A Mississippi woman named Arbelia Wood at age 119 may well be the oldest person in the world: World's oldest living person? Clarion-Ledger (Jackson MS) 12/31/04
Unfortunately, official records that might have formally confirmed her birthdate are missing or incomplete. Her name appears in the 1900 Census, so she has to be at least 105 from that. The birthdate she uses comes from a family Bible, which for historians can be pretty solid evidence, if not quite good enough for Guiness' Book of World Records.
Her legal guardian is her 91-year-old brother. A right young feller, from her point of view. She has a sister living who is 96. Arbelia will turn 120 in April.
The article gives some interesting details about her:
According to family lore, in the mid-1880s in Mississippi, a white farmer gave an ultimatum to a sharecropper and daughter of former slaves: Have sex with him or leave. Muggie Greer gave birth to Arbelia Wood on April 6, 1885, in Caledonia, Miss., her family said. ...
She doesn't know why she lived so long, but she is thankful to her mother for raising her right.
"I had a smart momma, clever momma. I had to walk the line."
And, "I was pretty smart myself," she said.
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