Chris Mortensen, USA 1882-1998?

Nikolay Zak, ham som har skabt særdeles velbegrundet tvivl om Jeanne Calments alder, har udbedt sig fotografier af Chris Mortensen fra fortiden, specifikt fotoet bragt i en artikel i Århus Stiftstidende 13 april 1962.

På Mediastream ligger alle de relevante artikler, men der er umiddelbart kun adgang til aviser fra før 1919. Ellers skal man selv møde op på bibliotekerne, og gør man det kan man lige så godt bede om at kigge i den fysiske avis og tage sine egne foto af artiklen, hvis man godt tør bryde ophavsrettighederne på den måde.

Fra aug/sep 1904 findes en enslydende artikel om Chris Mortensen i 3 aviser med "Den danske Pioner", Omaha som kilde. Det handler om at Mortensen trak sin revolver for at kunne gå på arbejde, da nogle strejkevagter blokerede for adgangen til hans arbejdsplads i Omaha, Nebraska.

Intet foto fra begivenheden i 1904. Derimod var der et foto i artiklen fra 13 april 1962. Dette foto har vist tidligere været at finde på nettet og var et sort-hvid billede af en ældre mand med en stor hat på hovedet i selskab med de familiemedlemmer han besøgte.

I søgningen efter dette foto blev i stedet genfundet en del tekst på engelsk om valideringen (verifikationen) af hans alder og autencitet. Da jeg tidligere udtrykte tvivl om det var den rigtige Chris Mortensen, som på trehjulet cykel ankom til Aldersly i San Rafael efter at have boet i Galveston, så havde jeg læst disse valideringer og taget højde for de oplysninger sømanden faktisk kunne give om Mortensen, men fordi de er lidt svære at fremsøge kopieres teksterne ind herunder:

https://www.demogr.mpg.de/books/odense/6/10a.htm

Validation of Exceptional Longevity Age Validation of the Oldest Man Annexes

[ Text | References ]

Detailed description of available information and documentation

Birth registration

	In Fruering Parish Register :
-	Born:	16 August 1882 in Skaarup, Fruering parish, county of Skanderborg
-	Baptised:	26 December 1882 in Fruering church
-	Name:	Thomas Peter Thorvald Christian Ferdinand Mortensen

Family

-	Grandparents:
		Father's father: Johan Christian Madsen
		Father's mother: Anne Mortensdatter
		Mother's father: Therkild Hansen Thyboe
		Mother's mother: Caroline Pedersdatter
-	Parents:
		Jens Carl Martinus Mortensen, tailor. Born 2 February 1842 in Skanderborg. Died 27 May 1904 in Skaarup, aged 62 years.
		Maren Therkildsen Thyboe. Born 19 May 1842 in Skanderborg. Died 10 June 1924 in Skaarup, aged 82 years. They married 5 June 1868 in Gangsted church, Søvind parish.
-	Siblings:
		Hans Johan Mortensen, born 3 March 1869 in Søvind, died 17 April 1900 in Skaarup
		Caroline Amalie Julie Agathe Mortensen, born 15 November 1870 in Skaarup, died 8 January 1874 in Skaarup
		Carl Emil Mortensen born 12 October 1872 in Skaarup, died 8 January 1874 in Skaarup
		Carl Emil Mortensen, born 20 April 1875 in Skaarup, died 9 November 1967 in Aarhus
		Anders Peter Julius Mortensen, born 7 September 1878 in Skaarup, died March 1951 in Horsens.
-	Note regarding grandparents on father's side :
	CM's father was born as an illegitimate child. Therefore, his surname is not Johansen (son of Johan), as would be customary for a child born of married parents. The parents did not marry each other, and it has not been possible to trace Johan Madsen in any census.

Confirmation of baptism

-	27 September 1896 in Fruering church: Thomas Peter Thorvald Kristian Ferdinand Mortensen in service of farmer P. Jensen, Skaarup

Census 1880

Skaarup village, Fruering parish, Hjermslev district, Aarhus county.
Enumerator: Knud Mikkelsen

No.	Name	Sex	Age	Marital status	Faith	Place of birth
14	Jens Mortensen	M	37 yrs.	Married	Lutheran	Skanderborg
15	Maren Mortensen, nee Therkelsen	F	37 yrs.	Married	Lutheran	Skanderborg
16	Hans Johan Mortensen	M	10 yrs.	Unmarried	Lutheran	Søvind parish, Voer distr.
17	Karl Emil Mortensen	M	4 yrs.	Unmarried	Lutheran	In this parish
18	Anders Peter Julius Mortensen	M	1 yr.	Unmarried	Lutheran	In this parish

Census 1890

Skaarup village, Fruering parish, Hjermslev district, Aarhus county.
Enumerator: Johannes Christensen

House 3:

No.	Name	Sex	Age	Marital status	Place of birth	Occupation
11	Jens Karl Martinus Mortensen	M	47 yrs.	Married	Skanderborg	Tailor
12	Maren Therkelsen Thybo	F	47 yrs.	Married	Skanderborg	Housewife
13	Anders Peter Julius Mortensen	M	11 yrs.	Unmarr	Fruering	Child
14	Thomas Peter Thorvald KristianFerdinand Mortensen	M	7 yrs.	Unmarr.	Fruering	Child

Census 1901

Skaarup village, Fruering parish, Hjermslev district, Aarhus county.
Enumerator: Johannes Christensen

Title no. 24:

1.	Jens Karl Martinus Mortensen, born 12 February 1842 in Skanderborg parish. Tailor. Arrived in this parish 1869, last residence Søvind parish Married 1868 - 3 children alive, 3 children dead
2.	Maren Terkelsen Thybo, born 19 May 1842 in Skanderborg parish. Housewife. Arrived in this parish 1869, last residence Søvind parish Married 1868 - 3 children alive, 3 children dead

Census 1901

The town of Skanderborg
House list no. 153
Lillegade title 149; Owner: A. Andersen
Thomas Christian Mortensen; Male; Born 16 August 1882; Unmarried; Lutheran Church; Place of birth: Skaarup, Skanderborg county
Arrived in Skanderborg 1898; Last residence Skaarup, Skanderborg county
Apprentice (tailor); Working for Jens Overgaard

Conscript register

Name:	Thomas Peter Thorvald Christian Ferdinand Mortensen
Father:	Tailor Jens Carl Martinus Mortensen
Place of birth:	Fruering
Year/day of birth:	1882, 16 August
Note:	24 August 1903: Departed for foreign countries 1905: Not returned home

A certificate, containing the above information and verifying the entry in the conscript register, was issued 1 January 1900 to CM. It was still in his possession in 1997.

