1937
Christmas Eve with the quintuplets.
Image: Bettmann/Getty Images
Born in 1934 in the rural farming community of Corbeil, Ontario, the Dionne sisters were the first quintuplets in recorded medical history to survive infancy. Annette, Emilie, Yvonne, Cecile, and Marie, who weighed a collective 14 pounds at birth, were under public scrutiny from their first moments.
Days after their births, their father struck a deal to exhibit the girls at the upcoming Chicago World’s Fair. Although he cancelled the contract the next day, Canadian authorities fearing parental exploitation stepped in. At that point, the girls became wards of the province of Ontario. Read more…
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