Birth
15 October 1873Elbert County, Georgia, United StatesDeath
15 December 1984Elbert County, Georgia, United StatesAge
111
Randolph Davis
Randolph Davis was an American supercentenarian whose age is validated by LongeviQuest. To current knowledge, he was the oldest (known) living man in the world at the time of his death.
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Biography
Randolph Davis was born in Elbert County, Georgia, United States on 15 October 1873. Growing up on a farm near Elbert County’s Flatwood Community, he attended school only until the third grade. As a child, he learned to be self-sufficient: his family made the clothes they wore on a loom, and grew much of the food they ate. At an early age, he worked to support his family by picking and cutting cotton in a field. He would sometimes travel to Chicago, Illinois to visit relatives, but he later remarked that he would “rather be dead” than live there, due to the high amount of thieves, and instead spent most of his life in Elbert County.
In April 1974 – at the age of 100 – he moved into a nursing home, where he resided for the rest of his life. He lost his eyesight at the age of 106, and became mostly confined to a wheelchair when he was 107, but was reported to be alert and lucid at the time of his 108th birthday in 1981, with him being able to remember the name of his 3rd grade teacher and all nine of his siblings.
Randolph Davis passed away in Elbert County, Georgia, United States, on 15 December 1984, at the age of 111 years, 61 days.
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On 20 September 1983, following the passing of 111-year-old Sarah Isom, he became the oldest living person in the U.S. state of Georgia.
Following the death of 110 year old Gregory Pandazes on 22 December 1983, Davis is believed to have become the oldest living man in the world. He would hold this title for close to one year before his own death.
Following his death, he was succeeded by Joe Thomas as the world’s oldest living man.
His age was verified by Okiku S. and Jimmy Lindberg, and was validated by LongeviQuest on 27 March 2024.
Davis claimed to have been born on 15 October 1870, and his claimed final age was 114 years and 61 days. However, based on located evidence, he was more likely three years younger. The earliest document, the 1880 census record, indicates his age as 6 as of 1 June. Considering his claim of being born in October, he would have been turning 7 in four months. However, the 1900 census record, which specified both the month and year of birth, indicates his birth in May 1872. While the 1900 census record didn’t always specify the correct birth month, if his birth month was indeed May, then the earliest record would have indicated a birth in May 1874, rather than October 1873. Even if he had been born in May 1874, he would still have held the title of the world’s oldest living man at the time of his death.
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* “Elberton Centenarian 111 and Still Counting” – Anderson Independent-Mail, 18 October 1981
* The Macon Telegraph, 19 December 1984