BIOGRAPHY

Royster was born as Mary Manning in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, on 15 April 1875 (claimed 1870) as the eldest of eight children born to Charles Manning and Julia Royster. At the age of 10, her mother got jobs for her cooking for white families.

Royster was married twice. She married her first husband, farmer Frank Winckler, when she was 20 years old, and after his death, remarried to John Royster. She had nine children in total. Throughout her life, she was a devout Christian. She retired from her work as a cook aged 85.

In the early 1960s, Royster moved to North Carolina, settling in Rocky Mount. She moved into a residential facility in 1983. At the age of 112, her 85-year-old daughter Frankie was living in the same facility. During her supercentenarian years, her eyesight deteriorated to the point that she had to give up several hobbies, including knitting and sewing.

Royster died in a Rocky Mount hospital on 28 December 1989 at the age of 114 years, 257 days.

RECOGNITION

Royster became the oldest validated living person in the United States on 11 January 1988, after the death of 114-year-old Florence Knapp. Upon her own death, she was succeeded by Italian native Amarillide Bufalini.

Royster’s age was verified by Jimmy Lindberg and validated by LongeviQuest on 31 January 2024. Although Royster claimed to have been born in 1870, which would have made her 119 years old at the time of her passing, subsequent validation processes indicated that she was more likely five years younger. The 1880 census, conducted in June, recorded her age as 5 years old. Given her claim of an April birthdate, she would have turned 5 two months prior to the census enumeration. Her first marriage record from 1895 and the 1900 census record support a birth year of 1873. Additionally, the 1900 census supports her birth month as January instead of April, so her precise date of birth cannot be determined with certainty. The April 1875 birthdate represents the youngest age that can be reasonably supported by available evidence.

ATTRIBUTION

* “Woman celebrates 114th birthday” – The Evening Telegram, 15 April 1984

* “Mrs. Royster celebrates birthday” – The Evening Telegram, 19 April 1987

* “Oldest Living N.C. Resident Dead at 119” – Asheville Citizen-Times, 30 December 1989

GALLERY