A Brooklyn centenarian celebrated her 116th birthday Monday by being certified as the world's oldest living person.
Guinness World Records presented Susannah Mushatt Jones with a certificate naming her the world's oldest person on Friday, three days ahead of her birthday. Jones takes the title for oldest woman from Jerlean Talley, a Michigan woman who died in June at 116.
The recordkeeping organization said that Jones is celebrating her milestone Monday with family and again on Tuesday with members of her housing community.
Jones was born July 6, 1899. At that time, the Spanish-American War had just ended, William McKinley was president and "automobile" was still a new term.
Jones was the daughter of Alabama sharecroppers and the third of 11 children, all of whom she has outlived. She moved to New York City during the Roaring Twenties and has more than 100 nieces and nephews.
"Are you an old lady or a young lady?" asked her niece Lois Judge during an interview earlier this year with NBC 4 New York's Roseanne Colletti.
"I'm old," Jones said.
Judge said Jones credits her longevity to not drinking, smoking or partying.
