century/|newspaper = [[The Morning Call]]|access-date = April 17, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=August 29, 1901|title=Pretty Wedding at South Bethlehem|pages=4|work=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/168212670|access-date=March 19, 2025}}</ref>  Abraham was a [[tanner (occupation)|tanner]] who later became a prominent [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] leader and the [[recorder of deeds]] in [[Lehigh County, Pennsylvania]], serving as the county's recorder of deeds from 1937 until his retirement in 1951. Abraham died in 1965, at the age of 86. They had one child, Kathryn (1903–2005), who lived to be 101.<ref name="Merrill"/> Through most of her life, Knauss acted as a housewife. She enjoyed knitting, crocheting, and sewing.

Before Knauss' death, there were six living generations in her family. In February 1999, ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine photographed Knauss with a member from each of these generations, up to her newborn great-great-great-grandchild.<ref name="CNN" /><ref name="morningcall">{{cite web | first1=Ron |last1=Devlin |newspaper=[[The Morning Call]]| url=http://genforum.genealogy.com/knauss/messages/8.html|title=Sarah Knauss, Oldest Person, Dies at 119| via=Genealogy.com| date=December 31, 1999| access-date=February 18, 2013}}{{Better|date=August 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | first1=Mike |last1=Frassinelli |newspaper=[[The Morning Call]]| url=http://www.grg.org/knauss119.htm| title=Mrs. Sarah Knauss, the World's Oldest Person, Turns 119| via=GRG.org| date=September 25, 1999| access-date=January 23, 2019}}</ref><ref name="Jeune Robine Young Desjardins 2010 pp. 285–323">{{cite book | last1=Jeune | first1=Bernard | last2=Robine | first2=Jean-Marie | last3=Young | first3=Robert | last4=Desjardins | first4=Bertrand | last5=Skytthe | first5=Axel | last6=Vaupel | first6=James W. | title=Demographic Research Monographs | chapter=Jeanne Calment and her successors. Biographical notes on the longest living humans | publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg | publication-place=Berlin, Heidelberg | year=2010 | isbn=978-3-642-11519-6 | issn=1613-5520 | doi=10.1007/978-3-642-11520-2_16 | pages=285–323}}</ref>

==Health and lifestyle==
It was not until Knauss reached 111 years old that she took up residency at a nursing home in [[Allentown, Pennsylvania]], due to her frailness and failing eyesight. In 1995, Knauss remarked that she enjoyed her life because she still had her health and could "do things".<ref name="Merrill"/> At 117 years old, Knauss underwent a blood transfusion due to having low [[hemoglobin]], and she continued to take heart medication for the rest of her life. Those around her believed her to be of sound mind up until her death. Within the last year of her life, she still had conversations with her daughter Kathryn. Eventually, she struggled to recognize her daughter; however, this may have been due to her failing hearing and eyesight rather than a failing mind.<ref name="Jeune Robine Young Desjardins 2010 pp. 285–323">{{cite book | last1=Jeune | first1=Bernard | last2=Robine | first2=Jean-Marie | last3=Young | first3=Robert | last4=Desjardins | first4=Bertrand | last5=Skytthe | first5=Axel | last6=Vaupel | first6=James W. | title=Demographic Research Monographs | chapter=Jeanne Calment and her successors. Biographical notes on the longest living humans | publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg | publication-place=Berlin, Heidelberg | year=2010 | isbn=978-3-642-11519-6 | issn=1613-5520 | doi=10.1007/978-3-642-11520-2_16 | pages=285–323}}</ref>

When asked how she had survived to her great age, Knauss responded that one should “keep yourself busy, work hard, and not worry about how old you are.” She was a non-smoker and was never considered obese at any point in her life. She did have a fondness for sweets, however, and her great-granddaughter claimed that Knauss "hated vegetables". A member of the staff at Knauss' nursing home claimed that she was the friendliest of all residents at the home, and her relatives failed to remember a point in her life that she scolded anyone or even appeared stressed.<ref name="Jeune Robine Young Desjardins 2010 pp. 285–323">{{cite book | last1=Jeune | first1=Bernard | last2=Robine | first2=Jean-Marie | last3=Young | first3=Robert | last4=Desjardins | first4=Bertrand | last5=Skytthe | first5=Axel | last6=Vaupel | first6=James W. | title=Demographic Research Monographs | chapter=Jeanne Calment and her successors. Biographical notes on the longest living humans | publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg | publication-place=Berlin, Heidelberg | year=2010 | isbn=978-3-642-11519-6 | issn=1613-5520 | doi=10.1007/978-3-642-11520-2_16 | pages=285–323}}</ref>

==Death==
Knauss died of [[Death by natural causes|natural causes]] on December&nbsp;30, 1999 in [[Allentown, Pennsylvania]].<ref name="Merrill"/><ref>{{Cite web |date=December 31, 1999 |title=World's oldest person misses millennium |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/584685.stm#:~:text=Sarah%20Knauss%2C%20whose%20claim%20is,nursing%20home%20in%20Allentown%2C%20Pennsylvania. |access-date=September 7, 2024 |website=[[BBC News]]}}</ref> An autopsy was performed on her body, but the results were never made public; however, she was not known to have been suffering from any illness at the time of her death. After her death, Ella Miller (1884–2000) became the world's [[oldest people|oldest living person]].

