Articles About Martin Van Buren Bates

This treasured photograph of Martin Van Buren Bates, the Letcher County KY Giant and his wife Anna Hannon Swann is the prized possession of County Clerk, Charlie Wright, Kinsman of Martin Van Buren Bates. Wright has turned down all kinds of offers for the photograph and even resisted the pleas of former Governor Bert T Combs, who wanted to put the picture on display in his office at the state capitol at Frankfort. Wright agreed, however, to permit the photograph to be used in the "Eagle" to accompany Judge Dixon's article. Note the size of the "average man" at right.

Photos of Martin Van Buren Bates and Anna Swann Bates.

More About Martin Van Buren Bates.

Martin Van Buren Bates, The Kentucky River Giant" was born 9 November 1837 in Perry Co., KY. He died 19 January 1919 in Seville, Ohio at 81 years of age. Martin Van Buren Bates was the famous "Kentucky Giant" who was known for being a perfectly formed giant person. He was very handsome. He was the son of John Wallis Bates and Sarah Walthrop.

Martin Van Buren Bates m. 17 June 1871  in the "St. Martin in the Fields Church", London, England to Anna Haining Swan (aka Hannon Swann) b 6 Aug l846 New Annan, Nova Scotia d 5 Aug 1888, 1 day before her 42nd birthday, buried Mound Hill Cemetery, Seville OH, d/o Alexander Swan and Ann Graham. Martin m. about 1900 to 2nd to Annette Lavonne Weatherby. Children of Martin Van Buren Bates and Anna Haining Swan;

Sister Bates (on cemetery marker) b 1872 weighed 18 lbs. 27 inches long died at birth, buried Mound Hill Cemetery, Seville, OH.

Baby Bates (male) (on cemetery marker) b 19 Jan 1879 weight 22 lbs 28 inches long, lived only 11 hours, buried Mound Hill Cemetery, Seville OH.

Photos of Martin Van Buren Bates and Anna Swann Bates.
Articles About Martin Van Buren Bates.
More about Anna Haining Swan.
More About Anna and Martin
More About Martin V B Bates

At the Church of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields the lady and gentleman who daily add to the attractiveness of the "Two headed-nightingale" exhibition at Willis' Rooms had made a match of it, and were about to be married by special license.

Nova Scotia, famous for the production of tall persons, had produced not only the bride, Miss Anna Hannen (sic) Swan, but the clergyman (Rupert Cochrane) destined to unite her in the holy bonds of matrimony with Captain Martin Van Buren Bates, the Kentucky giant.

The Rev. gentleman, who is not connected with the church in which he was called to officiate on Saturday, is a man of extraordinary height, measuring some three inches over six feet; but he was completely dwarfed by proximity to the happy pair.

It was said that this gentleman was chosen priest not on account of any fanciful fitness of stature, but simply because he had been an acquaintance of his country woman, the bride, before either of them left Nova Scotia.

We may fairly say that there was no undue attempt to make an exhibition out of the ceremony in St. Martin's Church.  The bride's dress became her well, and there was something of stateliness and dignity in the skill with which she managed a most imposing train - train, indeed, that, when she knelt at the altar steps, seemed to flow far away out of her control or cognizance.

Captain Bates, the bridegroom, may be pardoned for having looked rather less at his ease in a blue coat, white waistcoat, and gray or light-tinted trousers. A man may get used to being eight feet high, but to be eight feet high and to be stared at by a devout congregation of idlers on the occasion of marrying a lady who is eight feet high also is trying conjunction of matters. However, Captain Bates got through his difficulties tolerably well.

Life Before Meeting Anna

On November 9, 1845 Martin Van Buren Bates was born near Whitesburg, Kentucky into the home of John W. and Sarah Bates. He was the youngest in the family with six brothers and five sisters and was educated at Emma-Henry College, Washington Co., Virginia.

When the Civil War broke out between the North and South, Bates joined, being the son of a slave owner, he enlisted as a private in the Fifth Kentucky Infantry C.S.A., on September 15, 1861 and served with this company until 1863, having been promoted several times. He continued to fight with a different company and rose to the rank of Lieutenant, later promoted to Captain, where he remained until the end of the war.

When he stopped growing at the age of twenty-eight he stood 7 feet, 9 inches and weighed 470 pounds.  People found his size somewhat unusual, so in 1865 he began exhibiting himself as a curiosity. He did this for five years, traveling all over the United States and Canada.

