Story highlights Susannah Mushatt Jones was born July 6, 1899, in Lowndes County, Alabama

Jones, 116, attributed her longevity to sleep, clean living and positive energy

(CNN) Susannah Mushatt Jones, the world's oldest person, has died in New York, a Guinness World Records spokesman confirmed Friday. She was 116.

Jones, who attributed her longevity to sleep, clean living and positive energy, died at 8:26 p.m. Thursday after being ill and in and out of the hospital for 10 days, said her niece, Dr. Lavilla Watson. She died in her sleep.

Jones was the last American born in the 1800s, according to Robert Young, senior consultant for gerontology for Guinness World Records and director of the Los Angeles-based Gerontology Research Group's Supercentenarian Research and Database Division.

The presumptive oldest person in the world is Emma Morano of Italy, who was born on November 29, 1899, according to Young. The oldest man is Israel Kristal of Israel, who is 112.

Jones was born on July 6, 1899, in Lowndes County, Alabama, and her life spanned three centuries, according to Guinness World Records . Her father was a sharecropper who supported his family by picking cotton.

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