Knauss remained the second oldest known validated person until [[Kane Tanaka]] outlived her by 10 days in April 2022.

==Longevity records and verification==
Knauss became the United States national [[longevity]] record holder after surpassing the final age of [[List of American supercentenarians#Delphia Welford|Delphia Welford]] (1875–1992) on November 30, 1997. On April 16, 1998, she became the world's oldest person after 117-year-old French Canadian [[Marie-Louise Meilleur]] died. Knauss remains the oldest documented person from the United States,<ref name='Newton"1999"'>{{cite news |last1=Newton| first1=Christopher| title=Sarah Knauss, World's Oldest Person, Dies at 119 |url = http://onlineathens.com/stories/123199/obi_old.shtml |access-date=October 25, 2014 |publisher=Online Athens| newspaper=[[Athens Banner-Herald]]|date=December 31, 1999}}</ref> and is the third-oldest fully documented person ever, after French supercentenarian [[Jeanne Calment]] and Japanese supercentenarian [[Kane Tanaka]], who lived 10 days longer than Knauss.  She was recognized as the [[oldest people|world's oldest living person]] by [[Guinness World Records]] from April&nbsp;16, 1998, until her death the next year at the age of 119 years and 97 days.<ref name="Merrill">{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mccRBwAAQBAJ&q=%22Sarah+Knauss%22&pg=PT10 |title=Our Aging Bodies |first1=Gary F. |last1=Merrill  |isbn=978-0-8135-7526-1 |location=New Brunswick, New Jersey |publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] |date=February 3, 2015 |access-date=December 7, 2015}}</ref><ref name="CNN">{{cite news |title= World's Oldest Person Misses Millennium. |url = http://www.supercentenarian.com/oldest/sarah-knauss.html |publisher=CNN via WebCite| access-date=March 23, 2008}}</ref><ref name="Guardian">{{cite news | title=Nothing Fazes Oldest Woman |url = http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-67606481.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110516221825/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-67606481.html |url-status = dead |archive-date = May 16, 2011 |agency=Associated Press |date=April 19, 1998 |access-date=December 9, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title= World's Oldest Person Dies. She is the Oldest Verified American in History |url = https://www.theguardian.com/international/story/0,,244425,00.html |work=[[The Guardian]] |date= January 1, 2000|access-date=December 9, 2007 |location=London, England}}</ref><ref name="Nevada">{{cite news |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1908&dat=19991230&id=VkIrAAAAIBAJ&pg=1378,7567856&hl=en |newspaper=[[The Nevada Daily Mail]] | date=December 31, 1999 |title=Sarah Knauss, World's Oldest Person Dies at 119 |location=Harrisburg, Pennsylvania |agency=[[Associated Press]] |access-date=December 5, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Harris">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7_sNpNk-3VcC&q=%22Sarah+Knauss%22&pg=PA85 |title=Living to 100 and Beyond |first1=Timothy |last1=Harris |page=85 |year=2009 |location=Winsted, CT |publisher=ACTEX Publications |isbn=978-1-56698-699-1 |access-date=December 6, 2015}}</ref>

Knauss' records have been heavily reviewed to ensure the claims surrounding her lifespan are legitimate. Many records have been found that verify her claim, including the record of the [[1890 United States census|1890 census]], taken when Knauss was still in childhood.<ref name="1890 Census">{{cite news | title= South Bethlehem 1890 Census. |url = http://www.bethlehempaonline.com/beth1890/abc.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080907235734/http://www.bethlehempaonline.com/beth1890/abc.html |url-status = usurped |archive-date = September 7, 2008 |publisher=bethlehempaonline|access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref><ref>[https://www.demogr.mpg.de/books/drm/007/3-3.pdf ''Demographics''] Retrieved April 2021</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of the verified oldest people]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/80000/images/_80119_old300.jpg Photo portrait—Sarah Knauss aged 117 in 1997] [[CBC News]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100630165005/http://articles.mcall.com/keyword/sarah-knauss ''Allentown Morning Call'' collection of articles about her 1993–2000]

{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knauss, Sarah}}
[[Category:1880 births]]
[[Category:1999 deaths]]
[[Category:American people of German descent]]
[[Category:American supercentenarians]]
[[Category:People from Allentown, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:People from Luzerne County, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Women supercentenarians]]