Sarah Knauss: American supercentenarian

Knauss is the oldest American ever and the third-oldest person in history, behind Jeanne Calment and Kane Tanaka.

Sarah Knauss
Sarah Knauss aged 17 in 1897
Born	Sarah DeRemer Clark (1880-09-24)September 24, 1880 Hollywood, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	(1999-12-30)December 30, 1999 (aged 119 years, 97 days) Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Other names	Sadie
Occupation(s)	Former manager, homemaker
Title	America's oldest person ever
Spouse	Abraham Lincoln Knauss (m. 1901–1965)
Children	1

She, also along with Danish-born Americanman Christian Mortensen, who died just 9 days after Meilleur, were the last two living people born before 1884. During the last 40 days of her life, she was also the last living person born before 1885.

Knauss was born as Sarah DeRemer Clark on September 24, 1880, as the third of seven children in Hollywood, Pennsylvania, US. Her family then later moved to South Bethlehem, Pennyslavia.

Her only child, Kathryn, was born in 1903 and died in 2005, aged 101. After 64 years of marriage, her husband died in 1965 at the age of 86.

Knauss was a very short woman. She was 4 feet 7 inches (1.40 metres) tall.

At the age of 104, she moved in with her daughter, Kathryn Knauss Sullivan. At the age of 106, she was no longer able to walk and got about via wheelchair. She remained in relatively good health well into her 119th year, except for being almost totally deaf.

On December 30, 1999, Knauss died from natural causes in her sleep at around 3:00 p.m., while sitting in the chair in her room. She died 2 days before the year 2000 started. With her death, British woman Eva Morris become the oldest living person in the world.

• List of American supercentenarians