Emigration record

In the Danish Emigration Archive emigrants who travelled from Denmark to the US are registered. Below is shown CM's entry.

Name:	Mortensen, Chr.
Occupation:	Tailor
Age:	21
Destination:	Chicago
Contract no.:	3209
Date shown:	August 26, 1903
Place of birth:	Skaarup, Skanderborg
Country:	USA

Immigration record

CM's immigration record was found at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

Handwritten items on the form are shown in brackets [] to distinguish them from printed items. The information on each line of the form was divided into 22 columns. The headings for the columns and the recorded information about CM are shown below.

Transcription:

List [C]

LIST OR MANIFEST OF ALIEN PASSENGERS FOR THE U.S. IMMIGRATION OFFICER AT PORT OF ARRIVAL.

Required by the regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, under Act of Congress approved March 3, 1903, to be delivered to the U.S. Immigration Officer by the Commanding Officer of any vessel having such passengers on board upon arrival at a port in the United States.

S.S. [United States] sailing from [Copenhagen], [Aug. 26th], 190[3], arriving at Port of [New York], [September 8], 190[3].

1	No. on List. [20]
2	NAME IN FULL. [Mortensen, Chr.]
3	Age. Yrs. [21] Mos. [-]
4	Sex. [m]
5	Married or Single. [s]
6	Calling or Occupation. [tailor]
7	Able to Read. [yes] Write. [yes]
8	Nationality. (Country of last permanent residence.) [Danish]
9	Race or People. [Scandinavian]
10	Last Residence. (Province, City, or Town.) [Jutland]
11	Final Destination. (State, City, or Town.) [Chicago, Ill]
12	Whether having a ticket to such final destination. [yes]
13	By whom was passage paid? [self]
14	Whether in possession of $50, and if less, how much? [$21]
15	Whether ever before in the United States; and if so, when and where? [no]
16	Whether going to join a relative or friend; and if so, what relative or friend, and his name and complete address. [4022 Kenillworth Ave. Oak Park, Chicago Ill. Cousin Niels Hansen]
17	Ever in prison or almshouse, or institutions for care and treatment of the insane, or supported by charity? If so, which? [no]
18	Whether a Polygamist. [no]
19	Whether an Anarchist. [no]
20	Whether coming by reason of any offer, ..., promise, or agreement, ... [no]
21	Condition of Health. Mental and Physical. [a little shortsighted, otherwise good.]
22	Deformed or Crippled. Nature, length of time, and cause. [no]

Application for the Danish Brotherhood in America

On 26 March 1905 CM applied for membership in the Danish Brotherhood in America, Lodge 35, and he was accepted on 5 May 1905 at the age of 22. In his application, he gives his date of birth as 16 August 1882 and place of birth as Skaarup, Fruering parish, Aarhus county.

On the medical report that was required by the Brotherhood, his height is given as 5 foot 4 inches (162.6 cm) and weight 135 pound (61.2 kg). CM correctly states the age of his two older brothers (26 and 30 years) as well as his mother's age (63 years). Asked when he last consulted a physician and whom, CM reported a visit that occurred in 1900 and mentioned Dr. Hindhede, who was a physician in Skanderborg, Denmark, where CM lived at that time.

Census 1920 in the United States

The following information was taken from the 1920 census listing for the 22nd Precinct, Chicago, Illinois. The form was filled out on 16 January 1920 by Jessie E. Huiscoe. At entry 84, the following information is given (with handwritten items on the form shown in brackets [] to distinguish them from printed items):

1	Street, avenue [Union Ave]
2	House number or farm [6034]
3	Number of dwelling house (visitation order) [173]
4	Number of family (visitation order) [234]
5	Name [Mortensen, Chris F.]
6	Relation to head of household [Head]
7	Home owned or rented [R]
8	If owned, free or mortgaged
9	Sex [M]
10	Color or race [W]
11	Age at last birthday [37]
12	Single, married, widowed or divorced [Married]
13	Year of immigration to U.S. [1904]
14	Naturalized or alien [Na]
15	If naturalized, year of naturalization
16	Attended school anytime since Sept. 1, 1919
17	Able to read [Yes]
18	Able to write [Yes]
19	Person, place of birth [Denmark]
20	Person, mother tongue [Danish]
21	Father, place of birth [Denmark]
22	Father, mother tongue [Danish]
23	Mother, place of birth [Denmark]
24	Mother, mother tongue [Danish]
25	Able to speak English [Yes]
26	Trade, profession, or particular kind of work done [Teamster]
27	Industry, business, or establishment in which at work [Dairy]
28	Employer, salary, or wage worker, or working on own account [W]
29	Number of farm schedule

Entry 85 in the census list contains the wife of CM (age 38). Also, at entries 86-88, are listed other residents of the house: his wife's mother (age 54), his wife's "brother" (age 16), and a roomer (age 32). (In reality, the wife's "brother" was probably her child from a previous marriage or relationship.)

