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Each month, The Kentucky
Explorer magazine receives literally scores of letters from
our faithful readers. Whenever possible, we try to publish as
many of them as possible in the 12 pages we have set aside for
"Letters to the Editor."
Here are actual letters from April
2010
"Kentucky's Giant"
Dear Editor:
I just finished reading the article about "Kentucky's Giant,"
Captain Martin Van Buren Bates, in the February 2010 issue of
The Kentucky Explorer. He was my great-great-great-uncle on my
mother's side. The article stated that he and his first wife,
Anna Swan, the Giantess of Nova Scotia, had no children. They
actually had two children, the first died at childbirth, and
the second child lived 11 hours.
Captain Martin Van Buren Bates and Anna Swan met in 1870. They
went on a tour in England in 1871. They met Queen Victoria in
June 1871. They were married June 17, 1781, at Saint Martin-in-the-Fields
Church in London. As wedding presents, Queen Victoria gave Anna
Swan a cluster diamond ring and Captain Bates a watch and chain.
On May 19, 1872, Mrs. Bates gave birth to a daughter in London
who died at birth. She was 27 inches in length and weighed about
18 pounds. Captain and Mrs. Bates settled in Seville, Ohio, in
1874. On January 18, 1879, Mrs. Bates gave birth to a son. He
died on January 19th, 11 hours after birth. He weighed 23 3/4
pounds and measured 30 inches in length. His feet were five-and-one-half
inches long. Mrs. Bates died in 1889 at 49 years of age, and
Captain Bates died in 1919 at 74 years of age. He remarried in
1900 to a woman of normal size.
Captain and Mrs. Bates are buried at Mound Hill Cemetery in Seville,
Ohio. Captain Bates had a statue of a young woman in the replica
of Mrs. Bates as a young girl erected over her grave.
Captain Bates was 7' 7", and Mrs. Bates was 7' 9".
Dana J. Dwenger
13377 N. Penntown Road
Sunman, IN 47041
Interested In Robinson
Creek One-Room Schools
Dear Editor:
I would like to thank everyone who sent seeds that I requested.
I enjoy planting different garden seeds.
Also, I would like to get any information or photos on the one-room
school that was located at the head of Robinson Creek in Pike
County, Kentucky, on Fed Hall's land. Two of the teachers were
Nobel Newson and Dorothy Newson Damron.
I am also interested in the one-room school at Little Fork. One
of the teachers I remember was Joe Jack Milam.
If any reader has information on the students who attended these
schools or any photos to share, I would appreciate hearing from
you.
Edith Stone
355 Park Avenue
North Vernon, IN 47265
Last Dollar I Ever Took
Without Earning It
Dear Editor:
I so look forward to The Kentucky Explorer. My husband and I
read it and then pass it on to others. We both try to keep up
on what goes on today through the news media.
I spent the first 12 years of my life in Nicholasville, Jessamine
County, Kentucky. We lived on Central Avenue and would go down
Oak Street on our way home from school.
I had taken one dollar from my mother's purse. In the 1940s that
was a lot. I was thinking how I was going to explain to my sister
how I came up with that dollar. So, I dropped it, picked it up,
and exclaimed, "Oh, look what I found!" Judge Brumfield
was working in his garden beside the sidewalk. By this time I
was thinking I was one smart cookie. I asked him if he had lost
a dollar. He felt in his pocket and said, "Yes, I did."
I passed it to him through the fence. I never forgot that incident.
Of course, I told my mother years later. That was the last dollar
I ever took without earning it.
I do wonder if the Judge ever remembered it.
Faye Benningfield
2196 Janlyn Road
Louisville, KY 40299
These are just samples
of the many letters in each issue of The Explorer.
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