Gravesite of "World's Largest Man"

Billed as the “World’s Largest Man” during his circus days, James Grover “Big Jim” Tarver owned a farm in Turrell, where he lived during the winter when the circus was not traveling and after his retirement.  He is buried in the Crittenden Memorial Cemetery in Marion.

In his prime, Tarver weighed 460 pounds and was 8 ½ feet tall.  He traveled with the Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey, and other circuses for 26 years, beginning in 1914, and was also known at various times as “The Texas Giant,” “What-a-Man-Tarver,” and “Texas Jim.” 

Born in Franklin, Texas, in 1885 to normal-sized parents, Big Jim, like Topsy, "just growed." He was a 32nd degree Mason and a Shriner, and active in Crittenden County affairs. He died in 1958.