Anna Hannon Bates

Anna Hannon Bates, born Anna Hannon Swain (August 6, 1846 - August 5, 1886), was a Canadian from Nova Scotia famed for her unusual height: between 8 feet and 8 feet 1 inch tall (about 2.45 m). When visiting a circus in Halifax with which Martin Van Buren Bates -- another enormously tall person -- was travelling, she was spotted by the promoter and hired on the spot, making the two giants an attraction. See the article on Martin Van Buren Bates for a biography of the rest of her life until her death in 1886 in Seville, Ohio.