Certificate of Naturalization, United States of America

On 15 June 1922 CM was admitted as an American citizen according to Certificate of Naturalization, Vol 147B, number 42684. Among the information given on the certificate is the following:

-	Age	[39]
-	Height	[5'5"]
-	Color	[White]
-	Complexion	[Light]
-	Color of eyes	[Blue]
-	Color of hair	[Blond]
-	Visible distinguishing marks	[None]

Additional documents containing information for the verification

-	CM held a Social Security card that was issued 23 December 1936.
-	Florida Operator License was issued August 1968, expiring in 1970. His correct date of birth was given as well as other information compatible with that given in earlier documents, color of eyes (Blue) and height (5'5").
-	In 1970, CM transferred his freemasonry affiliation from Chicago to a lodge in Texas. For this purpose, a "Dimit" was issued by the John B. Sherman Masonic Lodge in Chicago, dated 14 July 1970. The document indicates that CM received his "MM" degree on 23 March 1925, and contains his correct date and place of birth.

Employment records

- Continental Can Company 1929-1950

The following information was taken from records supplied by the pension administration office of Crown Cork & Seal Company of Philadelphia, which acquired the Continental Can Company in 1990.

CM was hired by the Continental Can Company on 7 June 1929 and retired 21 years later on 31 July 1950. He was a member of the United Steelworkers of America. He spent most of his time at Continental Can working in a factory in Clearing, Illinois.

On his pension application, CM put 16 August 1882 as his date of birth. The pension application gives information about earnings during only the last 10 years of his employment at Continental Can. From 31 July 1940 through 31 July 1950, his total earnings are listed as $24,445.81. On the pension "register card," his (annual) base earnings appear to be listed as $2,932.20.

Visits to Denmark

-	Before 1924 (CM mentioned in an interview that he had visited Denmark while his mother was alive)
-	1949 (reported by Grethe Mortensen, daughter of CM's brother, Julius)
-	1962 (several articles in Danish newspapers, e.g. Aarhus Stiftstidende 13 April 1962)
-	1969 according to the stamp in his passport, staying in Denmark for more than a month and travelling back to the US by boat, arriving in New York.

