Captain Martin Van Buren Bates and Anna Swan Bates, Seville’s most famous residents, settled there in 1873 after gaining notoriety for their extraordinary height. Martin, a former Confederate soldier from Kentucky, stood 7 feet 8 inches tall, and Anna, a would-be teacher from Nova Scotia, stood 7 feet 11 1/2 inches tall. They met on the carnival circuit in New Jersey in 1871 and married in England that same year in a ceremony orchestrated by Queen Victoria. After returning to America, they bought a farm at the edge of Seville, built and furnished a house proportioned for their comfort, and retired to small-town agricultural life. Martin raised blooded stock and draft horses, while Anna entertained and taught Sunday school. In 1879, Anna gave birth to a child who weighed a record 23 3/4 pounds but lived only 11 hours. The Bateses and their child are interred in nearby Mound Hill Cemetery, and Seville continues to celebrate them as symbolic larger-than-life neighbors.