Anna Swan was born on August 6, 1846, near the town of Tatamagouche, in the northeast province of Nova Scotia Canada.
Her parents were both “normal sized” people, and had 13 children in total. Anna was their third and the only one with extraordinary physical dimensions.
She was 16 lbs. at birth and by 4 years old stood 4’6” tall and weighed 94 lbs. Around then her parents began to “exhibit” her at local fairs, where fascinated visitors paid cash to interact with her. This presaged her career as an adult. By 12 years Anna old stood 6’5” and by 18 years, she reportedly reached 7’5” to 7’11” tall and weighed between 350-392 lbs.
While never formally diagnosed, her growth was probably related to a pituitary gland tumor that resulted in what doctors call “gigantism.”
Anna was considered highly intelligent, and her talents included piano playing, singing and acting, the latter including a role as Lady Macbeth. She was also an astute business woman, mostly able to avoid exploitation and to achieve her own financial independence. (Her estate totaled $40,000 at her death, a sizable sum.)
P.T. Barnum discovered her around 1863 when she was 17 and she toured with the circus for roughly eight years, finding a supportive “community” among her fellow “curiosities.”
A highlight of her travels included a visit to England where she appeared before Queen Victoria who rewarded her with a gown and a diamond ring.
While visiting a circus in Halifax in 1871, she met and married Martin Van Buren Bates, an ex-Confederate soldier, who stood 7’9” tall, weighed 470 lbs. and was known as the Kentucky Giant. Together they had two children, a girl weighing 18 lbs. who was stillborn, and a boy of almost 24 lbs. who survived only 11 hours.
The couple toured briefly in 1879 and 1880 before retiring to their comfortable farm.
Anna died of a heart attack in 1888 at age 41. Meanwhile Martin lived on to age 80, dying in 1919 after remarkably defying the “early death sentence” associated with his enormous size.