Long living twins

The Kanie Twins at their 107th birthday

A look at twins both past and present who lived long and productive lives. Please, feel free to update this page with any additions!

2008 updates

Latest updates to this page can also be found on the Twinstuff Community Twins in the News forum.

Current

Allan Ceascear and Allen Charles Jackson
(born in St. Thomas, Bahamas on Nov. 24, 1903)

Ethelyn Carpenter (Burbank) and Evelyn Waddington (Burbank)
(born in Alfred, ME on June 8, 1904)

Charlotte Ford (Ferguson) and Isabelle Lettinger (Ferguson)
(born in Montgomery County, PA on July 30, 1904)

Mildred Jones and Alice Cudmore (Abercrombie)
(born in Brockton, MA on May 31, 1905)

Era Hixson and Vera Honey
(born in Tennessee on March 31 & April 1, 1906)

Gertrude Clark and Myrtie Townley
(born in Michigan on December 10, 1906)

John and Alfred Flack
(born in England on July 11, 1907)

Betty Richards and Jenny Pelmore
(born in Manchester, England on Jan. 1, 1908)

Ethel Nembula and Dora Uys
(born in Thafamasi in Ndwedwe, Natal, South Africa on Feb. 20, 1908)

Eloise Rogers and Lois Fisher
(born in Wadley, GA on June 29, 1908)

Peter and Phillip Bellico
(born in Enfield, CT on July 27, 1908)

We are aware of possibly 11 sets of twins in the world who we believe could currently each be 100 years old-or-older as of this latest page update (see below for more pairs who were 100 in recent years) although we have not seen updates on several of the sets listed above in the recent past. (red indicates no updates seen on these twins in at least the past calendar year)

Sarah and Ellen when they turned 100

With the passing of Thilda Vangstad earlier in 2006, we believe that the honor of world's oldest living twins belonged to Sarah Jeanmougin and Ellen Isabella Robertson (Hall), who celebrated their 105th birthdays on May 29, 2007. The Hall Twins were born in Wolsley, Saskatchewan, Canada (then known as the Northwest Territories) at 5:20 and 5:30 a.m. on May 29, 1902 (Sarah was the first-born). They were the 7th and 8th respectively of 10 children born to Walter and Jane Hall. Sarah now resides in Mohave Valley, Arizona with her niece Andrea (Ellen's daughter) and Ellen (wearing glasses in the photo) lived in Winnipeg, Manitoba in a hospital until her death on December 21, 2007. They were recognized by Guinness as the oldest-living twins in the world. This link includes more photos and video and mentions how the sisters have not seen one another since their 100th birthday shown to the left) Sadly, one half of the oldest twins, Ellen Isabella Robertson, died on December 21th, 2007 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, as reported at http://www.passagesmb.com/obituary_details.cfm?ObitID=129291, making the 104-year-old male twins Allan Ceascear and Allen Charles Jackson, who are originally from St. Thomas, Bahamas, the newly crowned oldest twins, which is rather unique, since they are both males.

Allan Jackson was featured in The Salt Lake City Tribune on May 26, 2007 in a story that profiled the WWII Veteran. According to that story, he and his twins are among 15 siblings still living at the time of the article. It also mentioned that Allan Jackson was married seven times with 38 children! Twinstuff spoke to Mr. Jackson on the phone on May 31, 2007 and he mentioned to us that he talks to his twin brother Allen (living in New Jersey, Allan lives in Utah) once or twice a month. The Jackson twins have living twin sisters, Darlene and Arlene, and none of Allan's 38 living children are twins although he and his 7th wife, Esther, did lose a set of twins at birth in 1963. He and his twin brother are identical and served together in World War II.

The Burbank Twins celebrated their 100th birthdays with family members in Springvale, Maine on June 8, 2004. Evelyn and her husband were childless, while Ethelyn has five living sons and daughters as well as 14 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren.

The Ferguson Twins are lifelong Pennsylvania residents and now live in neighboring towns, Abington and Hatboro, PA. At the time of turning 100, Charlotte had lived in the same house for 75 years. The Clifford Twins live together at Wheatland Terrace in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Neither twin sister was ever married.

