World's oldest person Susannah Mushatt Jones dies at 116 in New York

The world's oldest person Susannah Mushatt Jones – an American supercentenarian - has died in New York at age 116 years, 311 days. She was the last American born in the 1800s.

Jones, who had been living at a senior person's home in Brooklyn for three decades, died on Thursday (12 May) night in her sleep after being unwell for the past 10 days, the CBS news reported.

She was born in a small farm town in the southern US state of Alabama on 6 July 1899 to African American sharecroppers. She was one of 11 siblings and attended a special school for young black girls.

After her graduation in 1922 she joined her family to work in the fields picking crops. However, Jones later moved to New York where she worked as a housekeeper and childcare provider until her retirement in 1965.

Besides her family's love and generosity of others, Jones — also known as Miss Susie — had attributed her long life to getting lots of sleep and not smoking or consuming alcohol. She had also admitted to eating bacon often as she loved it, the Daily News reported.

She was married only for a brief period and never had children, although she has more than 100 nieces and nephews.

During her life, she had witnessed 20 presidents in the White House, from William McKinley to Barack Obama.

Jones became the Guinness Book of World Records' oldest living person after her predecessor Misao Okawa of Tokyo died on 17 June 2015, aged 116 years and 25 days.

A 116-year-old Emma Martina Louise Morano of Italy will now be taking Jones' record as the oldest living person in the world. She is said to be just a few months younger than Jones, and is the only person alive in the world who was born before 1900.

France's Jeanne Calment was the oldest verified person on the Guinness Record, who died in 1997 at 122 years and 164 days, according to a research group.