The Giant of the Hills: Martin Van Buren Bates

The article first appeared in the Letcher County (Ky.) Eagle. Bates is a relative of Bruce Bates of Scott County and George Rawlings of Mason, Ohio.)
By ARTHUR DIXON

We have intended for some time to write about the Letcher County Giant, MARTIN VAN BUREN BATES. But the different stories which we have seen contradict each other to some extent, so we have decided to use the one we found in the scrap book of Mrs. SAM COLLINS, Sr.:

A baby boy was born in Letcher County in 1837 who was to emblazon his name in history as one of the most unusual men who ever lived.

MARTIN VAN BUREN BATES was of normal size at birth, was the son of normal parents and his brothers and sisters were of average height and weight. Yet MARTIN BATES grew into a man seven feet and eleven inches tall, and for years his weight was 525 pounds. But his phenomenal physique does not by any means exhaust this amazing man’s attributes and accomplishments.

Although of peace loving nature, he was a courageous and fearless officer in the Civil War, gaining his commission for bravery on the battlefield. ~At a time when 75% of Americans lived out their careers within fifty miles of their homes, Captain BATES toured much of the world. He gained fame in the United States, Canada, England, and Europe.

These achievements would seem sufficient for any mortal in the slow-paced days of a century ago. But BATES had such a gregarious personality, such genuine liking for humanity, that he knew President GARFIELD, was a personal friend of President McKINLEY and was honored in London by Queen Victoria.

BATES acquired many nicknames, including "Baby" and Giant of the South, but his first nickname was given to him when he was eleven years of age and weighed 170 pounds. Seeing the astonishing dimensions of the boy on his eleventh birthday, his uncle said, "That’s a mighty big boy, by heck."

Martin's mother was deceived by his rapid elongation and came to the natural conclusion that be must be delicate. She forbade him to help with the household chores until she became convinced he was stronger than his older brothers.

While yet a young man BATES, journeyed to the county seat and took the examination for a school teacher, received his certificate and embarked on a teaching profession.  "Well," said one of his former students many years later, "I never did care about obeying a teacher, but that ‘Big Boy Bates’ was a fellow none of us boys ever sassed! We didn’t dare. Why, he was so big his voice just sort of rumbled like a bull bellowing." Fact of the matter is, though, all the students liked BATES.


In the Civil War BATES chose the cause of the "Rebels" and enlisted in the Confederate Army as a private. Once into the conflict, BATES forsook his habitual good nature and became a fierce and capable fighter. He soon won a battlefield promotion and became Captain before the end of the war.

He engaged in battles over much of the south and his fame spread among the "Yankees" who talked a great deal about "that Confederate Giant who was as big as five men and fights like fifty."  He was severely wounded in a battle around the Cumberland Gap area and also captured, although he later escaped.

After the Civil War Bates returned to his native Kentucky. He spent months renewing old friendships. But a restlessness was upon him.  The hectic life he had known in combat made him reluctant to settle down to a commonplace and uneventful existence. Also he was sensitive enough to foresee the coming of the feuds which had their actual beginning in the hatreds engendered by the Civil War.

"I don’t want any part of the trouble that’s coming to these hills," MARTIN BATES confided to his nephew, JOHN WRIGHT. "I’ve seen enough bloodshed. I didn’t want any more."  When BATES left Kentucky after selling his property, he traveled to Cincinnati and joined a circus. He immediately became one of the stars of the show.

Soon after he became a trooper, the circus took a preliminary swing into the eastern part of the United States, then departed for a tour of Canada.  In Halifax, Nova Scotia, BATES figured in one of the strangest encounters that ever occurred outside the pages of a fairy story. A personable young woman visited the circus at Halifax. Her name was ANNA HANNON SWAN, but her meeting with BATES was one of the oddest coincidences on record. Incredibly she was eight feet tall, one inch taller than BATES.

The elated circus manager knew a natural attraction when he saw one. He hired Miss SWAN, and when the circus left Canada for an extended stay in Europe the "giantess" was with the cast. Romance followed as the two "super people" found themselves drawn to each other.  This love affair was culminated in London when ANNA HANNON became Mrs. MARTIN VAN BUREN BATES.

Half of London tried to be present at the wedding. Queen VICTORIA found the "giants" as charming as the common people found them to be. She presented the newlyweds with a watch for each of them.  At her order the watches had been made of a size to correspond with the proportions of the recipients. The watches were as large as ordinary saucers. Moreover, they were gold, studded with diamonds, and worth $1,000.00 each a fabulous sum in that day.