The father of Mildred and Alice Abercrombie passed away two months before the twins were born.

Gertrude and Myrtie were born as the 2nd and 3rd girls in a family of five girls and share many common bonds in their 100 years, marrying about six months apart from each other, becoming widows within six weeks of each other 33 years ago, both having professional careers as teachers and each having six grandchildren and 17 great or great-great grandchildren. Myrtie is also a great-great grandmother of twins as one of her great grandsons and his wife had twins in February.

Here's a link to a story on South Africa's oldest identical twins who turned 100 earlier in 2008 and another local paper story on the Rogers/Fisher twins, who turned 100 on June 29, 2008.

We also would like to recognize Peter and Philip Bellico of Enfield and Suffield, Connecticut who celebrated their 100th birthdays on July 26, 2008. Peter still resides in his own home and drives his own car, visiting his twin brother at a nursing home every other day. They also have two living siblings, Russell, age 97 and George, age 93.

Two other sets of twins soon to celebrate their 100th birthdays are identical twins, Curtis and Curran Carter, who were born August 29, 1908 in Chandler, Indiana (Warrick County) and Myrtie Townley and Gertrude Clark, who were born Dec, 10, 1908 in Verona Mills, Michigan and who now live in Battle Axe, Michigan. As Myrtie's daughter wrote us in an email, 'Myrtie is deaf and Gertrude is blind, but put them together and you have a great pair'.

Curtis and Curran each still live in their own houses (about 2 miles from each other in Newburgh, Indiana) and are active gardeners and mow their own lawn. They were married in a double wedding ceremony on January 23, 1937 and Curran and wife Thelma celebrated their 67th anniversary in 2004 before she passed away. Curtis lost his wife Francis in 2002 after they celebrated their 65th anniversaries.

World's oldest twins (2000-present)

1990s-Jan. 23, 2000-Kin Narita and Gin Kanie, Japan (Kin passed away at age 107, 5 months on Jan. 23, 2000)
Jan. 24, 2000-April 16, 2001-Glen and Dale Moyer, United States (Glen passed away at age 105, 9 months on April 16, 2001)
April 17, 2001-March 3, 2003-Jacoba Cornelia Dijkstra-van der Meulen and Cornelia Jacoba Tjaden-van der Meulen, The Netherlands (Jacoba passed away at age 104, 11 months on March 3, 2003)
March 4, 2003-May 21, 2004-Laura and Lillian Boucher, United States (Lillian passed away at age 103, 11 months on May 21, 2004)
May 22, 2004-Jan. 5, 2005-Maria and Enrico Appiani, Italy (Enrico passed away at age 104, 5 months on Jan. 5, 2005)
Jan 6, 2005-Feb. 5, 2006-Lena and Thilda Vangstad, United States (Thilda passed away at age 104, 6 months on Feb. 5, 2006)
Feb. 6, 2006-Dec. 21, 2007-Sarah Selina Jeanmougin & Ellen Isabella Robertson (Hall), United States and Canada (Ellen passed away at age 105, 6 months on Dec. 21, 2007)
Dec. 21, 2007-current-Allan Ceascear and Allen Charles Jackson, United States

See below for more information on the Kanie and Moyer twins.

On March 3, 2003, Jacoba Cornelia Dijkstra-van der Meulen died exactly four weeks short of her 105th birthday, leaving behind her twin sister, Mrs. Cornelia Jacoba Tjaden-van der Meulen. The twin sisters were most likely the oldest living twins in the world for two years prior to Cornelia's passing. (information supplied to us by Dutchman Gert Jan Kuiper)

With the passing of Jacoba Cornelia, that likely meant that Laura and Lillian Boucher (born Mushynski) of Escanaba, Michigan, who each turned 103 on June 7, 2003, became the world's oldest living twins. Lillian passed away on May 21, 2004, just a little more than two weeks away from their 104th birthdays, with her twin sister at her side. The identical sisters each married cousins with the same last name, were each widowed in the 1980's and lived in separate locations in the same Michigan community. Meme (Laura) had seven children, including twins and was the great grandmother of two sets of twins. Her twin Lillian was childless, but was like a mother/grandmother to her twin's many descendents.

