Dionne Quintuplets
| Dionne quintuplets | |
|---|---|
Ontario Premier Mitchell Hepburn with the Dionne babies in 1934
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| Born |
May 28, 1934 Ontario, Canada |
| Died |
Yvonne: June 23, 2001 (aged 67) Annette: Still Living Cécile: Still Living Émilie: August 6, 1954 (aged 20) Marie: February 27, 1970 (aged 35) |
| Residence | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Known for | identical quintuplet |
| Parent(s) | Oliva Edouard Elzire Dionne |
The Dionne Quintuplets (French pronunciation: [d͡zjɔn]; born May 28, 1934) are the first quintuplets known to have survived their infancy. The identical sisters were born in Canada, just outside Callander, Ontario, near the village of Corbeil. All five survived to adulthood.
The Dionne girls were born two months premature. After four months with their family, they were made Wards of the King for the next nine years under the Dionne Quintuplets' Guardianship Act, 1935. The government and those around them began to profit by making them a significant tourist attraction in Ontario.
The identical quintuplet sisters were, in order of birth:
The Dionne family was headed by father Oliva-Edouard (1904–1979) and mother Elzire (Legros) Dionne (1909–1986), who married on September 15, 1925. They lived just outside Corbeil, in a farmhouse in unregistered territory. Oliva, through his father, was a descendant of Zacharie Cloutier (via Louise Cloutier 1632–1699, Charlotte Mignault 1669–1747, and Antoine Dionne 1706–1807). The Dionnes were a French-speaking farming family with five older children, Ernest (1926–1995), Rose Marie (1928–1995), Thérèse (b. 1929), Daniel (1932–1995), and Pauline (b. 1933), who was only eleven months older than the quints. A sixth child, Léo (b. 1930), died of pneumonia shortly after birth.
The Dionnes also had three sons after the quintuplets: Oliva Jr. (b. 1936), Victor (1938–2007), and Claude (1946–2009).
Elzire suspected she was carrying twins, but no one was aware that quintuplets were even possible. The quintuplets were born two months premature. In 1938, the doctors had a theory that was later proven correct when genetic tests showed that the girls were identical and were created from a single egg cell. Elzire reported having had cramps in her third month and passing a strange object which may have been a sixth baby.
Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe is credited with ensuring the successful live birth of the quintuplets. Originally, he diagnosed Elzire with a "fetal abnormality". He delivered the babies with the help of two midwives, Aunt Donalda and Madame Benoit Lebel, who were summoned by Oliva Dionne in the middle of the night.
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