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Copyright 7996 by The Cerontological Society of America The Cerontologist Vol. 36, No. 6, 783-788 This article summarizes recent findings in a case study of exceptional longevity. CM, a resident of San Rafael, California, was 114 years old in August 1996. He is the first properly verified case of a 114-year-old man in human history (although a few women have been known to live longer). Our investigation of CM continues as we attempt to gather additional information about his life, family history, and current condition. Here, we consider only two aspects of this case: its authenticity and its significance in the history of human longevity. We believe that we have proven that CM's stated age is accurate. Based on the available information, it also seems a reasonable conjecture that he may be the oldest man alive today and perhaps the oldest man who has ever lived. This study documents an extreme example of human longevity and records characteristics of the man's life that may provide clues about the causes of his exceptional survivorship. Key Words: Exceptional longevity, Centenarian, Super-centenarian The Oldest Man Ever? A Case Study of Exceptional Longevity1 John Wilmoth, PhD,2 Axel Skytthe, MSc,3 Diana Friou, MA,2 and Bernard Jeune, MD3 CM was born on August 16,1882, in the village of Skaarup (near Skanderborg), Denmark. He worked on a farm as a child and then moved to Skanderborg to become a tailor's apprentice at age 16. In 1903, he immigrated to the United States, arriving through Ellis Island in New York harbor but moving immediately to Chicago to live with relatives. In 1905, he joined the Danish Brotherhood in America, a fraternal organization of immigrants and their descendants. From around 1908 to 1918, he traveled extensively around the western United States (from Chicago to California), making his living as a tailor. Around 1918, he returned to Chicago and settled there on a more permanent basis. Back in Chicago, CM was married briefly during the late 1910s and 1920s. The marriage ended in divorce, and he never remarried. During these years, he worked as a milkman for the Borden Dairy Company and operated a small restaurant. In 1923, he joined a Masonic lodge in Chicago. In 1929, he took a job as a factory worker for the Continental Can Company, where he was employed for 21 years. He retired in 1950 and lived for many years thereafter in south 1 The authors wish to thank Maxine Weinstein for help in obtaining a copy of CM's immigration record from the National Archives in Washington, DC. Helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper were provided by James Vaupel and Roger Thatcher. Special thanks to CM himself and to the nurses and staff of his retirement community, whose help and cooperation made this study possible. department of Demography, University of California, Berkeley, with support from the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG-11552). Address correspondence to John Wilmoth, PhD, Department of Demography, Program in Population Research, University of California, 2232 Piedmont Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94720-2120. 3 Center for Health and Social Policy, Odense University Medical School, Odense, Denmark, with support from the Danish Research Councils (5.20.34.08). Texas, where he enjoyed sailing on Galveston Bay. In 1978, when he was 96 years old, he moved to San Rafael, California, to live in a retirement community. He resided in the "independent living" section of that community for many years, then entered the skilled nursing facility in 1993, when he was 110 years old. At present, CM is completely blind and has difficulty hearing. He spends most of his time in bed, either sleeping or listening to the radio. He can walk only with the assistance of another person. In other aspects, however, his physical condition remains good, with no apparent signs of major degenerative disease or dementia. His memory and reasoning abilities also appear to be largely intact, and he frequently displays a sense of humor. He has willingly participated in a series of interviews conducted mainly by the first author beginning in March 1995. The information presented here has been drawn from those interviews and from various documents. Verification of Age Before describing the details of our age verification procedure, it is worth mentioning the history of how we discovered this case and our original skepticism about it. One of the Danish authors of this article read a story about CM in a Danish newspaper and doubted its accuracy. From earlier studies, it was known that most reports of men above age 110 were likely to be false (Jeune, 1995; Skytthe & Jeune, 1995). An initial check in the Danish archives seemed to confirm the story, however, so a contact was made with the first author, who called the nursing home where CM was living and arranged an initial meeting. From the beginning, all authors were skeptical of the validity of CM's stated age and became conVol. 36, No. 6,1996 783 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article-abstract/36/6/783/567090 by guest on 11 October 2019 vinced only slowly of its authenticity. Through a series of interviews, the American authors sought to extract information about CM's life history that could be checked against documentary evidence. Documents were gathered on both sides of the Atlantic in an effort to confirm or disprove CM's reported age. In most cases, the interviews uncovered information that was confirmed only later by documentary evidence. In those instances where the interviewers knew the answer in advance, they asked questions in a manner to avoid revealing their prior knowledge to CM. In verifying the authenticity of a report of exceptional longevity, the first step is to confirm that all available documents contain or imply the same date of birth. In this case, all of the written records that we have found are consistent with the claim that CM is now 114 years old. Table 1 shows the relevant documents that were found, which all give either an exact date of birth (always August 16,1882) or an age that is consistent with this date of birth. It is worth noting that such documents may not each be independent sources of information about CM's current age or date of birth. For example, the date of birth recorded at the time of his confirmation may have been taken directly from the birth registration. Similarly, the date contained on the transfer of Freemasonry membership in 1970 was probably taken, directly or indirectly, from his 1923 application to join the Masons (although we were unable to obtain a copy of the earlier document). This comment is only a precautionary note, however, since several of these documents do indeed represent separate confirmations of his date of birth and span a significant portion of his lifetime (for example, his birth registration in 1882, the Danish census records in 1890 and 1901, the immigration record in 1903, his application to join the Danish Brotherhood in 1905, the U.S. census record in 1920, his pension application in 1950, and the Freemasonry document from 1970). CM's date of birth (August 16, 1982) is thus confirmed by a series of documents beginning with his birth registration. In this and similar cases, however, we must also consider the possibility that the person who claims a particular identity — and a corresponding date of birth — might be an impostor (Thorns, Table 1. Documents Confirming CM's Age and/or Date of Birth Document Year Birth registration 1882 Danish census 1890 Confirmation of baptism 1896 Danish census 1901 U.S. immigration record 1903 Application to join the Danish Brotherhood in America 1905 U.S.census 1920 Retirement pension application 1950 Transfer of Freemasonary membership to Texas 1970 Application for admission to retirement community 1978 Note: All documents on this list give the same date of birth (August 16,1882) or an age that is consistent with this date. 1873). Could it be, for example, that some younger person might have assumed the identity of the original CM at some point in the near or distant past? The motivations for such a switch of identity could be numerous: to marry before the legally sanctioned age, to avoid military service, to facilitate migration, to gain early retirement benefits, to claim an inheritance under false pretense, or to enjoy the celebrity status that often accompanies exceptional longevity (Wilmoth & Lundstrom, 1996). In this situation, the scenario that seems most