Lena and Thilda when they turned 101

After Lillian's passing, we believe the oldest-living twins in the world were a set of male/female twins in Traona, Sondrio, Italy (the extreme northern part of Italy) by the names of Maria and Enrico Appiani who were born on July 23, 1900 and celebrated their 104th birthdays in July 2004. The party was held in the retirement home where Maria resides. Her twin brother was in remarkable health and still maintained his own home even past age 104 while performing daily work in the vineyards of Northern Italy! (information and above photo supplied to Twinstuff by Giovanni Alunni)

Identical twins Lena and Thilda Vangstad of Minnesota, who each turned 104 on July 29, 2005, were then believed to be the oldest surviving twins in the world. They lived together at a senior assisted living center in Osakis, Minnesota and were each in good health until Thilda suffered a broken hip in late 2005 and passed away on Feb. 5, 2006 at the age of 104 years, 6 months, 7 days.

See above for more information on the world's current longest-living twins.

Male (past)

Eli Shadrack and John Meshark Phipps
(born Feb. 14, 1803 or 1812 in Abingdon, Virginia, USA)

Dale and Glen Moyer
(born June 20, 1895 in Ohio)

The Guinness Book of Records lists the Phipps Twins as the oldest surviving twins ever claiming that Eli died on February 23, 1911, living to be 108 years, 9 days and that John died on December 10, 1916, living to be 113 years, 300 days. But thanks to the investigative work of centenarian experts Robert Young and Louis Epstein, there is doubt raised on this claim. Genealogy links indicate the Phipps Twins were born in 1812, meaning Eli died at age 99 and John lived to be 104. If that's true, than the Kanie Twins of Japan were the oldest-living twins ever and the Moyer Twins, Dale and Glen, are actually the longest-living male twins ever, each living to be at least 105 years old.

The Moyer Twins, Dale and Glen, who each turned 105 on June 20, 2000, were verified by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest set of living twins after the passing of Kin Norita in January, 2000. Glen Moyer passed away on April 16, 2001 at the age of 105 years, nine months and 26 days. He was survived by his twin brother, Dale, who celebrated his 109th birthday on June 20, 2004 before passing away on July 17, 2004 at the age of 109 years, 27 days. The Moyers also had a listing sister (as of Dale's 109th birthday on June 20, 2004) who was aged 102 at the time.

According to a profile of the Moyer Twins from the 2000 Twins Days program, both men served in World War I. A retired farmer, Dale was teaching Sunday School until he was 99. He and his wife Mary celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary in 1985 before she passed away the following year. Glen lived with his wife Mabel in a retirement home in Greenville, Ohio, until they both passed away within a year of each other. He was a former school principal and pastor.

Gulbrand and Bernt Morterud were twin brothers who were born December 20, 1858 in Norway. Bernt died at age 101 on August 1, 1960 and Gulbrand lived until age 105, passing away on January 12, 1964.

Female (past)

Kin Narita and Gin Kanie
(born August 1, 1892 in Nagoya, Japan)

Alice (Lindsay) and Eugenia (Collins) Smith
(born March 31, 1893 in Tarraville, Gippsland, Australia)

Twin sisters, Kin and Gin, celebrated their 107th birthdays in 1999 (a BBC photo of the celebration is shown at the top of this page) before Kin passed away at age 107 years, 5 months and 22 days on January 23, 2000. Gin celebrated her 108th birthday in August, 2000 and died peacefully in her sleep on February 28, 2001 at the age of 108 years, 6 months, 28 days. By the way, Kin (who was the older of the two sisters) means gold and Gin means silver in Japanese. They are the only twins to ever each live to be at least 107 years old.

The Smith Twins set a new record for longest combined lives of twins with 216 years+. Kin and Gin each lived to be 107 and lived a combined 216 years, 20 days, but Eugenia (105 years, 6 months, 8 days) and Alice (111 years, 92 days) lived to a combined 216 years, 9 months, 9 days, before Alice Lindsay succumbed in her sleep on July 1, 2004. Alice was the oldest-living person in Australia at the time of her death. The Smith Twins were identical and grew up on a dairy farm in Australia with five other siblings.