Fresh from this royal welcome in England, the BATES were the stellar attraction in every city the circus played in Europe. All the acts drew applause, but the overgrown man and woman with such warm smiles were the darlings of the people.  Their magnetic personalities transcended all barriers of race, custom and language and endeared them to the spectators everywhere.


Back in the United States, Captain and Mrs. BATES remained with the circus for many years. They repeatedly criss-crossed the United States. The fame they had gained and their personal qualities combined to make them as popular in their own country as they were in Canada, England, and Europe.

When the circus swung through Kentucky it was like "old home week" except that now the affable BATES had a wife to introduce to his many friends.  Quoting now from Mr. BATES’ autobiography after they had toured England, Scotland and Ireland:

"At Glasgow, we exhibited at the Argyle Rooms; after a most successful season we re-crossed the River Tay. This was before the bridge was completed, and returned to our London residence.

"It was on the 19th day of May, 1872, that our first child was born only to die at birth. Doctors CROSS and BUCKLAND were the physicians in charge.  It was a girl weighing eighteen pounds and being twenty-seven inches tall. This loss affected us both, and by the advice of the doctors I took my wife upon the continent. There we traveled for pleasure, only giving receptions when requested to do so by Royal Command.

"After a short tour in Ireland we decided to return to America. We left England on the second day July, 1874, upon the City of Antwerp. We journeyed west for pleasure.  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 ceilings have a height of fourteen feet, the doors are eight and one half feet in height. 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 Brobdignag.

"I had determined to become a farmer, so I stocked my farm with the best breeds of cattle, most of them being full-blooded and short horns.  My draught horses are of the Norman breed. Carriage horses eighteen hands high with a couple of Clydesdale mares constitute my home outfit. I am thus specific because I am continually asked as to these matters.

"My rest was not to last long, for yielding to 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 19th day of January, 1879.  He was 28 inches tall, weighed twenty-two pounds and was perfect in every respect. He looked at birth like an ordinary child of six months. With this exception our lot has been one of almost uninterrupted joy."

In the supposed autobiography of Mr. BATES, he states he was born on November 9, 1845. The author of the first part of this letter states [he] was born in 1837. Take your choice. At any rate he was born at what is now Kona, Letcher County, Kentucky, the son of JOHN W. and SARAH BATES. He died and is buried at Seville, Ohio. His first wife died and he remarried a woman weighing 135 pounds.  Letcher Countians will not soon forget the Giant of the Hills, MARTIN VAN BUREN BATES.

More About the Civil War Giant

Compiled by Louise Carson

In the Winter 1995 issue of the FNB Chronicle we relayed a story about the Civil War era giant MARTIN VAN BUREN BATES, who was the great great uncle of BRUCE BATES of Helenwood.  BRUCE BATES has since uncovered "the rest of the story" concerning his great great uncle.

For those of you who may not have read the article about MARTIN VAN BUREN BATES, he was born of normal size parents, he was normal size at birth and his brothers and sisters were all normal size.  However, MARTIN VAN BUREN grew to a height of seven feet eleven inches tall and weighed 525 pounds. He was mentally and physically fully developed and in no way a freak.

After the Civil War, he joined a circus and traveled the world. His gregarious personality and genuine liking for humanity endeared him to such notables as President GARFIELD, President McKINLEY and the Queen of England presented him with a gold pocket watch as large as a small alarm clock, and was studded with diamonds.

He married a giantess, ANNA HANNON, and they had two children, a boy who weighed 22 pounds at birth and a girl who weighed 18 pounds at birth. Both died in infancy. After ANNA died, MARTIN VAN BUREN married a lady five feet two inches tall

MARTIN VAN BUREN BATES made quite a name for himself during the war. He used two colossal 71 caliber horse pistols that had been made especially for him at the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond. He wore them strapped across his chest in black leather holsters. He had a saber that was 18 inches longer than the standard weapon.  He rode a huge Percheron horse that he took from a German farmer in Pennsylvania. He was severely wounded in a battle around the Cumberland Gap area and was also captured, although he later escaped.

After the Civil War Bates returned to Letcher County, Kentucky, but restlessness was upon him. In our previous article, BATES was quoted as saying: “I don't want any part of the trouble that's coming to these hills. I've seen enough blood shed. I don't want anymore." BATES sold his Kentucky property and traveled to Cincinnati and joined the circus.

Now, for the "rest of the story". According to information BRUCE BATES uncovered as told years ago by JOHN LUCAS, who was a distant relative of the giant and had seen him on many occasions, MARTIN VAN BUREN BATES returned to his Kentucky home after the war and found that local Unionists had captured one of his brothers, James Bates, and had tormented him with bayonets to a slow and painful death. This enraged the giant and he gathered his men and searched out the murderers.

