For me, I definitely met and had a brief conversation with someone born in 1879 when I was ten or so. It is possible a next-door neighbor when I was less than four was born earlier, possibly in the late 1860s.
I am in my early fifties. I would guess some people of my age have similar experiences. I did not have the presence of mind to ask the 1879-guy if he had met anyone from the 18th century but it is not unlikely…
I am in my late 40s. I barely remember my paternal grandfather, who was born in 1874. I knew my paternal grandmother (born 1881) quite well, as she lived to be 107.
1874 is my answer.
For me the oldest would be my father’s mother, born 1876. I was once within a few metres of Bertrand Russell, born in 1872, but I didn’t actually meet him or talk to him – if I had, I’d have a link to his grandfather, John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, born in 1792, died in 1878, and at one time Prime Minister of the UK.
Bernard Baruch, the financier who died in the 1960s and was born in 1870 told of a great grandmother who, as I recall, was described in different editions of his autobiography as having told him of speaking with George Washington as a girl or dancing with Lafayette as young woman. (Maybe she did both.)
My paternal grandparents were married in 1898 and I have a newspaper clipping of their 65th wedding anniversary in 1963. I assume that they were at least teen-agers, so they were probably born in the early 1880’s. They died within a month of each other when grandpa was 92 and grandma 89. I last saw them when I was about 10 years old.
My maternal grandmother was still alive when I went on this same visit to NW Arkansas and was rumored to be 102 years old, there were no birth records. She could no longer speak and her hands had curled up into useless claws, but she still had bright eyes that would follow you wherever you went.
My wife’s great-grandmother, who was born in 1900.
Earliest I can think of was my great grandmother, Gert, who was born on September 11, 1903.
For me it’s my still living grandmother. She was born one year to the day after the Wright Brothers flew at KittyHawk, so she was born 12/17/1904.
I remember my father’s (he is 93) grandmother who was born in 1864 and died in 1960 when I was eleven.
Grandmother born in 1890, grandfather born in 1891, grandfather born in 1886.
I knew my great great granduncle, he was born in 1875, a son of a civil war vet (my ggg-grandpa.)
I had a great-aunt who was born 1/1/1900. My great-grandparents would have been older than that, but I don’t know their birthdates off the top of my head.
When I was a teenager, an older man at my church was the son of a Civil War vet. His dad had been very young in the war and very old when he fathered his last son.
My great great aunt Norah lived right up the hill from me and was born in 1890. That is the oldest date that I’m sure of. She was clear headed until she died in her late 90s.
The mother of my grandfather lived near me until she died when I was 3 in 1980. She was very near and if not over 100.
For those who don’t want to do math, I’m 34.
I would guess my great-grandfather, who was born in 1888 and died in 1984, when I was eight. I guess there’s a slight chance that I’ve met someone even older, but I doubt it.
In 1966 we kids would politely visit old lady Ollie in her house on our street. She was caring for her dying mother, who was in bed set up in place of the dinning room table (all our houses were of the same plan). The mother had been a little girl during the Civil War.
My grandmother’s brother and sister, both born in the 1850s.
I’m told I met a former slave when she was over 100 (at least 103) and I was a very small child (2 or under), but I have no memory of it and can’t confirm anything about it (the name of the former slave, if she was indeed over 100, etc.).
So I’ll go with my great-uncle John, who I met several times. He was born in 1881. His sisters, born in 1889, I saw almost daily, and lived in the house with the last surviving one of them until I was 20 and she was 97.
I know I can make it to the 18th century in three hugs:
1- I hugged my mother, who was born in 1935
2- She hugged her great-aunt/step-great-grandmother, who was born in 1855 who lived to be 100
3- Becky was hugged (I’m guessing anyway) by her father, my g-g-g-g-grandfather George, a planter born in South Carolina in 1787.
George was named for George Washington and would certainly have known many veterans of the Revolutionary War (including his father and grandfather), so that would put me 4 degrees from the Revolution.
Of course if you went with “people you knew well” the number would multiply.
When I was a kid (under 10) there was an old lady who (much to the irritation of all the other old ladies) would bustle to the front of the bus queue saying “I’m 83 you know”. I think she got to 86 or 7 before she died so that puts her birthdate around 1880.
My great-grandmother, although even she didn’t know exactly when she was born. She came to the U.S. from Poland/Russia around the turn of the 20th century when she was “about 18 or so.”
There’s probably somebody older than her but, off the top of my head, the person with the earliest birthdate whom I’ve met was my great-grandmother who was born on January 2, 1882 and lived to be 99. She was born in Norway and emigrated to the U.S. when she was 20.