Grace Clawson

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Grace M. (Taylor) Clawson (November 15, 1887-May 28, 2002) was born in England, but emigrated to Montreal as an infant, and in 1901 to the United States, where she lived in Illinois and later Florida. Clawson is notable as the then "oldest living American", this status having been retroactively recognized following the death of Maude Farris-Luse.

Clawson's age became confused when, for a time, she was given up for adoption. As an adult, she thought she was born in 1889. In 1917 she married Ray Clawson in Chicago.

In 2001, researchers located the original 1887 birth record of Grace Taylor in London, which was written in 1887, proving that she was in fact two years older.

Clawson's family had planned to apply to the Guinness Book of World Records for recognition of her oldest living American status, but she died before the application documents arrived. Her age was posthumously verified by the Gerontology Research Group, and later accepted as valid by the International Database on Longevity.