One by one they were captured. Some were roused out of their beds at night. Others were found hiding in hilltop caverns. Some were ambushed on Rock House Creek and locked in it under close guard.  Then their wives, parents, grandparents and children were rounded up and driven to the mouth of Big Hollow and kept there around campfires all night. The children ranged from about 12 years old down to babes in their mothers' arms. Some of the wives were pregnant.


Two slender black oaks grew a dozen feet apart. A pole was lashed to the trees about 10 feet up. A round beech log was cut, stripped of its branches and placed on the ground beneath. Eight nooses hung down from the pole.  At dawn, the Rebels roused the sleepers, who threw fresh wood on the fires. At the sight of the dangling ropes the women began to wail.

The giant appeared on his giant horse, his giant sword and pistols gleaming, his black eyes shining with contempt and hatred. His men appeared out of the gloomy mists herding the prisoners before them, each man's hands bound behind his back.  The prisoners were placed on the log, and a noose was dropped around each shrinking neck, the men pleading for their lives.

Their relatives begged the giant to be merciful. The giant sat on his great horse for several minutes while dawn slowly brightened the sky. The fire crackled, adding its gleams to the soft light of the new day.  The killers began to hope a little; then the giant raised his hand in a signal. Two men gave the log a shove and it rolled down the hill.

The eight bound figures dropped a few inches and choked slowly to death. With swords and cocked pistols the women and children were kept at bay. None could render aid.  The “Yankees" were a quarter of an hour dying. The giant told the people not to touch the dead or take them down from the gallows. They were to hang there and rot by the road, their corruption warning all passersby of the consequences of killing a BATES.

If anyone violated his order, he would die in the same way. Absolutely no mercy would be shown. In addition, his family would be destroyed, his house burned, his stock killed.  "Take warning," the giant said. "because no other warning will be given!" Then he and his men rode away, leaving the dead to swing in the wind and their kin to mourn them through a monstrous nightmare.

The bodies turned to skeletons before the giant came back, only rattling bones were left for burial.  JOHN LUCAS said the giant could not stay in Letcher County after that. "When those children got old enough they would have killed him without a doubt.  He moved away when the war was over and didn't tell people where he went, either. You know what his vengeance was like. We can't even guess what those children would have done to even the score when they got to be grown men.


The giant died in 1919 when he was around 80 years old. He is buried in the family plot in Seville, Ohio with his first wife and their children who died in infancy, their graves marked simply, "Babe" and "Sister".

BIOGRAPHIES: Odyssey of Martin Van Buren Bates KNOTT COUNTY KENTUCKY

The two met when Bates went to work for Barnum after the Civil War, and they eventually married. They toured the world, appearing before the crowned heads of Europe.  A couple of circus friends happened to own farms in Seville, and during the off-season the Bates visited their friends and enjoyed the small town and its rural countryside so much they also decided to buy a farm and make Seville their home.

It was while living in Seville, Ohio that Anna Bates became pregnant and after a difficult delivery on January 18, 1879, gave birth to a giant baby boy--30 inches long and 23 1/2 pounds at birth. Each of his feet was six inches long. Sadly he only lived 11 hours. He, too, is buried in the Mound Hill Cemetery, Seville, Ohio.

Captain Bates had his farm home custom built. The ceilings were 14 feet high, all the doors were 8 1/2 feet tall, even the cellar was more than 9 feet deep.  The specially built furniture was so massive that when average-sized guests visited, the women would usually stand rather than suffer the indignity of having to be hoisted up onto the huge seat of the giant's furniture.

In those pre-automobile days, the Bates had a specially built carriage that was pulled by two giant Clydesdale workhorses. 
After being forced to stand during a service at the local Baptist Church because they were too tall to fit in the regular-sized church pews, Bates had a special large pew made just for his family, so they could sit during the service.


On August 5 of 1888, Anna Swan Bates died of kidney failure. She was just 42 years old. Captain Bates telegraphed a casket company in Cleveland to send a casket to hold the remains of a person eight feet tall.  The casket company, thinking the size was a misprint, sent a normal-sized casket. Bates went into a fury over the mistake and they had to delay the funeral three days until the special casket could be constructed and shipped to Seville.

Following his wife's funeral, Bates, taking no chances on a repeat of the casket fiasco, ordered a second extra-long casket for himself and stored it in his barn for years until it was finally needed.  Bates was lonely after the death of Anna and a few years later married Annette Weatherby, the five-foot-tall daughter of his pastor.

