2 women from 1800s are still alive, 1 an American

Matthew Diebel | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Want to live to be 100? These women share their secrets There are two people alive today who were born in the 1800s. They have different outlooks on life. Here's what they say are the secrets to their longevity.

Has it really been more than 15 years since we marked the arrival of a new century?

How about 115 years?

Yes, there are two people alive, both women, who saw the dawn of the 20th century. And the oldest is an American. (Several others also claim to hail from the 19th century — one Mexican woman even says she is 127 — but lack the records to back it up.)

Until recently, the oldest person in the world was a Michigan woman, Jeralean Talley, who liked to go trout fishing until she was about 110, and who passed away at 116 on June 17. Now there are only two who were born in the 1800s.

What are the stories of these two extraordinary women? What are their tips for longevity? Here are mini-biographies of the two people remaining on Earth who have witnessed three centuries.

Name: Susannah Mushatt Jones

Country of residence: United States

Birthday: July 6, 1899

Born in Alabama, the third-oldest of 11 children of sharecroppers, "Miss Susie" Mushatt Jones moved to New York City in 1923. She still lives there today as a resident of the Vandalia Senior Center in Brooklyn.

She's due to turn 116 next week, when family members will throw her a party.

Newly crowned as the world's oldest person, she shared the secret of her longevity with the New York Daily News.

"I sleep," she told the paper with a hearty laugh.

Mushatt Jones even offered a demonstration, laying back in her leather recliner at the Vandalia Center and pulling a blanket over her head for an afternoon nap.

"I'm the oldest person in the world? No, I'm not!" she said to her grandniece, Myra Simpson, 40, the Daily News reported.

Mushatt Jones started the year as the fourth-oldest person, and moved up the list after Misao Okawa of Japan, who held the title since 2013, died in April at age 117. The next oldest, 116-year-old Gertrude Weaver of Arkansas, died after just four days as the world's oldest, and Talley held the honor for 78 days.

After graduating from a private boarding school in Alabama — at her graduation, according to The New York Times, she gave a presentation on "Negro Music in France" — she was accepted at the famed Tuskegee Institute. Her parents, though, did not have enough money to pay for college, so she decided to move to New York, where the Harlem Renaissance was in its early stages.

She married, but divorced within five years and had no children, and worked mostly caring for the children of wealthy families before retiring in 1965.

"She's kind, has a tremendous work ethic and enjoys life," Jones' eightysomething niece, Lavilla Watson,toldthe Daily News.

Watson said her aunt, who has been blind for 15 years, helped put her, two sisters and two cousins through college. "She wants everyone to go to college," Watson said.

She was generous with her family, but when it came to splurging on herself, Jones' weakness, according to an article in Time magazine,was high-end lace lingerie. "She would save her money and then go to Bloomingdale's," her niece Selbra Mushatt told Time. "One time, when she had to get an EKG, the doctors and nurses were surprised to see her wearing that lingerie, and she said, 'Oh sure, you can never get too old to wear fancy stuff.' "

Mushatt Jones never smoked or drank alcohol, but her diet is far from healthy.

"Miss Susie loves her barbecue chicken, Miss Susie loves her bacon and if you take any of (them) away you will be told off," another niece, Taheera Mushatt, told WABC-TV.

However, she sticks to a strict daily routine, according to a report by The Associated Press. Every morning she wakes up around 9 a.m., takes a bath and then eats several slices of bacon, scrambled eggs and grits. On a recent day, the AP reported, Jones said little, but family members said she spends her days reflecting on her life and embracing what's left of it — one day at a time

Family members told the AP that they know of no medical reason for her long life, crediting it to her love of family and generosity to others,

Despite her age, she only sees a doctor once every four months, according to the AP, and takes medication for high blood pressure and a multivitamin. Aside from that, she has had a clean bill of health for years, said another niece, Lois Judge.

She even was active in her building's tenant patrol until she was 106.

Name: Emma Morano

Country of residence: Italy

Birthday: Nov. 29, 1899

Born just over a month before the end of the 19th century, Emma Morano is Europe's oldest living person. Incredibly, she still lives on her own in northern Italy, and takes care of herself and her house independently, according to local media.

Morano was the first of eight children, all of whom have predeceased her, though a sister lived to be 102. In 1926, she married and in 1937 her only child was born, but died at 6 months old. In 1938, she separated from her husband, Giovanni Martinuzzi, but never divorced. Until 1954, she was a worker at a jute factory in her town before working in the kitchen of a boarding school. She retired at 75.

When asked about the secret of her longevity by the La Stampa newspaper,she first mentioned her daily glass of homemade brandy.

But Morano mostly cites her eating habits — including a raw egg every day — as having helped her live so long. "For breakfast I eat biscuits with milk or water," she said. "Then during the day I eat two eggs — one raw and one cooked — just like the doctor recommended when I was 20 years old. For lunch I'll eat pasta and minced meat then for dinner, I'll have just a glass of milk."

Sleep is another important factor in her longevity, she told the newspaper. Morano goes to bed before 7 every night and wakes up before 6 a.m.

Her physician, Dr. Carlo Bava, is convinced there's a genetic component as well.

"From a strictly medical and scientific point of view, she can be considered a phenomenon," he told The Associated Press, noting that Morano takes no medication and has been in stable, good health for years.

Italy is known for its centenarians — many of whom live in Sardinia — and gerontologists at the University of Milan are studying Morano, along with a handful of Italians over age 105, to try to figure out why they live so long.

"Emma seems to go against everything that could be considered the guidelines for correct nutrition: She has always eaten what she wants, with a diet that is absolutely repetitive," Bava said. "For years, she has eaten the same thing every day, not much vegetables or fruit. But she's gotten this far."

When the AP visited recently, Morano was in feisty spirits, displaying the sharp wit and fine voice that she says used to stop men in their tracks.

"I sang in my house, and people on the road stopped to hear me singing. And then they had to run because they were late and should go to work," she recalled, before breaking into a round of the 1930s Italian love song Parlami d'amore Mariu.

"Ahh, I don't have my voice anymore," she lamented at the end.

But even though her movements now are limited, according to the AP — she gets out of bed and into her armchair and back again, her eyesight is bad and hearing weak — she does seem to walk around at night.

"Her niece and I leave some biscuits and chocolates out at night in the kitchen. And in the morning they're gone, which means someone has gotten up during the night and eaten them," Bava said.