What Age Was My Longest-Lived Female Ancestor in 1950?

On April 1, I hope to learn more about my oldest female ancestor, great-grandma Tillie Rose Jacobs Mahler (1852ish?-1952), daughter of Rachel Shuham Jacobs and Jonah Jacobs and husband of Meyer Elias Mahler.

At left, a 1900s photo of Tillie beautifully colorized by MyHeritage in Color.

The story passed down is that great-grandma "fooled" the family into giving her a 100th birthday party...and then died at the age of 99. Even today, nobody knows her true birth month, day, or year, only that she outlived everyone else in the family tree (by a lot).

Census records were inconsistent

I consulted US and NY Census records about Tillie's age and found, as the years went on, a number of inconsistencies. How did Tillie age so quickly between 1920 and 1925, for example? Or between 1930 and 1940? 

Likely it was not Tillie talking with the enumerator, IMHO, but someone else in the household (or a neighbor) giving an age guesstimate in later years. Take a look at how her age changes:

• 1900 US Census: Tillie is enumerated as 39 years old (Census day: June 1)
• 1905 NY Census: Tillie is enumerated as 45 years old (Census day: June 1)
• 1910 US Census: Tillie is enumerated as 50 years old (Census day: April 15)
• 1915 NY Census: Tillie is enumerated as 55 years old (Census day: June 1)
• 1920 US Census: Tillie is enumerated as 60 years old (Census day: January 1)
• 1925 NY Census: Tillie is enumerated as 67 years old (Census day: June 1)
• 1930 US Census: Tillie is enumerated as 73 years old (Census day: April 1)
• 1940 US Census: Tillie is enumerated as 86 years old (Census day: April 1) - see image excerpt below. (Note: Neither Tillie nor her daughter has a circled X next to the name, which would ordinarily suggest they were not the informants. Since no names on that page have an X, this enumerator didn't indicate which member of any household gave the information.)
• UPDATE: 1950 US Census, Tillie is enumerated as 100 years old (April 1).

What will 1950 US Census say?

Looking ahead: If Tillie was 99 years old when she passed away in 1952, she would be enumerated as 96 or 97 years old in the 1950 Census. NOPE, she was supposedly 100 yrs old as enumerated in 1950 US Census.

Remembering Great-Grandma Tillie with affection on International Women's Day.

This is my post for the Genealogy Blog Party of March, 2022.