How many nineteenth century people are left?

[DrCube]

Any clue at all when the last people from the 18th Century died? Surely some lived into the 20th? I know records and confirmation are long gone if they ever existed, but newspapers probably published stories 100-110 years ago talking about this very subject, but regarding survivors from the 1700s instead?

[Qadgop_the_Mercotan]

@MikeS

Apologies for resurrecting this thread, but I though it was an worth a late-breaking update: Emma Morano, the last person definitively known to have been born in the 1800s, died last week.

Technically, the 19th century ended at the end of 1900, so that means that there are still two living women definitively known to have been born in the 19th century: Violet Brown of Jamaica (b. Mar 10, 1900) and Nabi Tajima of Japan (b. Aug 4, 1900).

Current discussion in this thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=824037

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@DrCube

Any clue at all when the last people from the 18th Century died? Surely some lived into the 20th? I know records and confirmation are long gone if they ever existed, but newspapers probably published stories 100-110 years ago talking about this very subject, but regarding survivors from the 1700s instead?

Margaret Neve made it from 1792 to 1902. There’s also Mary Ramsey Wood, who reportedly made it from 1787 to 1908.

[Schnitte]

@GuanoLad

I’m sure a rounded number will eliminate this extremely anally retentive margin of error.

Apparently the recently deceased previous record holder for oldest person in the world was born in November 1899. The new new record holder was born in March 1900. So the number of living people born in the 1800s (1800-1899) is now zero, whereas the number of living people born in the 19th century (1801-1900) is >0. Hardly an anally retentive margin of error when you consider the orders of magnitude we’re talking about.

[slash2k]

@DrCube

Any clue at all when the last people from the 18th Century died? Surely some lived into the 20th? I know records and confirmation are long gone if they ever existed, but newspapers probably published stories 100-110 years ago talking about this very subject, but regarding survivors from the 1700s instead?

Cloe Stevens (1794-1901). She wasn’t the last survivor born in the 18th century, but she must have been very close to the last surviving slave born in the 18th century. (Born in South Carolina, taken to Texas while it was still a Mexican province, freed in 1865, and buried in the same cemetery as her former owner.)