The Dionne Quintuplets

On May 28, 1934, five identical girls are born to Elzire and Oliva Dionne in Callander, Ontario. The five sisters - Annette, Cecile, Yvonne, Marie and Émilie - become known as the Dionne quintuplets, and together they weigh less than 6.5 kilograms. Against all expectations, they survive their first weeks. When the quints are still babies, the Ontario government took the girls away from their parents, Elzire and Oliva Dionne and their five older siblings. Despite their continuing good health, they were moved to a hospital, which was built across the road from their family home. The hospital, built exclusively for their use, was intended to protect their privacy but it quickly became a tourist destination.

Between the years 1934 and 1943 “Quintland” as it was called received 3 million visitors. The government and local businesses are estimated to have earned half a billion dollars from the industry that sprang up around the Dionne Quintuplets.

Their story generated a tremendous amount of memorabilia; everything from books to dolls to laundry detergent had the endorsement of the Dionne Quintuplets and their doctor.

Elzire and Oliva Dionne, were discouraged from visiting their daughters but they were the only ones. The girls were viewed three times a day through a one-way screen. They were studied by scientists, x-rayed and had such things as their daily food intake monitored. They were the focus of many books and news stories and they inspired three Hollywood movies but they received virtually no earnings from these ventures.

After the quintuplets had spent nine years at Quintland, Elzire and Olivia Dionne won a bitter custody battle with the Ontario government and the girls were returned to their parents. This put the girls in the uncomfortable position of returning to a home and a family, which were alien to them. The reunion was short lived. At 18 the quintuplets left home and cut off almost all contact with their family.

Emily died at 20 in 1954 of an epileptic seizure.

In 1965 a book called “We Were Five”, and co-authored by Marie, Yvonne, Annette and Cecile was published. The book described the Dionne’s childhood from their perspective, which understandably turned out to be a somewhat dismal view.

In 1970 Marie died of a heart attack.

The three remaining sisters finally received compensation in 1998 when they were awarded 4 million dollars by the Ontario government.

Three years later Yvonne died in Montreal.

Today, little is reported about the Dionne Quintuplets. The uniqueness of their birth has been equaled and even surpassed with the aid of modern medicine.