Dionne quintuplets facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dionne quintuplets
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Ontario Premier Mitchell Hepburn with the Dionne babies in 1934
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Yvonne, Annette, Cécile, Émilie, Marie
May 28, 1934 Corbeil, Ontario, Canada
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| Known for | Being identical quintuplets |
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The Dionne quintuplets were five identical sisters born on May 28, 1934. Their names were Yvonne, Annette, Cécile, Émilie, and Marie. They were born in a small farmhouse near Callander, Ontario, Canada. What made them so special was that they were the first set of quintuplets known to survive infancy. All five girls lived into adulthood.
The girls were born early. After living with their family for four months, the government of Ontario stepped in. They passed a law in 1935 that made the girls wards of the Crown until they turned 18. This meant the government was in charge of their care. Sadly, the government and others also turned the girls into a major tourist attraction.
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The Dionne Family Life
The quintuplets' parents were Oliva Édouard and Elzire Dionne. They married in 1925 and lived on a farm in Ontario. The family spoke French. Oliva and Elzire had 11 children in total, all born at home.
Before the quintuplets, they had five older children: Ernest, Rose Marie, Thérèse, Daniel, and Pauline. Pauline was only 11 months older than the quintuplets. They also had a baby, Léo, who died shortly after birth. After the quintuplets, three more sons were born: Oliva Jr., Victor, and Claude.
The Amazing Birth of the Quintuplets
Elzire Dionne was 24 years old when she gave birth to the quintuplets. She thought she might be having twins. No one expected five babies! The girls were born early. Doctors later confirmed they were identical, meaning they came from a single egg.
Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe helped deliver the babies. He worked with two midwives, Aunt Donalda and Madame Benoît Lebel. The babies were very small. Their total weight was about 6 kilograms (13 pounds, 6 ounces). The heaviest was about 1.5 kilograms (3 pounds, 4 ounces), and the lightest was about 1 kilogram (2 pounds, 4 ounces).
The tiny babies were kept warm in a borrowed wicker basket. They were covered with heated blankets. They were fed a special formula of cow's milk, water, corn syrup, and a tiny bit of rum.
News of the birth spread quickly. People from all over North America offered help. Newspapers brought incubators to keep the babies warm. Women even donated breast milk, which was sent by train. This was a huge help during the Great Depression.
Becoming Wards of the Crown
Soon after the girls were born, people wanted to display them at fairs. Their father, Oliva Dionne, first agreed but then changed his mind. To protect the babies from these contracts, their parents signed custody over to the Red Cross for two years. The Red Cross paid for their medical care and built a special hospital for them.
In 1935, the Premier of Ontario, Mitchell Hepburn, decided the government should take over. He passed a law called the Dionne Quintuplets Act. This law made the girls wards of the Crown until they turned 18. This meant the government became their legal guardian. The government said this was to protect them.
A Board of Guardians was set up to manage the girls' lives and money. Dr. Dafoe was part of this board. The government soon realized how much public interest there was in the sisters. They started to create a tourist industry around them.
Life at the Dafoe Nursery
Across the road from their birthplace, a special hospital and nursery, called the Dafoe Nursery, was built for the girls. The girls moved there in September 1934 and lived there until they were nine years old.
The nursery had an outdoor playground. This playground was designed so tourists could watch the sisters. People stood behind one-way screens to see the girls play. This area became known as "Quintland." The nursery was surrounded by a tall barbed-wire fence.
The sisters had a very structured life. They were constantly studied and examined. Nurses cared for them, and they had private tutors. They had limited contact with the outside world, except for the daily crowds of tourists. They sometimes saw their parents and siblings from across the road.
Each girl had a special color and symbol. Annette had red and a maple leaf. Cécile had green and a turkey. Émilie had white and a tulip. Marie had blue and a teddy bear. Yvonne had pink and a bluebird.
Dr. Dafoe, who delivered the girls, became very famous. He was seen as an expert in child care. He wrote books and had a radio show. However, he also made a lot of money from the girls' fame. He was later removed as one of their main caretakers.
