Puerto Rican claims oldest woman title

A 114-year-old Puerto Rican has been named the oldest living woman, replacing an Ohio woman who is more than two months younger, Guinness World Records said today.

Ramona Trinidad Iglesias Jordan earned the distinction earlier this month, Guinness official Laurie Hughes said. She was born on either August 31 or September 1, 1889, in the mountain town of Utuado, according to documents presented to the London-based group.

A baptismal certificate shows Iglesias was born August 31, 1889 while a birth certificate issued in 1948 shows her birth date as September 1, 1889.

She was born near the end of the Spanish Crown’s rule of Puerto Rico, which was ceded to the United States in 1898 after the Spanish-American War.

Iglesias replaces Charlotte Benkner of North Lima, Ohio. Benkner, also 114, was born on November 16, 1889, in Germany.

Benkner held the title for about three months and earned it after the death in November of 114-year-old Mitoyo Kawate of Japan.