Anna Haining bates

Giantess. Famed for her great height. She was a Canadian from Mill Brook, New Annan, (near present-day Tatamagouche), Colchester County. Her parents were Scottish immigrants and she was the 3rd of 13 children. All of her siblings and both of her parents were of average size. Anna weighed 18 pounds when she was born and was twenty-seven inches long. She grew very fast. On her 4th birthday she was 4 feet 6 inches tall. On her 6th birthday she was measured again, and she stood 5 foot 2 inches tall. By her 15th birthday Anna stood just over seven feet tall. Her full height was 7 feet 5 and a half inches tall three years later. Anna excelled at literature and music and was considered to be very intelligent. She also excelled at her studies of acting, piano and voice. She was discovered in 1862 by P.T. Barnum. At first she refused Barnum's offer to tour but agreed later, as he paid her handsomely. She toured Europe and made several visits to the UK in the 1860's. When visiting a circus in Halifax with which Martin Van Buren Bates — another enormously tall person — was travelling, Anna was spotted by the promoter and hired on the spot. The giant couple became a touring sensation and eventually fell in love and, on 17 June 1871 in St Martin-in-the-fields in London, they married. They had two children but unfortunately neither survived. The first was a girl who was still-born on 19 May 1872. The girl was the same size as her mother was at her own birth. The Bates family moved to Seville, Ohio, in June 1874 on their return from the United Kingdom. They purchased 120 acres of land and had furniture made to their specifications. The main part of the house had 14 foot high ceilings. The doors were extra wide and were 8 and a 1/2 foot tall. The back part of the house was built an average size for servants and guests. Whilst touring in the summer of 1878 Anna found that she was pregnant for the second time. Anna went into labour on January 15, 1879. She continued in the first stages of labour for 36 hours, at which time hard labour began. Dr. Beach, their physician, realized that the birth wasn't going in a normal direction and tried using forceps, but the baby's head was too large. He called another Doctor who also tried using forceps. They put a strong bandage around the baby's neck to assist with the delivery. The baby was born on 19 January, but he survived only a day. He was the largest newborn ever recorded, or 22 pounds and 28 inches tall. To help take their minds off their baby's death, the Bates's rejoined touring with W.W. Cole in the summer of 1879, and again in the spring of 1880, but that was to be their final ever tour. Anna Swan died suddenly and unexpectedly at her home on 5th August 1888 just one day before her 42nd birthday. She succumbed to heart failure after struggling with a thyroid goitre. Anna, Martin and their children are all buried in Mound Hill Cemetery, Seville, Ohio. Wife of Capt. Martin V. Bates. According to the plaque at the headstone, she was 7' 11" tall and weighed 413 pounds and her husband was 7'9" tall and weighed 470 pounds.