Delina Filkins

Delina Filkins, née Ecker (May 4, 1815 – December 4, 1928), was an American supercentenarian who was the earliest verified person to reach the ages of 112 and 113, in 1927 and 1928, respectively. Filkins was the first verified person to surpass the longest confirmed lifespan by two years. She was also the first supercentenarian to outlive another supercentenarian, in fact she outlived two: Miriam Bannister (1817–1928) and Demetrius Philiphovitch (1818–1928). Her case was thoroughly investigated in the 1970s and re-investigated in 2005, and found to be fully verifiable. In fact, the number of documents located make this the second-most verified case of all time, after Jeanne Calment.

Filkins's age in 1928, 113, would not be reached again until Betsy Baker attained it in 1955, and Filkins' record stood for more than 50 years - by far the longest period a person has held the record as the oldest undisputed person ever. Filkins' age was 113 years 214 days at the time of her death in Richland Springs, New York.

Early years

Born in Herkimer County, New York she went to school until she was 11 and then stayed at home to work, and also spent all her life there, except the last two months of it, within a radius of ten miles. Her father, William Ecker, lived to reach the age of 97 before he died, while her mother lived only to the age of 78.

Family

Filkins was married in 1834. She had six children. Only two of them were living at the time of her death: Frank (72) and Alonzo (86). During her lifetime, she lived through 27 U.S. presidencies, beginning with James Madison and ending with Calvin Coolidge.

See also

• A. Ross Eckler, Jr.
• List of the oldest people
• Oldest people
• Supercentenarian

External links

• Delina Filkins' obituary
• RE: 2005 re-validation effort
• The Oldest Human Beings