Draft:Delphia Welford

Delphia S. Welford (September 9, 1875 [claimed 1881] – November 14, 1992) was an American supercentenarian who is claimed, with some evidence, to have reached the age of 117 years, 66 days. If this claim were true, she would be the second-oldest person ever from the United States, and the eleventh-oldest in the world.

Biography
Welford was reportedly born in Okolona, Mississippi, to Richard and Heddie Welford on September 9, 1875. Her family moved to Humboldt when Delphia was younger, and she spent all the rest of her life there. She had a son, Leo Mathis, in 1896, but she never married. Leo die in July 1966, at the age of 64. Welford was a homemaker and member of the Lane Chapel C.M.E. Church. At Parkview Manor Health Care Center, in Humboldt, Tennessee, on Saturday, November 14, 1992, at the age of 117 years, 66 days, Delphia Welford died. Newspaper accounts of her death reported her age as 111, but the Gerontology Research Group later declared that "following one of the most thoroughful and careful examination using multiple pieces of evidence and documentation spanning from her early life until 1992, we recognize that Delphia Welford was 117 years old".

Longevity records
Delphia Welford held many longevity records. She became the oldest living person in the United States following the death of Orpha Nusbaum on 30 March 1988. On November 27, 1990, she surpassed the age of Augusta Holtz to become the oldest ever person from the United States. She was the first American to reach the ages of 116 and 117, and is the oldest African-American person ever, the oldest person ever to not be the oldest living person (because Jeanne Calment, born earlier the same year, was always older), one of three North American people to reach the age of 117 (along with Sarah Knauss and Marie-Louise Meilleur), the oldest person ever from both Mississippi and Tennessee, and the tenth oldest person ever until May 2024, when she was surpassed by Maria Branyas.