worthy of attention is that a younger person might have assumed CM's identity in order to immigrate to the United States. For example, one might speculate that the original CM went home to Denmark during the 1920s or 1930s, but that a younger brother, cousin, nephew, or some other person returned to the U.S. using his passport. Such a hypothesis is plausible, especially in light of the fact that more restrictive U.S. immigration laws were instituted during the 1920s. Under this scenario, the original CM might have died in Denmark or later returned to the U.S. and died there. In either case, it would now be difficult to find any record of his death (perhaps having occurred several decades ago). In spite of these concerns, our belief that there has been no change of identity is well supported by a variety of evidence. Based on conversations with him, it is virtually certain that CM spent the early years of his life in Denmark (see Appendix, Note 1). Furthermore, a similar physical description has been documented over time. CM is a rather short man, even considering that he was born more than 100 years ago, when average heights were much lower than today. His height was listed as 5'4" (162.6 cm) on a 1905 physical examination taken at the time he joined the Danish Brotherhood in America. Recent measurements (performed by a nurse without knowledge of the earlier data) show a current height of 5'3V2". When asked, CM said that his height was "5'5" with shoes" (see Appendix, Note 2). CM also told us that the Danish army rejected him on the basis of his short stature (see Appendix, Note 3). On their own, however, Danish nativity and consistency of adult height are an inadequate basis for dismissing the possibility that there may have been some switch of identity. Thus, we also asked CM a series of questions regarding his life and family history, and then compared his answers with documentary evidence. The results of this investigation are summarized in Table 2. Admittedly, if the hypothesized impostor were a family member, he could be expected to know the answers to many of these questions. If the impostor were a younger brother, for example, he might know as much about the details of the immediate family as the original CM. Parish records indicate, however, that CM was the youngest of 6 children (see Appendix, Note 4). A younger cousin or nephew might have known some of this information, but it is unlikely that they or even a younger brother could have so accurately recounted the details of CM's life history, as seen in Table 2. 784 The Gerontologist Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article-abstract/36/6/783/567090 by guest on 11 October 2019 Table 2. Information Confirming CM's Identity Subject Information given by CM Verified Comments Full (given) name: Place of birth: Date of birth: Father's full name: Mother's full name: Sibling's names: Sibling's deaths: Family home: Immigration to U.S. Relatives in Chicago: Apprenticeship: Employment: Thomas Peter Thorvald Kristian Ferdinand Yes Mortensen Skaarup (near Skanderborg) Yes August 16,1882 Yes Jens Carl Martinus Mortensen Yes Maren Therkildsen Thyboe Yes Johannes Mortensen Yes Carl Emil Mortensen Julius Mortensen Johannes: age 31, from TB Mostly Carl Emil: age 92, in Aarhus Julius: age 79, in Horsens CM said that the family home in Skaarup was Yes bought by his brother, Carl Emil, after the death of his father. The father had borrowed money against the home, so after his death the debt had to be re-paid or the family would lose the house. CM said that his mother stayed in that house until her death. Age: 20 or 21. Mostly Year: 1902 or 1903. Sailed from Copenhagen on a ship called "The United States," arrived in NYC on Saturday of a holiday weekend (perhaps the 4th of July), stayed on Ellis Island 3 days, bound for Chicago to live with "some distant relatives" or "an uncle" named Niels Hansen.a CM said that the family of Niels Hansen had Yes moved to Chicago just before his arrival in the U.S. because of a major flood that drove them from Kansas City. CM said that he began work as a tailor's Yes apprentice in November of the year he turned 16. The apprenticeship lasted for 5 years. CM said that he was employed by Continental Yes Can Company for 21 years. The village of Skaarup is in the parish of Fruering. CM did not know his parents' dates of birth, death, or marriage. CM did not know his sibling's dates of birth, but he knew the relative ages of the 4 surviving brothers (4 years apart, approximately). CM never mentioned two siblings who died before his birth. Records indicate that Julius died at age 72, not 79. All other information agrees well with the official records. Johannes' death certificate lists "consumption" as the cause of death, which probably indicates TB. CM's father died in May 1905, and civil records show that ownership of the house passed to Carl Emil in 1906. The debt was to a nephew, which may help to explain the slight delay. CM's mother died in June 1924, and the house was sold to the next owner in the same year. CM's only error was that the holiday weekend was Labor Day, not July 4. CM's age was listed as 21 when his immigration was recorded at Ellis Island on Tuesday, September 8,1903, the day after Labor Day. His entry record confirms the name of the ship, his destination, and the name of his "uncle." History books mention an unusually large flood that inundated vast regions of Kansas City during May and June of 1903. The 1901 Danish census lists CM's occupation as "tailor's apprentice" and indicates that he had moved from Skaarup (the village of his birth) to Skanderborg (a regional city) in 1898, thus at age 15 or 16. From U.S. immigration records, we know he left for the U.S. five years later, in 1903. Company records show that CM worked at Continental Can from 1929 to 1950. •CM showed some confusion about the name of Niels Hansen. He first called him "Hans Hansen" but later corrected himself. Apparently, he had two relatives in Chicago with similar names, which were easily confused (especially after 90 years). It appears that Niels Hansen was not a real uncle, but some distant relative whom we have not yet been able to identify based on Danish records. This general usage of the term "uncle" is not uncommon in either Danish or English. Considering the consistency of the documentary evidence regarding CM's age and date of birth, and the high degree of agreement between the recorded evidence and CM's account of his life and family history, there appears to be no room to doubt the authenticity of this case. The consistency of the record until the time he left Denmark at age 21, as well as the absence of any evidence of younger siblings, is convincing proof that there could not have been a switch of identity during his early life. If someone other than CM had assumed his identity at some point during adult life, it is not at all plausible that the impostor could have possessed the detailed and accurate knowledge of CM's life and family that has emerged in our interviews with him. In these extensive interviews, we have found no errors or inconsistencies in his story, compared to the available documentary evidence, other than those reported in Table 2 (for example, the mistaken age at death for his brother Julius, or the confusion about the name of his "uncle," Niels Hansen), and it seems that these small errors can reasonably be attributed to lapses of Vol. 36, No. 6,1996 785 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article-abstract/36/6/783/567090 by guest on 11 October 2019 memory. Therefore, we are convinced that CM is truly 114 years old. Significance of the Case The case of CM is significant because it appears to define (and redefine) the limits of male human longevity. Of course, more extreme cases of exceptional longevity have been documented for women. Most notably, at the age of 121 years, JC of Aries, France, appears almost certainly to be the oldest human alive today and quite possibly the oldest human to have ever lived (Robine & Allard, 1995). What evidence supports our assertion that CM may be the male version of JC? First, let us consider the question of whether CM, at 114 years old, may be the oldest living man in the world. It will not be possible to substantiate this claim beyond a shadow of a doubt. In most countries, inadequate recordkeeping makes it impossible to verify the ages of persons who make claims of exceptional longevity. Therefore, we cannot determine the age of the oldest persons living in a vast portion of the