Learn about the 10 oldest Irish people who ever lived in our list of supercentenarians from Ireland.
Ireland is an ancient land filled with great characters, mysticism, folklore, and deep-rooted history dating back to thousands of years before Christ.
In Ireland, we have books and manuscripts detailing Ireland’s greatest and most challenging experiences. And we also have and have had some incredible people who lived more than a century, experiencing more than most people will ever do in a lifetime.
Here are the nine oldest Irish people who ever lived (for whom records exist) and a little bit on their epic lives! Often referred to as a “supercentenarian,” these legends lived well past the big 100.
10. Mary Anne Walsh (née Campbell), 9 April 1908 – 12 April 2018
Mary Anne Walsh was born as Mary Anne Campbell in County Mayo, Ireland, on 9 April 1908.
She was the oldest of 13 children and emigrated to the United States of America at the age of 18, meeting her husband in the Philadelphia area and settling in the state of New York with their five children.
As a centenarian, she loved gardening and walking. She passed away at the age of 110 years and 3 days.
9. Margaret Bly (née Corrigan), 28 June 1894 – 4 August 2004
Margaret Bly was an Irish-American supercentenarian born in County Donegal on 28 June 1894. She emigrated to the U.S. at age six, to live in Massachusetts with her family. She married Beldon G Bly and was the mother to three children.
Bly volunteered with the Visiting Nurses Association, and during World War I, she made bandages for soldiers. She died at the age of 110 years and 37 days.
8. Mary Ellen “Ciss” Geaney, 2 January 1886 – 5 April 1996
“Ciss” Geaney was born on 2 January 1886 in the village of Ballyhooly, County Cork. She is cited as having referenced her birthday as being on the 6 January 1886, but her birth record confirms it was 2 January. She never married and died at the age of 110 years and 94 days on 5 April 1996 in Fermoy, County Cork.
7. Elizabeth Watkins, 10 March 1863 – 31 October 1973
Elizabeth Watkins was a British supercentenarian who was born in Northern Ireland on 10 March 1863. She held the Guinness World Record for some time in 1973 as being the oldest person alive. From the age of 94, Watkins was cared for in a Belfast hospital, where she remained until her final days.
She died at the age of 110 years and 235 days.
6. Catherine Furey (née Hickey), 6 April 1893 – 30 November 2003
Catherine Furey was born on 6 April 1893 in Kilbride, County Roscommon. In 1913, at the ripe age of 20, Furey set sail for Boston with her sister, Beatrice. The Irish supercentenarian went on to work in New York and neighbouring Rhode Island, before marrying a Galway man named Simon Furey in 1927. They had two children.
In 2003—having a clear zest for life—she told the Irish Voice, “I haven’t missed many parties.” She died at the age of 110 years and 238 days.
5. Margaret “Maggie” Dolan, 30 August 1893 – 2 December 2004
This supercentenarian is one of the oldest Irish people who ever lived and was born on 30 August 1893 in the village of Corofin, County Galway. “Maggie” Dolan was the daughter of a farmer and spent her entire life living and working in Ireland (bar two years she spent in the U.S.).
She never married, nor had children. She died on 2 December 2004 in the same town in which she was born. She was 111 years and 94 days old.
4. Katherine Plunket, 22 November 1820 – 14 October 1932
Katherine Plunket was born on 22 November 1820 in Kilsaran, County Louth. She was a member of the Anglo-Irish upper class—an aristocrat, in fact. She also is remembered for her botanical illustrations.
Plunket never married or had children and died on 14 October 1932 at the age of 111 years and 327 days, in her home territory of Louth.
3. Henrietta “Ettie” Irwin (née Picton), 27 May 1906 – 15 January 2019
“Ettie” Irwin was born on 27 May 1906 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She married Norman Lindsay Irwin in Belfast in 1923 and married him in 1939 at the Timothy Eaton Memorial Church. They had two children.
Irwin died in Toronto, Ontario in Canada, where she lived, on 15 January 2019 at the age of 112 years and 233 days.
2. Annie Isabella Scott, 15 March 1883 – 21 April 1996
Annie Scott was born on 15 March 1883 in Dungannon, County Tyrone, in Northern Ireland. She held the title for longest living Irish woman ever for some time before passing on 21 April 1996 in Reay in Scotland at the age of 113 years and 37 days.
1. Kathleen Snavely, 16 February 1902 – 6 July 2015
Kathleen Snavely was born in Feakle, County Clare, on 16 February 1902. She left Ireland at the age of 19 to sail from Cobh in County Cork to Ellis Island in New York. She was first married to Roxie Rollins.
When she was widowed, she married a man named Jesse Snavely. She never had children and survived both of her husbands. Snavely died at the age of 113 years and 140 days in the United States.
