John Painter (supercentenarian)

John Painter (supercentenarian)

John George Painter (September 20, 1888 – March 1, 2001) was posthumously recognized as the world's oldest man and oldest American veteran, as a result of the United States's SSA supercentenarian study. Painter was also the last surviving American veteran of the First World War to be born in the 1880s. Some years after his death he was also proclaimed to have been the world's oldest man for more than a year before he died. Painter was the earliest-born man to live into the 21st century.

The June 1900 Census listed him as born in September 1888, while the 1910 Census said he was 19 years old and according to the 1920 Census, he was 28 years old. But because the oldest document was closer to the birth event, it is more likely to be correct. There is speculation that he claimed to be a younger age in 1910 and 1920 because he was embrarrassed of still living with his parents and/or still being single at his age.