memphis, tenn.

Elizabeth "Lizzie" Bolden, recognised as the world's oldest person, died on Monday in a nursing home, the home's administrator said. She was 116.

Bolden was born August 15, 1890, according to the Gerontology Research Group, a Los Angeles organisation that tracks the ages of the world's oldest people. The Guinness World Records recognized Bolden as the oldest person in the world in August after the death of Maria Esther de Capovilla of Ecuador, who also was 116. Bolden died at the Mid-South Health and Rehabilitation Centre, a nursing home where she had been living for several years, said the centre's administrator, Charlotte Pierce.

Bolden suffered a stroke in 2004, and her family said she spoke little after that and slept much of the time.

Emiliano Mercado del Toro, 115, of Puerto Rico is now expected to assume the title of world's oldest person, said Robert Young, a Guinness researcher. The Gerontology Research Group lists Toro's date of birth as August 21, 1891.

Family members said this year that Bolden had 40 grandchildren, 75 great-grandchildren, 150 great-great-grandchildren, 220 great-great-great grandchildren and 75 great-great-great-great grandchildren.