Fannie Mills was born in 1859 with Milroy Disease, which caused her legs to swell - and I mean, really swell!
... 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.