Here are the giants of Seville, Ohio. Martin Van Buren Bates is said to have stood 7' 11". The Guinness Book of World Records has him listed as 7' 9". Anna Bates stood 7' 5". Anna gave birth in 1879 to a 23.12 pound, 30 inch long baby that lived for just 11 hours.
Martin Van Buren Bates was born in Kentucky in 1837. He enlisted in the 5th Kentucky Infantry in the Confederate army when the Civil War broke out. Bates rose to the rank of captain. After the war, he joined the circus and while on tour in Canada met Anna Swan. They were married in 1871. Anna died of TB in 1888. Martin Van Buren Bates eventually remarried to a normal sized woman.
The giants are buried in Mound Hill Cemetery in Seville Ohio.