world today. Of necessity, our investigation will be limited to those parts of the world where accurate recordkeeping permits a reliable determination of the age of the oldest living individuals. By consulting with colleagues from various countries, we have been able to determine the ages of the oldest men in several countries. The most reliable records come from countries with complete population registers, such as the Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland) and Japan. According to reports available in late 1995, however, there were no living men older than 109 years in any of these countries (see Appendix, Note 5). In France, where an extensive study of centenarians has been carried out in recent years, there are only two documented cases of male supercentenarians (i.e., individuals at least 110 years old) in recent years. One of these men died at age 111 during December 1995; the other was still alive at last report and was to celebrate his 111th birthday in July 1996 (Jean-Marie Robine, personal communication, March 25, 1996). Thus, to our knowledge, CM is about 3 years older than the next oldest living man on the planet. Of course, it is always possible that there may be men in other parts of the world who are older than 114 years, but for lack of reliable administrative records we could never verify their age. It is worth noting that even in a country like the United States, complete and reliable birth registration is of relatively recent origin (U.S. vital registration became complete only in 1933, when Texas became the last state to join the system). Therefore, the opportunity to identify a person of extreme old age and to check rigorously the accuracy of the report is limited to a fairly small collection of countries. In the case of CM, we have enjoyed the good fortune that he was born in Denmark, where the tradition of detailed recordkeeping has helped us to verify his date of birth. To our knowledge, this is the first case of an immigrant supercentenarian where adequate documentation has been found in his country of birth. It may be instructive to consider also the situation of China, with the world's largest national population. It is generally believed that age reporting is fairly reliable in China — especially among the Han majority, who comprise about 94% of the total — thanks in part to the use of the Chinese calendar and also to the social importance of a person's age (Coale, 1984). Recent tabulations of the 1990 Chinese census show that there are around 6400 centenarians in China, or about 5 per million population, which does not seem implausible (see Appendix, Note 6). Excluding all minority populations, where age reporting is thought to be less reliable, there were seven men with a recorded age of 113 or more in 1990 (Zeng Yi, personal communication, August 7, 1995). It is possible, of course, that some of these reports are genuine, but adequate verification is impossible given the absence of birth records or other corroborating evidence. On the basis of this limited investigation, is it reasonable to conclude that CM is without a doubt the oldest man in the world? Our answer is "no." It appears accurate, however, to state that he is the oldest living man whose age has been reliably verified. It also seems plausible that he may be the oldest man in the world for the following reasons. First, it is reasonable to expect that the oldest individuals would be found in the countries with the highest probabilities of survival especially at advanced ages. In most cases, the countries with the most reliable data (e.g., Japan, the Scandinavian countries, France) are also the countries with the world's lowest old-age mortality (see Appendix, Note 7). Therefore, our failure to find a living man in any of these countries who is as old as, or older than, CM suggests strongly that there may not be any such men in the entire world. Furthermore, the distance between CM and his closest known competitor, almost three years, also supports the belief that CM may indeed be the oldest man alive today. Next, let us consider the question of whether CM may be the oldest man who has ever lived. Here, obviously, the task is even more daunting than before, since all countries lack reliable records if we probe far enough into the distant past. Furthermore, false reports of super-longevity have been commonplace and, with the passing of time, become more and more difficult to disprove. Experienced students of this subject agree that, at least historically, the majority of claims of exceptional longevity have probably been false. For example, the number of centenarians reported in many countries, including the United States as recently as 1980, may be inflated by a factor of two or more (Kannisto, 1988; U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1987). In such cases, the ratio of fanciful to actual cases among supercentenarians (those over 110 years) is usually even higher (and in most cases is probably infinity). A number of detailed studies have investigated the accuracy (or rather, the inaccuracy) of various reported cases of exceptional longevity. In the last century, Thorns (1873) devoted an entire book to debunking a number of widely celebrated claims of 786 The Gerontologist Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article-abstract/36/6/783/567090 by guest on 11 October 2019 super-longevity in England. More recently, purported cases of individuals living to age 120,130, and beyond have been widely discussed and subsequently dismissed by the scientific community (Bennett & Carson, 1986; Mazess & Forman, 1979; Medvedev, 1974; Palmore, 1984; Thorson, 1995). The most heavily advertised of these cases were those from the state of Georgia (in the former USSR) and the village of Vilcabamba in Ecuador. In the case of Vilcabamba, the investigator from Harvard who had originally certified the "authenticity" of the reports later felt obliged to admit his error publicly (Leaf, 1981). The accuracy of reported age at death in several national statistical systems appears to have improved over time, although no country had fully reliable aggregate records before 1860 (Wilmoth & Lundstrom, 1996). In all countries today, it is necessary to conduct a thorough investigation of all reported supercentenarians before certifying their accuracy. Minimally, the person's stated age must be checked against birth records and other documents to demonstrate a consistency in the reported (or implied) date of birth. For a rigorous investigation, however, it is also necessary to consider (and to dismiss) the possibility that the observed individual could be an impostor who, for some reason, has assumed the identity of an older person who is now dead. Applying these standards, we are certain that CM is indeed 114 years old, but we have not found any other well documented cases of a man living to this age. Historically, the next oldest man (after CM) whose age appears to have been adequately verified was an Englishman named John Evans (JE), who died at the age of 112 years and 295 days in 1990 (Thatcher, 1992). The Office of Population Censuses and Surveys checked JE's age against his birth record. Although their investigation was by no means exhaustive, the plausibility of the case is also supported by the publicity that it received while JE was still living and by the apparent absence of challenges to its accuracy. At the age of 110, JE gave testimony in a court case involving a disputed right-of-way. The court relied upon JE's recollection of the historical basis of the right-of-way, since he was recognized as the only person with a knowledge of the situation who was old enough to remember that far into the past (A. Roger Thatcher, personal communication, August 3, 1995). If JE's age was misrepresented, the inaccuracy would likely have been exposed during the court case. We know of only two cases of men who reportedly lived more than 113 years where the authenticity of the case has been, and perhaps continues to be, accepted by some students of the subject. In both cases, however, we believe that the weight of the evidence suggests that the reports are more likely inaccurate than accurate. The best known is the case of a Japanese man, Shigechiyo Izumi (SI), whose age at death is still listed as the oldest ever in The Guinness Book of Records and has been cited frequently in the news media. It is claimed that Si's age was 120 years and 237 days at the time of his death in 1986. This case has now been rejected by almost all experts who