| Fannie was born in Sussex, England in 1859 the eldest of six children of George and Sarah Mills. When she was eleven years old the family immigrated to Perkins Township, Ohio - two miles east of Sandusky - on the southwest shore of Lake Erie. Here Fannie's father made a living as a tenant dairy man, selling milk to the locals. All the other Mills kids were normal in every way except Fannie who was afflicted from birth with Milroy Disease (a condition involving the lymphatic system) that caused her legs to swell.The family believed her illness resulted from a "maternal impression" when Mr. Mills made the pregnant Mrs. Mills wash the swelled leg of a horse, much to the Mrs. disgust. Fannie's feet were "only" eighteen inches long but appear larger because she was a petite woman not weighing much more than 100 pounds as an adult. Though of limited mobility - her gait was described as more a wobble than a walk - Fannie still got out and about with her family and became well-known around town whence she inevitably came to the attention of the local press. It wasn't long, of course, before showmen began to make their offers to exhibit the girl but Mr. Mills would have none of it. However, following the death of her Dad in 1885 and against the wishes of her family Fannie decided to allow herself to be exhibited in order to help support the Mills household. Chaperoned by a neighbor lady, Mary Brown, Miss Mills began touring the Eastern cities and became quite a draw partly due to the fact, no doubt, that it was heavily advertised that her Father had provided a dowry of "$5,000 and a well-stocked farm" to the first man who would take his daughter for a wife. (Notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Mills was now deceased and never owned a farm!) It is reported that Fannie had fun with the ruse and it is a fact that she did receive many offers of marriage from all sorts of men from all over the country (the majority of whom were simply gold-diggers). In the mean time Fannie did (quietly) marry. |
