BIOGRAPHIES: Robert Van Buren Bates KNOTT COUNTY KENTUCKY ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contributed for use in USGENWEB Archives: Tammy Miller RN2soccer@aol.com Date: August 10, 2002 Subject: Biographies: Martin Van Buren Bates Knott County Kentucky ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: The Courier Journal-Louisville, Kentucky-Monday Morning-March 30, 1981 Article written by Byron Crawford-Courier-Journal Columnist Article entitled: A TALL TALE: A Letcher babe grew to be a mountain of a man In 1837, at the mouth of the Boone Fork of the Kentucky River, a son was born to John W.and Sallie Bates of Letcher County. They named him Martin Van Buren Bates. He was a normal child, they say until he turned 7. He grew so rapidly that his parents, afraid that he might died, would not permit him to do much work. Old papers, now in the possession of Letcher County clerk Charlie Wright, a great- nephew of Bates, indicate that by 8, Martin could quote most important dates and events and had developed what was called "almost a photographic memory." By 13, the lad weighed 300 pounds and appeared to be obese. But soon his height was proportionate to his weight and he continued to grow until he stood 7 feet 11 inches tall and weighed 525 poinds! It is recorded in several places tht one of his boots cold hold one-half a bushel of shelled corn. While still very young, Bates became a schoolteacher and the late Arthur Dixon, writing in The Mountain Eagle, a Whitesburg newspaper, 11 years ago, said that a former student described Bates' voice as rumbling "like a bull bellowing." When the Civil War broke out Martin volunteered to fight for the Confederacy. A copy of an article from a scrapbook said to have belonged to a Mrs. Sam Collins Sr. stated that Bates was "a fierce and capable fighter, " and that, althought he enlisted as a private, he won a battlefield promotion to the rank of captain. It states in part: "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." When Captain Bates returned to his home in the mountains after the war, there was much feuding and fighting in the hills and he wanted no part of it. According to the papers that belonged to his descendants, Bates joined a circus that agreed to pay his expenses, plus $100 a month. Eventually he joined the John Robinson Circus where he was paid $400 a month and became the star attraction. He was a great showman, who wore fine clothes, ate the best food and traveled all over the world. It was while on tour in Halifax, Novia Scotia, that Martin met his wife, Anna Hannon Swann- who was 8 feet tall! The circus hired Miss Swann and the two were married while on a tour of London. Queen Victoria met the couple and was deeply impressed with their size and pleasant personalities. As a wedding gift she had a watch made for each of them, a watch proportinate to their size. It is said that each watch cost $1,000 and that Bates' watch, on a gold chain, was "as big as a saucer." The two giants remained with the Robinson Circus for seven years, each drawing enormous salaries, which made them very wealthy. It is often said by those who have studied the couple that they were extremely well-proportioned to have been so large. Indeed, in pictures of them by themselves they look quite like a normal couple. Essie Quillen of Neon is a great niece of Martin Van Buren Bates and although she was born in 1900, 19 years before Bates died, she never saw "Big Uncle" as they called him. "My mother told me all I know about," Mrs. Quillen told me. "My father was Captain Bates' sister's son. In the late '90s he (Captain Bates) came down her and visited my Grandmother Wright. He persuaded her to let him take her son, my father Sam Wright, up to Ohio and let him go to school. When "Big Uncle" died he bequeathed my father $4,000 cash. "He was a lovable human and my father said that this woman (Anna) was one of the sweetest women that he ever knew." Among Mrs. Quillen's mementos of "Big Uncle" are his embroidered handprint, on the cloth where Captain Bates had placed his hand and traced it. I took some rough measurements and here is what I came up with: From the the bend of the wrist to the end of the middle finger measured 10 and one-half inches. The wrist measured 4 inches across. The width of the hand at the palm measured about 5 inches. A tracing of the side of one of his boots measured 17 inches in length and 5 and one-half inches in width. Anna and Martin Bates never had any children, although they lost two babies at birth. Bates is quoted as having written that the first was a girl who weighed 18 pounds at her birth in 1872 and seven years later a boy was lost at birth who weighed 22 pounds. The Bates' finally settled down on a 130-acre farm near Seville, Ohio in Medina county where they built a house to accommodate their size. It had 14 and one-half foot ceilings and doors 8 and one-half feet high. The furniture was also custom made for giants which brought great amusement to visitors and to the Bates' as well. Sadly, Captain Bates was left alone when Anna died. He is said to have rejoined the W.W. Cole Cirsus sometime thereafter, and even remarried but this time to a woman of regular size who weighed 135 pounds. Mrs. Quillens records list the second wife's name as Annette Eyone of Cincinnati, Ohio. Captain Bates died in 1919 at the age of 82. He is buried in Medina County Ohio. I am indebted to Essie Quillen and Charlie Wright of Letcher, the captain's great-niece and great-nephew and this great-great-nephew Cossie Quillen of Whitesburg for information and pictures provided for the story about this wonderful Kentuckian. ********************************************************************************************* USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free genealogical information on the Internet, data may be freely used for personal research and by non-commercial entities as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format or presentation by other organizations or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for profit or any form of presentation, must obtain the written consent of the file submitter, or his legal representative and then contact the listed USGENWEB archivist with proof of this consent. 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