Talk:Martha Graham (supercentenarian)

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This article was nominated for deletion on 9 November 2007. The result of the discussion was no consensus, default to keep..

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Why doesn't anyone know her exact date of birth? 124.180.150.97 08:10, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

That's a good question for Robert Young though. Extremely sexy 12:55, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Well why not ask that guy! 124.181.132.145 11:11, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

Yes: do so. Extremely sexy 12:50, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

Why haven't you done so? 124.180.64.35 04:37, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

I thought you would, but I will ask him right now. Extremely sexy 10:45, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

Martha Graham was an ex-slave. As such, a date of birth wouldn't have been recorded. The Guinness age guesstimate of 114 years 180 days is based on the 1900 census, which lists her as "56". I have not seen the census record myself, but this case wouldn't be accepted as validated by the moderen criteria (20-year-rule). Note since the 1900 census lists the month and year of birth, it must have listed "Dec" 1844. Note that also it was quite common for slaves to claim Dec. 25 (Jesus's birthday) as their date of birth (July 4 was another popular choice). It is likely that the Guinness 'guesstimate' of 114 years c180 days is really based on this (which would be 114 years 182 days). It is still possible more research could be done (i.e. is there an 1860 census record?). What about a 1959 newspaper story? I don't keep this case on my personal list because I require a known birth and death date. However, others only require that "Guinness accepted it" which is the basis for this listing. Ironically, I was the one who recommended Guinness accept this case...in 1986, when I was 12 years old. I argued that their text says that she claimed to be 117 or 118, but was found to be 'only' 114, which was still more than the U.S. recordholder at 113. The very next Guinness edition updated her to recordholder status. However, I didn't know at the time that the 'proof' that she was '114' was based on the 1900 census. R Young {^yakł_talk} 00:15, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

Amazing: they listened to a 12-year-old boy. Extremely sexy 23:46, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

I was a bit of a child prodigy. I had argued that the gap between Japan and the USA was quite large, and it may be better to 'up' the USA to 114.R Young {^yakł_talk} 08:41, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Improper deletion after "keep" decision

User:BrownHairedGirl, a participant in the discussion who voted to delete the article, had improperly, after the results mentioned above and the official discussion preserved at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Martha Graham (supercentenarian), deleted this article anyway.

I have restored it. Gene Nygaard (talk) 14:05, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

Yes, I know it was kept as a redirect to a list, and not completely deleted. But "merger" is one of the options available at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion, and one actually discussed in this case. It was not the option chosen. Gene Nygaard (talk) 14:12, 10 February 2008 (UTC)