[J. R. VanHoose]

Anyone ever heard of Martin Van Buren "Baby" Bates from Letcher County?

He was born there on November 9, 1837 and fought in the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy. Nothing particularly special about him, except for the fact he was a reported size of 7'10" and 470 pounds!!!!!!!!!! I hope his horse was big, I bet he almost squashed it!!! Anyway, he moved away from Eastern Kentucky and joined the circus, while working he met, fell in love with a woman named Anna Swan. Again nothing special about her except the fact that she was reportedly 7'5" tall!!!!!!!!!! They returned to live in Ohio where Anna gave birth to a stillborn son, who weighed some eighteen pounds, in 1874, and again gave birth to another stillborn child who was some 28 in. tall and weighed some 22 pounds, in 1879. They were the world's tallest married couple - according to the Guinness Book of World Records!!!!!