He also gave up the giant house on the farm and moved into a normal-sized home in downtown Seville. (He did enlarge the bedroom to hold his 10-foot-long bed, and he brought with him some of his favorite chairs.)

From all accounts the tall captain had a short temper, and old age did not improve his disposition. He took to chewing tobacco in his later years and was known to spit at people he did not like.  His investments and the income from his farm allowed him to live out his life comfortably in the little northern Ohio town of Seville. He died at the age of 74 in January of 1919.

A few of the old-timers in Seville still remember Captain Bates. Many of the places associated with his life still stand.  The Seville Historical Society (70 W .Main St., Seville, OH 330-769-4056) has some of his clothing and life-size pictures of him and his first wife, Anna Swan Bates, that visitors can pose with. The farm home is gone, but the barn still remains.  In the Mound Hill Cemetery, the statue to Anna Bates now stands eternal guard over the graves of Martin, Anna, and their babies.

The Giants of Seville

Anna Hannon Swann, Her Husband,  Martin Van Buren Bates Alongside an Average Size Man

Tombstone Marker of Martin Van Buren Bates

In 1873, a couple moved to Seville, Ohio, who would be responsible for more reams of newspaper footage than anyone who set foot there before or since.

The Captain & Mrs. Bates toured Europe and the United States giving lectures and having "teas". They were presented at the Court of England on at least two occasions. Many of their friends included the royal families of Europe.

The Captain received his rank during the Civil War, while serving with Virginia State Line Troops. He was born in Kentucky in November, 1845. Growing until he was 28 years-old, he reached a height of seven feet, eight inches and a weight of 470 pounds.

Mrs. Bates was born in Nova Scotia in 1848. By 1870, she had established herself in a career, working for P.T. Barnum.  It was Mrs. Bates who began giving "teas". She was not interested in Barnum's "traveling" shows. Rather, she had receptions at the Barnum Museum or in "notables" homes. By her twenty-second birthday, Mrs. Bates was seven feet, eleven inches and weighed 413 pounds.

The Village of Seville along with The Ohio Bicentennial Commission, The Longaberger Company, Seville Kiwanis and Lions Clubs, The Guilford Grange, The Seville Historical Society, and The Ohio Historical Society, erected a sign at the Stanhope Park.  Visit the park to read their amazing story; it's worth the trip!

---

Trade Card Featuring Martin Van
Buren Bates and Wife Anna Swan Bates

The Giants, Capt. M. V. Bates & Wife, on exhibition
in W. W. Cole's N.Y. & N.O. Circus and Menagerie.

Trade Card Featuring Anna Hannon Swann and Martin Van Buren Bates on Exhibition in W W Cole's N.Y. and N.O. Circus and Menagerie

Anna Swan, the wife of Capt. Bates, weighed 18 pounds at birth, was taller than her 5 foot mother at six, and at 15 was 7 feet tall and still growing. She eventually reached 7 feet 11-1/2 inches.

Her husband, Martin van Buren Bates was equally as tall, but outweighed Anna by 65 pounds. Their combined weight was advertised as one-half ton.

They were married in 1872, and Anna later gave birth to the biggest baby ever recorded to that time. The man at the right is probably Francis M. Uffner, their agent, who was 6 feet tall.

Both Anna and Capt. Bates were long-time performers for P. T. Barnum, who was particularly proud of Anna. She became an expert on giants, and frequently lectured on them. She also performed with Barnum's various midgets, each of whom she could easily pick up in one hand.

As advertised on the back of this card, W. W. Cole secured this couple at an expense of $20,000 for the 1878 season of his New York and New Orleans shows.  This trade card was printed by Clay & Company, Buffalo, N.Y., and is shown at 75 percent of its actual size. The image was taken from a photograph and rendered as a lithograph.

---

John Wesley AKA "Devil John" AKA "Bad John" Wright

John Wesley "Devil John" (AKA "Bad John") Wright of Letcher Co KY

John Wesley "Devil John" or"Bad John" Wright

Bad John Wright aka Devil John Wright, born May 17, 1844 Letcher Co., Ky. Son of Joel Ellis Wright & Eliza Agnes (Bates) Wright, Brother of Sarah "Sallie" Wright Potter.

Sarah was born March 10, 1847 Letcher Co., Ky and married Abraham Potter born 1837.

Devil John Wesley Wright accompanied Martin Van Buren Bates to perform in the P T Barnum Circus.

Devil John was billed as a "trick rider" and "sharp shooter" More about Devil John Wright can be found at the following link; Devil John Wright.