MARTIN VAN BUREN BATES - THE KENTUCKY GIANT

MARTIN VAN BUREN BATES was known as the “Kentucky Giant”. Born on November 9, 1837, he grew to 7-foot, 9 inches and weighed 475 pounds. He was a school teacher. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Bates joined the 5^th Kentucky Infantry of the Confederate States Army in 1861. His ferocity in battle and large frame gained him recognition on both sides, earning the rank of captain. At Cumberland Gap he was severely wounded and was captured and held as a prisoner of war at Camp Chase in Ohio – but later escaped. How such a huge man could escape unnoticed is remarkable.

After the war, Bates returned to Kentucky and joined the circus. While the circus was on tour in Halifax, Canada, he was visited by 7-foot, 11-inch Anna Haining Swan. After courtship, they married in 1871. The wedding took place at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, England and thousands of people tried to attend. Queen Victoria gave the couple two large diamond-studded gold watches as a wedding present. In 1872, the couple moved to Seville, Ohio.

Martin and Anna Bates

On May 19, 1872, Anna gave birth to a daughter who weighed 18 lb., but died at birth. Martin described the next few years in his autobiography:

While in Ohio, I purchased a farm in Seville, Medina County. It consisted of 130 acres of good land. I built a house upon it designed especially for our comfort. The furniture was all built to order and to see our guests make use of it recalls most forcibly the good Dean Swift's traveler in the land of Brobdingnag. I had determined to become a farmer, so I stocked my farm with the best breeds of cattle, most of them being short horns. My draught horses are of the Norman breed. My rest was not to last long, for the solicitations of managers, I consented to again travel. The seasons of 1878, 1879, and 1880 found us leading attractions of the W.W. Cole circus. While we have during these years been blessed with many things, affliction again visited us in the loss of a boy, born on the 15^th day of January, 1879. He was 28 inches and weighed twenty three pounds and was perfect in every respect.

Bates Family Grave Site

Anna Bates died on August 5, 1888. Martin ordered a statue of her from Europe for her grave, sold their farm and house and moved to town. In 1889 he remarried, this time to a woman of regular height – Annette LaVonne Weatherby, and lived a peaceful life until his death in 1919 of inflammation of the kidneys. He was buried beside his first wife and their son in Seville. He is currently the tallest known person to have lived to be 80 years old. His height is listed as 7'9” by Guinness World Records.