are familiar with it, including the Japanese man who originally brought it to the attention of Guinness (Kannisto & Thatcher, 1993; Matsuzaki, 1988; Wilmoth & Lundstrom, 1996), and the common belief is that SI was in fact "only" 105 years old at the time of his death. The case of Pierre Joubert (PJ) of Quebec, who was reportedly age 113 years and 124 days when he died in 1814, has been less widely discussed. According to Bowerman (1939), the authenticity of this case was "vouched for by the statistician of the Canadian Census in 1878 after'a thorough investigation.'" Bowerman also cites Young (1905), who noted that "this laborious investigation appears to me to have been minutely and effectively completed." Both Bowerman and Young are respected authorities on the authenticity of early centenarians, although they appear to have been fooled in this situation. A more recent investigation based on genealogical records has revealed that the reputed super-longevity of Pierre Joubert was indeed a case of mistaken identity, whereby the deaths of father and son (both having the same name) were confused (Charbonneau, 1990). Conclusion We have concluded that CM is the first properly verified case of a 114-year-old man in human history. It is possible, of course, that there are other men who attained this age but escaped detection, perhaps because verification was impossible due to an absence of reliable administrative records. There is the risk that, as we improve our efforts to verify cases of exceptional longevity, we will create the appearance of an increase in their frequency or the illusion of an upward trend. These pitfalls cannot be avoided if we focus our attention only on case studies of extremely long-lived individuals. Therefore, the proper analysis of secular trends in extreme longevity must be carried out on fixed populations (Wilmoth & Lundstrom, 1996), with case studies merely supplementing the trend analysis. Still lacking in our overall investigation of this topic, however, is an adequate theoretical investigation of the relationship between the trend in extreme longevity for some subpopulation with a long series of reliable data (for example, the national populations of Sweden or Denmark) and the analogous trend for the entire world population. Case studies of the oldest humans who have ever lived are the empirical complement to such a theoretical analysis. References Bennett, N. C , & Carson, L. K (1986). Extraordinary longevity in the Soviet Union: Fact or artifact? The Gerontologist, 26, 358-361. Bowerman, W. C. (1939). Centenarians. Transactions — Actuarial Society of America, 40, 361-378., Charbonneau, H. (1990). Pierre Joubert a-t-il v6cu 113 ans? MGmoires de /a Soci6t6 C6n6alogique Canadienne-Franqaise, 41(1), 45-48. Coale, A. J. (1984). Rapid population change in China: 1952-1982. National Research Council Committee on Population and Demography, Report No. 27. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Jeune, B. (1995). In search of the first centenarians. In B. Jeune & J. Vaupel Vol.36, No. 6,1996 787 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article-abstract/36/6/783/567090 by guest on 11 October 2019 (Eds.), Exceptional longevity: From prehistory to the present. Odense, Denmark: Odense University Press. Kannisto, V. (1988). On the survival of centenarians and the span of life. Population Studies, 42(3), 389-406. Kannisto, V., & Thatcher, A. R. (1993, March). The plausibility of certain reported cases of extreme longevity. Paper presented at the Research Workshop on the Oldest-Old, Duke University, Durham, NC. Kannisto, V. (1994). Development of oldest-old mortality, 1950-1990: Evidence from 28 developed countries. Odense, Denmark: Odense University Press. Leaf, A. (1981). Statement regarding the purported longevous peoples of Vilcabamba. In H. J. Wershow (Ed.), Controversial issues in gerontology. New York: Springer. Manton, K. C , & Vaupel, J. W. (1995). Survival after the age of 80 in the United States, Sweden, France, England, and Japan. New England Journal of Medicine, 333, 1232-1235. Matsuzaki, T. (1988). Examination of centenarians and factors affecting longevity in Japan. InS. Hishinuma(Ed.), Why do the Japanese live long? Dobun: Tokyo (in Japanese). Mazess, R. B., & Forman, S. (1979). Longevity and age exaggeration in Vilcabamba, Ecuador. Journal of Gerontology, 34, 94-98. Medvedev, Z. A. (1974). Caucasus and Altay longevity: A biological or social problem? The Cerontologist, 14, 381-387. Palmore, E. B. (1984). Longevity in Abkhazia: A reevaluation. The Gerontologist, 24, 95-96. Robine, J.-M., & Allard, M. (1995). Validation of the exceptional longevity case of a 120-year-old woman. Facts and Research in Gerontology, 363-367. Skytthe, A., & Jeune, B. (1995). Danish centenarians after 1800. In B. Jeune & J. Vaupel (Eds.), Exceptional longevity: From prehistory to the present. Odense, Denmark: Odense University Press. Thatcher, A. R. (1992). Trends in numbers and mortality at high ages in England and Wales. Population Studies, 46(3), 411-426. Thorns, W. J. (1873). Human longevity: Its facts and its fictions, including an inquiry into some of the more remarkable instances, and suggestions for testing reputed cases. London: J. Murray. Thorson, J. A. (1995). Aging in a Changing Society. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. U.S. Bureau of the Census. (1987). America's centenarians: Data from the 1980census. Current Population Report (Series P-23, No. 153). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. Wilmoth, J. R. (1995). The earliest centenarians: A statistical analysis. In B. Jeune & J. Vaupel (Eds.), Exceptional longevity: From prehistory to the present. Odense, Denmark: Odense University Press. Wilmoth, J. R., & Lundstrom, H. (1996). Extreme longevity in five countries: Presentation of trends with special attention to issues of data quality. European Journal of Population, 12(1), 63-93. Young, T. E. (1905). On centenarians. London: C. and E. Layton. Received December 19, 1995 Accepted June 19, 1996 Appendix Notes 1. Two authors of this article are Danes and have spoken with CM in Danish. 2. The estimated mean adult height for Danish men of CM's generation is around 169 cm, with a standard deviation of about 6.5 cm (Jesper Boldsen, personal communication, 8/10/95). Thus, CM's adult height is approximately one standard deviation below the mean for men in his cohort, or around the 16th percentile. If we consider that a reasonable measurement error would be around 2 cm in either direction, then we would have argued by this criterion that any Danish man with a height between 160.6 and 164.6 cm would have possessed the necessary physical description. However, the probability that the height a randomly chosen (male) Dane from CM's generation would fall in this range is only around 12 percent. For men of a younger generation, who tend to be taller, a height in this range would be even less likely. 3. The minimum height required for conscription in the Danish army during this time was 160.8 cm (Jesper Boldsen, personal communication, 8/10/95). Assuming CM was fully grown at the time of the 1905 physical exam, CM's ultimate adult height was about 2 cm above this limit. It is clearly possible, however, that he was still below this limit some 4-5 years earlier, around the age of 18 or 19. 4. We know that CM's parents lived continuously in the parish of Fruering beginning in 1869. CM's oldest brother was born before his parents moved to Fruering. Afterwards, the birth registry in Fruering shows 5 children born to CM's parents, of which CM was the last. The Danish censuses of 1890 and 1901 also confirm that there were only 6 children in the family, and by 1901 CM's mother was 59 years old and thus surely past the age of reproduction. 5. This conclusion is based on our own investigation, supplemented by personal communications from Hans Lundstrom (8/4/95) and Shiro Horiuchi (12/2/95). 6. According to this estimate, the prevalence of centenarians in China is still below the level observed in a group of industrialized countries in 1960 (Kannisto, 1988), and well below the prevalence of around 50 centenarians per million observed in most industrialized countries today (Kannisto, 1994; Wilmoth, 1995). 7. Some authors contend that the United States has the lowest old-age mortality in the world (Manton & Vaupel, 1995), although there is no doubt that the quality of U.S. mortality data, at least at extreme ages, is inferior to the other countries cited here (Wilmoth & Lundstrom, 1996)

