Geert Adriaans Boomgaard (21 September 1788; baptized 23 September 1788
[Baptismal certificate 23 September 1788 Groningen Martinikerk]
Retrieved 14 March 2019. – 3 February 1899) was a Dutch
supercentenarian
A supercentenarian (sometimes hyphenated as super-centenarian) is a person who has reached the age of 110 years. This age is achieved by about one in 1,000 centenarians. Supercentenarians typically live a life free of major age-related diseases u ...
and is generally accepted by scholars as the first validated on record.
Biography
Early life
Little is known about Boomgaard's life: he was born in
Groningen
Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...
, Netherlands. His parents were Adriaan Jacobs Boomgaard (1763–1844) and Geesje Geerts Bontekoe (1762–1834).
His father was captain on a boat, and civil records say that Geert had the same job.
In addition to captaining a boat, other sources say that he also served as a soldier in the 33rd Light Infantry Regiment in
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
's
Grande Armée
''La Grande Armée'' (; ) was the main military component of the French Imperial Army commanded by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte during the Napoleonic Wars. From 1804 to 1808, it won a series of military victories that allowed the French Empi ...
.
[Derniers vétérans de l'Armée napoléonienne, Premier Empire](_blank)
Marriages
At the age of 29, on 4 March 1818, he married Stijntje Bus (baptized 19 February 1797 – died 24 March 1830).
Stijntje died aged 33, a month after the birth of their 8th child. A year later, on 17 March 1831, Boomgaard married Grietje Abels Jonker (baptized 19 May 1793 – 18 May 1864),
with whom he had four more children, for a total of 12.
He outlived all his children: his last surviving child, Jansje Hinderika, died at the age of 57 on 24 May 1885.
Longevity
On 8 January 1897, Boomgaard surpassed the final age of Belgian Pierre Darcourt (108 years and 108 days) to become the oldest man ever, and by 10 April 1898, he was older than the previous titleholder, 109-year-old Swedish woman Kirsti Skagen (1788–1897), therefore making him the oldest ever verified person at that time.
He died at the age of 110 years and 135 days. The first female supercentenarian and his successor was
Margaret Ann Neve
Margaret Ann Neve ( Harvey, 18 May 1792 – 4 April 1903) was the first recorded female supercentenarian and the second validated human to reach the age of 110 after Geert Adriaans Boomgaard. Neve lived at Saint Peter Port on the island of Gu ...
— who surpassed Adriaans' final age, dying at almost 111 (1792–1903) — although his lifespan as the longest-lived male was not surpassed until 29 October 1966 by
John Mosely Turner, who would reach 111 years and nine months (1856–1968).
See also
*
List of Dutch supercentenarians
*
List of last surviving veterans of military insurgencies and wars
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boomgaard, Geert Adriaans
1788 births
1899 deaths
Dutch military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars
Dutch supercentenarians
Men supercentenarians
Oldest people
People from Groningen (city)