There are no longer humans born in the 19th century
Source: Times of Israel
Yesterday world's oldest person, today no more. Emma Morano has passed away at the ripe old age of 117. Born on 29th November 1899, she was the last person alive born in the 1800s. The 1800s could be the most important century in human history, with the industrial and scientific revolution in particular sparking off an exponential increase in... nearly every kind of human development. One that continues to this day. End of an era! Today, the "new" oldest person in the world is Violet Brown, born in March 1900. (As @preparedwombat points out below, that would technically also count as the 19th century. So, to correct myself - born in the 1800s.)
Of course, someone from some rural area in Siberia is going to claim to be 150 anyday... But we can safely discount those.
Morano herself has an interesting story. Kicking out her husband at the height of Fascist Italy - that takes some doing!
Check it out: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39610937
@liberosist sad reminder of how time relentlessly pushes forward.
About four years ago, I worked with a business owner in his 70's whose lineage was part Native American. He told me about his grandfather who lived to just over 100 years old and was born in the mid to late 1800s. He told him first person accounts of the American Civil War, when Native American Indian tribes were still sovereign nations negotiating with America and so on. Such a rich history.
I can remember how sad I was when my own great uncle died. He told me stories of growing up in the depression and when his own grandfather first had electricity wired into his house.
Great piece, my friend.
That's amazing! Those stories must be remembered and written down. All I hear from my father is growing up in the UK during Beatlemania! :)
@liberosist my absolute favorite one was when my great-uncle and his sister, my great-aunt were telling me about the first time my grandfather (their brother-in-law) was taken into the Pennsylvania countryside to meet my grandmother's parents at the height of the Great Depression. I'm glad I had the opportunity to hear those stories firsthand before he passed. I learned so much about my own grandparents and what drove them.
I'm also happy I can share those stories with my own children so they can have that sense of heritage as well.
meep
My Grandmother was born in 1908 and died in 2003 two weeks before turning 95. I still remember her stories about the Spanish Flu outbreak, the Mexican Revolution, how she met Pancho Villa and so many others. She lived to see a lot of stuff.
Ah, wow. Sounds like she led quite a life!
orales
i think my gran might be the next oldest lol
How old is your gran?
Man, she lived thru 2 world wars!!