Fotoet af den oprindelige Chris Mortensen med hat i stedet for sømandskasket er alligevel næppe set på internettet. Mere sandsynligt er det fra Politiken og tilsendt som e-post. Leder i korrespondancen efter det gamle foto og bringer foreløbig noget af dialogen med CGT fra 2012:

Det er interessant, som du kan lide idéen om en bedrager. Det skal
lige siges, at døbsattester ikke indeholder navnene på søskende.
Jeg kan i øjeblikket ikke huske hvor vi læste om hans besøg i
Danmark i begyndelsen af 1960'erne, som blev omtalt i aviserne.

>
> Men jeg kan godt læse artiklen nu du har vedhæftet den, og bedrageren
> har altså lært navnene på Chris Mortensens dåbsattest udenad, og
> desuden har han som ven med Chris i Texas fået fortalt en masse
> historier om hans fortid, som han har forsøgt at gengive, men med
> huskefejl.
>
> Det var ganske givet den ægte Mortensen, som besøgte familien i
> Danmark i starten af 1960erne. Hvis billederne i de danske aviser fra
> dengang uden tvivl viser samme person som manden på Aldersly, så tror
> jeg på han blev 115 år.

Calment er jo også et helt extremt tilfælde, og selvom du er inde
på en dobbelgænger, som i så fald skulle være et par årtier yngre,
så synes ligheden stor med hendes kørekortfoto. Jeg er nu mere
skeptisk over for netop Knauss, men også Meilleur i Canada,
måske de 2 i Puerto Rico og Maria Capovilla fra Ecuador.
Men generelt tror jeg faktisk at man bare nu om dage er blevet
bedre til at finde og verificere verdens alder ældste indbyggere.

I tekten nedenfor står der da at CM kendte alle 3 brødres navne,
og vidste hvor gamle de blev, bortset fra at han sagde Julius
døde i en alder af 79 år, hvor det korrekte var 72 år.
>
> Der er god grund til at være skeptisk om de allerældste nu også er
> ægte. Jeanne Calment kan også som Chris Mortensen være en bedragende
> dobbeltgænger. Sarah Knauss kan sagtens være mange år yngre.
>
> I artiklen fra Gerontologist 1996 synes jeg kun der står han kan huske
> navnet på en af de 3 brødre, nemlig Johannes. I bogen fra 1999 står
> nævnt familiebesøget i Danmark først i tresserne, men der angives ikke
> dato eller anledning eller hvordan forskerne har fundet
> avisudklippene:
>
>  http://www.demogr.mpg.de/books/odense/6/10.htm

> Calment er jo også et helt extremt tilfælde, og selvom du er inde
> på en dobbelgænger, som i så fald skulle være et par årtier yngre,
> så synes ligheden stor med hendes kørekortfoto.

Hun havde nær familie til hendes barnebarn døde i starten af 1960erne,
så dobbeltgængeren har stjålet hendes identitet på et senere
tidspunkt. Derfor kan alle billeder fra før 1960 sammenlignes med
fotos fra plejehjemmet. Her sammenlignes hun som 60-årig og 121-årig:
http://blogs.ubc.ca/jenniferchan/files/2010/10/Jeanne-Calment-1996.jpg

 Jeg er nu mere
> skeptisk over for netop Knauss, men også Meilleur i Canada,
> måske de 2 i Puerto Rico og Maria Capovilla fra Ecuador.
> Men generelt tror jeg faktisk at man bare nu om dage er blevet
> bedre til at finde og verificere verdens alder ældste indbyggere.

Meilleur havde så stor en familie at man skulle tro det blev opdaget,
hvis hun pludselig blev meget ældre på papiret. Lucy Hannah og
Elisabeth Bolden er negre, og der er ofte ikke ordentligt styr på
negerfamilierne i de amerikanske folketællinger. Dem fra Puerto Rico
ved jeg ikke om er dokumenteret, mens Maria Capovilla i Ecuador vist
havde papirerne i orden og har levet i en militærfamilie. I Rusland
findes de gamle som regel registreret i modsætning til i USA, så en
ægte liste over dokumenterede 110-årige skulle udskifte de fleste
amerikanere med russere, polakker og andre fødselsregistrerede.

>
> I tekten nedenfor står der da at CM kendte alle 3 brødres navne,
> og vidste hvor gamle de blev, bortset fra at han sagde Julius
> døde i en alder af 79 år, hvor det korrekte var 72 år.
>

Ja, jeg misforstod fordi der kun stod ja til at han kunne nævne navnet
ud for Johannes navn, men det var alle 3 brødres navne han kunne
nævne. Måske har dobbeltgængeren arvet Chris Mortensens breve sendt
fra brødrene, eller han har haft en god hukommelse og husket brødrenes
navne, når Chris har fortalt om sin barndom.