Christian Mortensen

For the Danish ornithologist, see Hans Christian Cornelius Mortensen. For the American sportscaster, see Chris Mortensen.

Christian Mortensen
Born	Thomas Peter Thorvald Kristian Ferdinand Mortensen (1882-08-16)16 August 1882 Skårup, Skanderborg, Denmark
Died	25 April 1998(1998-04-25) (aged ) San Rafael, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Complications of delirium
Residence	San Rafael, California, U.S.
Other names	Chris
Occupation	Tailor, farmhand
Known for	First verifiable male to achieve age 115, second-oldest verifiable male ever, oldest Danish and Nordic person ever
Home town	Skanderborg
Title	Supercentenarian

File:Christian Mortensen birth record.png

Birth record of Christian Mortensen

Thomas Peter Thorvald Kristian Ferdinand Mortensen (16 August 1882 – 25 April 1998), known as an adult as Christian Mortensen, was a Danish-American supercentenarian. When he died, his age of 115 years and 252 days was the longest verified lifespan of any male in history until 28 December 2012, when Jiroemon Kimura of Japan surpassed this record. Mortensen was the first man confirmed to reach age 115 (in 1997). In addition to being the oldest person born in Denmark, Mortensen is also distinctive as the oldest person ever of all the Nordic countries, the oldest male emigrant ever and the oldest male ever from Europe.

Mortensen was baptized in Fruering Church on December 26, 1882. Besides his baptismal record, other records include the 1890 and 1901 census enumerations in Denmark, and church confirmation in 1896.

Biography

Christian Mortensen was born the son of a tailor in the village of Skårup, near the city of Skanderborg, Denmark, on August 16, 1882. He began work as a tailor's apprentice in Skanderborg at age 16, in 1898, and later took work as a farmhand.

Mortensen emigrated to the United States in 1903. He traveled while working as a tailor but settled in Chicago where he had relatives. Mortensen worked various trades including as a milkman for Borden's Milk, as a restaurateur, and as a factory worker for the Continental Can Company. He was married for less than ten years, divorced and had no children. He did not remarry.

In 1950, Mortensen retired near Galveston Bay, Texas. Then, 28 years later at the age of 96, he moved to a retirement home in San Rafael, California. Mortensen claimed he rode his bicycle to the Aldersly Retirement Community, telling the staff that he was there to stay. Mortensen lived at Aldersly until his death in 1998.

Mortensen enjoyed an occasional cigar and insisted that smoking in moderation was not unhealthy. Mortensen preferred a vegetarian diet. He also drank boiled water. Mortensen was legally blind towards the end of his life and spent much of his time in a wheelchair listening to the radio. Toward the end of his life, his memory of distant events was good, but he could not remember recent events and increasingly needed assistance from the Aldersly staff.

On his 115th birthday Mortensen gave his advice for a long life: "Friends, a good cigar, drinking lots of good water, no alcohol, staying positive and lots of singing will keep you alive for a long time".

See also

• Dina Manfredini, the oldest verified immigrant ever
• List of the verified oldest people
• Oldest people
• List of supercentenarians from the United States
• Ageing

External links

• Scandinavian obituaries: Dagbladet (Norwegian) and Aftonbladet (Swedish)
• Aldersly Garden Retirement Community
• Fruering Church article at Danish Wikipedia