The Guinness Book of World Records also makes reference to a pair of Bulgarian twins, Vassilka Dermendjhieva and Vassila Yapourdjieva, who each allegedly lived to be 104 (1862-1966), and to American twins Sarah and Mattie Duckworth who were each 102 on February 11, 1968, but for whom death certificate records can not be verified. Mildred Widmann Philippi and Mary Widman Franzini were identical twins born in St. Louis on June 17, 1880. Mildred died about a month shy of the twins' 105th birthday on May 4, 1985 at age 104 and Mary died about a month shy of her 108th birthday on May 6, 1988 at age 107. Allie Grubb Hill and Maggie Rovella Grubb Lambeth, were born in Davidson County, North Carolina on January 13, 1884. According to Social Security Death Index Records, Allie passed away in January 1990 and Maggie passed away on March 6, 1990 shortly after both had turned 106. Incidentally, Maggie's daughter, Sallie Lambeth Gallimore, turned 100 years old herself on March 7th, 2008. Dr. Marie Hansen Morse and Hannah Hansen each lived to be 102. The twins were born on January 11, 1878 in Denmark, but lived most of their lives in Nebraska before each passeding away in 1980 (Marie on February 21 and Hannah on November 18).

Other notables

We also received an update from a family member of Elmer and Emery Mohney of Puxitany, Pennsylvania, who indicated to us that the Mohney twins were born on February 15, 1908 and celebrated their 97th birthdays earlier in 2005, but we don't have any additional information on this set of twins.

Randell and Wendell Shumaker at age 96 - Sept. 2007

Another notable set of (identical) male twins still alive as of May, 2007 are Wendell and Randell Shumaker, who were born in New Bethleham, Pennsylvania on Dec. 20, 1910. Still active and independent, Wendell's grandson wrote Twinstuff to indicate that Randell still lives in a house he built and continues to drive at age 97 and that Wendell lives with his daughter and his wife of 69 years. They had two sisters who lived to be over 100 years of age. Here's a picture of Randell and Wendell at age 96 taken in September 2007.

We also want to salute the following sets of twins (ages refer to last verified ages of both twins from media or personal accounts): Ivy Shermer and Olive Tucker of the UK, who each turned 98 on May 10, 2007 (you can read more about this set and see pictures in this Twinstuff posting) and may be the UK's oldest-living twins as of that date, Sarah Taub Rubenstein, and her identical twin, Sophie Taub Shlefstein, who turned 98 on June 28, 2005 on different U.S. coasts (Sarah lives in Southern California and Sophie lives in Brooklyn, NY), and Grace Luella Campbell and Edith Marcella Ritzi, born on May 22, 1907 in Weissport, Pennsylvania, and now residing in different nursing homes as they approach their 98th birthdays (March, 2005 update).

Cecillia and Lucille Steffens each turned 93 on April 14, 2007 in Seguin, Texas and you can read more about them at this Twinstuff posting. Another set of twins who celebrated elevated birthdays in 2007 are Lois Coble Spoon and Nellie Coble Smith of Liberty, North Carolina who each turned 95 on Sept. 6, 2007. A hometown feature on these twins can be found at this URL.

Congratulations also to 92-year-old twins, Marjorie and Mildred Christensen, of Tipton, Iowa, who were born on Easter in 1910 and still lived together at the time in Iowa. We also want to salute Myrtle and Mable Minton, who each turned 90 on Christmas Day, 2002, Lula Horton and Bula Pye of Fairfield, Texas, who each turned 95 on February 15, 2003, and Zelma (Foster) Bergen and Velma (Foster) Pummill, who celebrated their 92nd birthday on June 24, 2004 in their hometown of El Dorado, Kansas. 90-year-old identical twin sisters Mattie Vines-Jones and Libba Nixon of Columbia and Elizabeth City, North Carolina, respectively, who were born on January 7, 1910, and 90-year-old fraternal sisters Clara Ratermann, and Bertha Ellers of Breese, Illinois, who each turned 90 on June 10, 2000. Fred and George Wilson were born December 4, 1911 in Ladysmith, British Columbia, Canada and were both in good health approaching their 90th birthday at the end of 2001. Millie and Connie Loveland of Brighton, England each turned 90 on March 6, 2001 and held the distinction at the time of living together in the same house for their entire lives!

