Anna Haining Swan, Biography Anna Haining Bates,
Canadian Nova Scotian Giantess
Height: Seven Feet nine inches.
Weight: 25 stones or 350 pounds
Born August 6, 1846 Mill Brook, Nova Scotia,
Died August 5, 1888
Anna Haining Bates, born Anna Haining Swan Anna Swan, was a Canadian from Mill Brook, New Annan, (near present-day Tatamagouche), Colchester County, Nova Scotia famed for her great height. She reportedly weighed 18 pounds (8.1 kg) when she was born and was twenty-seven inches (69 cm) long. Her parents were of average height and were Scottish immigrants.
Anna was the 3rd of 13 children, all also of around average height. From birth she grew very fast. On her 4th birthday she was 4 feet 6 inches (137 cm) tall. On her 6th birthday she was measured again, and she stood 5 foot 2 inches (157 cm) tall, an inch or two (2.5–5cm) shorter than her mother. On her 10th birthday she measured at just under 6 feet 2 inches tall (187 cm) tall. By her 15th birthday Anna Swan was measured at just over seven feet (213 cm) tall. She was discovered in the fall of 1862 by P.T. Barnum, at which time she was 7 feet 2 and a half inches tall. She would reach her full height two years later, which was 7 feet 5 and a half inches tall. At first she refused Barnum's offer but agreed later, as he paid her handsomely.
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 played Lady Macbeth in one play.
She had to be rescued from a fire at Barnum's museum in July 1865. The stairs were in flames but she was too large to escape through a window. In her fear she bowled over the men sent to help her like nine-pins. Employees of the museum found a loft derrick nearby, smashed the wall around a window on the third floor, and lowered Anna by block and tackle with 18 men holding the end of the rope. At the time Anna weighed 394 pounds or 28 stone 2 pounds (179 kg). Usually however, her weight was around 25 stones or 350 pounds.
When visiting a circus in Halifax with which Martin Van Buren Bates — another enormously tall person — was traveling , 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. Rev. Rupert Cochrane, 6 foot 3 inch tall native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, was conducting the ceremony. Despite his height, he looked small when stood near Anna Swan. Cochrane was a friend of Anna's family and who happened to be preaching in London at the time.
They had two children, the first was a girl who was still-born on 19 May 1872. The girl was the same size as her mother was at 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. Martin supervised the construction of the house. 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. Anna 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, at 10.6 kg, or 22 pounds and 28 inches (71 centimeters) tall and each of his feet was six inches long.
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 and they retired after that.
The remaining years of Anna's life were spent quietly on the farm that she and her husband owned, mostly away from the limelight. She had joined the local Baptist Church in 1877 and attended services, with her husband on a Sunday, up to her death. The pew in which they sat had to be enlarged and modified so they could sit comfortably. Anna sometimes taught Sunday School there. It is said people had to climb or be lifted onto their chairs in their enlarged home as it was so large. Women were the ones lifted as of their dresses.
Anna Swan died suddenly and unexpectedly at her home on 5 August 1888 just one day before her 42nd birthday. She succumbed to heart failure after struggling with a thyroid goitre for some time previously.
After his wife's death, Captain Bates wired Cleveland, Ohio, for a coffin. A standard size coffin was sent as they believed that the wire was a mistake. Furious about this, Bates contacted them again to say that his first wire was correct. The funeral had to be delayed as it took the coffin three further days to arrive. Anna was finally buried on Monday 13 August. Bates took no chances with his funeral, and kept his coffin in a barn for when he died in January 1919.
Anna, Martin and their
children are buried in Mound Hill Cemetery, Seville, Ohio. Nearby is Anna's sister
Maggie, who died from Tubercolosis in the spring of 1875 aged 22.
This site was written in December 2006.
Pictures of Anna Haining Swan
Pictures of her, so tall she has her elbow on a man's shoulder
In her huge bloomers, are 2 women
A Comparison of how big she is
How large her dress is compared to most people
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