Thousands of people visited Quintland every day. Tourists watched the girls play through the observation gallery. Oliva Dionne, the girls' father, ran a souvenir shop nearby. Visitors bought many items with the sisters' pictures. These included dolls, postcards, and candy bars. Quintland became Ontario's biggest tourist attraction, even more popular than Niagara Falls.
The sisters' images were used to advertise many products. These included corn syrup, oatmeal, soap, and toothpaste.
The Quintuplets on Screen
The Dionne girls also appeared in Hollywood movies. They played the "Wyatt quintuplets" in three films:
- The Country Doctor (1936)
- Reunion (1936)
- Five of a Kind (1938)
In these films, the girls mostly played and interacted naturally. The movies focused more on the fictional doctor who cared for them. The quintuplets also appeared in newsreels and a short documentary called Five Times Five in 1939. This film was even nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Two-reel).
Their Trust Fund and Later Compensation
A trust fund was set up for the quintuplets. Money came from newspaper deals and newsreels. For example, the Madame Alexander Doll Company gave them a percentage of doll sales. By their second birthday, their bank account had $250,000.
However, the sisters later found that much of the money earned from their fame was spent. It was used for things like research, food, and travel for photographers. The sisters felt they did not receive all the money they should have.
In 1997, the three surviving sisters asked the Canadian government for compensation. They felt they had been exploited. After some discussion, the Ontario government apologized and gave the sisters $4 million. This was to help make up for what they had lost.
Returning Home: A Difficult Adjustment
By 1939, Dr. Dafoe had left his role as guardian. The girls' parents worked to get their children back. The Catholic Church and French-speaking communities also supported their efforts. In 1942, the Dionne family moved into the nursery with the quintuplets. They waited there for their new home to be ready.
In November 1943, the entire Dionne family moved into a large, 20-room mansion. This house was paid for from the quintuplets' fund. It had many modern luxuries like telephones, electricity, and hot water. People called it "The Big House."
However, returning home was not easy for the quintuplets. They felt distant from their other siblings. They spoke French, but their siblings often preferred English, making communication hard. The sisters felt their parents often treated them as a group, not as individuals. They also felt they were blamed for the family's troubles. They later described their time in "The Big House" as "the saddest home we ever knew."
Life as Adults
The quintuplets left their family home when they turned 18 in 1952. They had little contact with their parents after that. Three of the sisters married and had children. Marie had two daughters. Annette had three sons. Cécile had five children, including twins.
Émilie chose to become a nun. She sadly died at age 20 due to a seizure. Marie passed away in 1970 from a health issue. Yvonne finished nursing school, became a sculptor, and later a librarian. She died in 2001.
Annette and Cécile both divorced. By the 1990s, the three surviving sisters, Yvonne, Cécile, and Annette, lived together in the Montreal suburb of Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville.
Several books and films have been made about the Dionne quintuplets' unique story. In 1965, the four surviving sisters worked on a book called We Were Five. A TV miniseries called Million Dollar Babies was made in 1994.
In 1997, the three surviving sisters wrote an open letter to the parents of the McCaughey septuplets. They warned them about the dangers of too much publicity for children.
All nine of the quintuplets' siblings have passed away. Yvonne died in 2001. Cécile passed away on July 28, 2025, at the age of 91. Annette, the last surviving quintuplet, passed away on December 24, 2025, also at the age of 91.
Preserving Their Story: Museums
The original Dionne family farmhouse was moved and is now the Dionne Quintuplets Museum in North Bay, Ontario. It holds many items from the girls' childhood. In 2017, the city of North Bay decided to move the house again to a new downtown location. It reopened in spring 2019.
Another museum, the Callander Bay Heritage Museum, also displays artifacts from the Dionne quintuplets. This museum is located in Dr. Dafoe's former home.
See also
In Spanish: Quintillizas Dionne para niños