Some other male twins we'd like to salute is Frank and George Anding, who were born in Superior, Wisconsin on February 5, 1918 and who each celebrated their 85th birthdays in 2003. In addition to that achievement and both serving in World War II (Frank earning a Purple Heart), they are unique in that George married and had 15 children (10 boys, 5 girls), all singletons, while Frank married but had no children. Pat Williams, of Talbott, Tennessee, and Uncle John B. Williams, of Morristown, Tennessee were born October 19, 1914 and each celebrated their 91st birthdays in 2005.

One of the oldest male/female living sets of twins we've heard about is Herbert and Herta Lunow, who were born on September 16, 1907 in Lewisville, Texas and who celebrated their 97th birthdays together in 2004. They each lived in Lewisville until the year 2000, but Herbert moved to Houston and Herta moved to Dallas. In the United States, we heard from relatives of Josephine (Josie) Jantz Stucky, who let us know that Josie and her twin brother, Joseph Jantz, celebrated their 93rd birthdays on March 14, 2002. The fraternal twins were born March 14, 1909 near Ruff, Washington and each lived their entire lives in Washington State. Josie's late husband was the brother of Joe's late second wife so the twins spent many years married to a brother and sister.

Another pair soon to celebrate an important birthday are Olinda Rohrick (Miller) and Elizabeth Keller (Miller), born on April 5, 1909 in Windsor, Colorado. Mrs. Rohrick lives in Medford, Wisconsin, while the other half of this soon-to-be 99-year-old set of twins, Mrs. Keller, lives in Galt, California.

Melba and Merrill Minor will be celebrating their 92nd birthdays on March 31, 2008. These Missouri identical twin sisters aren't even the oldest living member of their family as the 91-year-olds have a 95-year-old living sister as of late January, 2008. Another birthday of note took place on February 2, 2008 as Lucille C. "Bootsie" Quarles and her identical twin sister Louise "Nana" Walker celebrated their 95th birthdays. The twins were born on February 2, 1913 in Parsons, Kansas and still reside there together.

One of the oldest living sets in Australia are Harry Bruce and Daphne Hembrough, who celebrated their 94th birthdays together on April 24, 2008. According to this news story, they are one of 19 pairs of twins in Australia between the ages of 90 and 99.

Oldest twins (one member of which passed away a centenarian)

Mary Crombie, Illinois (1890-2003)
Edward Driver, Two Rock, CA (1890-2000)

Mary Crombie lived to be 113 years old

The longest-living twin in history is Mary Belle Crombie (Murphy), born in Calhoun, Illinois along with her twin sister, Mabel Jean, on July 6, 1890. Mary Crombie turned 113 on July 6, 2003, and was the fourth-oldest living person in the United States and most likely the 9th-oldest in the world, before passing away on September 22, 2003 at the age of 113 years, 78 days. Mary's twin sister, Mabel Jean, passed away at the age of 94, in December, 1984. Mary Belle married at least twice, and had a living daughter from her first marrage at the time of her death, Ruth, who was born in 1919. The information regarding Mary Belle was passed to centenarian experts, Robert Young and Louis Epstein, through her granddaughter.

Another twin we'd like to salute is Nellie Cross (Wakefield), who was born in the Plano/Centerville, Iowa area along with her twin brother, William Lorence Wakefield, on October 28, 1889. Also one of the world's oldest living individuals in recent times, Nellie was 112 years, 5 months and 6 days old when she passed away on April 3, 2002. Her twin brother, William, passed away on December 18, 1972 at the ripe old age of 83.

One verified candidate for the male half of this category is Edward Driver, who was born in Two Rock, California on September 24, 1890 and died on June 28, 2000 at the remarkable age of 109 years, 278 days. Ed had a twin brother, William, who we believe lived into his 70's before passing away in the 1960's. Dale Moyer passed away on July 17, 2004 at the age of 109 years, 27 days.

Twin centenarians (2000-current)