Aug. 4, 2025

87-Food Trucks and Vendors (The Dionne Quintuplets' Survival Story)

Have you ever heard of the Dionne quintuplets? In this riveting comeback episode, Jessica uncovers the shocking story of the world's first surviving quintuplets, born in rural Canada in 1934. What began as a medical miracle quickly transformed into one of history's most disturbing examples of child exploitation.

These five identical girls—Yvonne, Annette, Cecile, Emily, and Marie—were removed from their parents and placed under government guardianship, where they became Canada's biggest tourist attraction. Behind one-way screens in a compound dubbed "Quintland," they were displayed to 3,000 visitors daily like animals in a zoo. Their images sold everything from corn syrup to toothpaste, generating millions while they lived behind barbed wire fences.

Jessica traces their journey from public exhibition to family reunification at age nine, where sadly, they faced new traumas in "the saddest home they ever knew." Yet through it all, the sisters maintained an unbreakable bond. Today, the two surviving sisters still live together at age 91, embodying the episode's opening quote: "Sisters function as safety nets in a chaotic world simply by being there for each other."

This extraordinary tale raises profound questions about child welfare, governmental authority, and the exploitation of vulnerable individuals. What happens when children become commodities? How do siblings survive unimaginable circumstances together? And what responsibility do we have to protect those who cannot protect themselves? Join us as we explore these questions through the remarkable story of five little girls who captured the world's attention but paid a devastating price.

What childhood stories of exploitation have you heard that still haunt you today? Share your thoughts and be sure to subscribe as we return with new sister stories every other week!

Sources:

https://www.life.com/history/the-dionne-quintuplets-little-girls-lost-in-the-harsh-glare-of-fame/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionne_quintuplets

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/world/canada/cecile-dionne-dead.html

Support the show

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Thank you for listening and sharing!!

Music by Tim Crowe

00:00 - Introduction to the Dionne Quintuplets

06:25 - The Birth and Early Days

11:52 - The Creation of Quintland

18:40 - Life as Human Exhibits

26:41 - Family Reunification and Abuse

32:52 - Adult Lives and Current Status

35:30 - Closing Thoughts and Next Episode

WEBVTT

00:00:00.020 --> 00:00:04.549
Sisters function as safety nets in a chaotic world simply by being there for each other.

00:00:04.549 --> 00:00:05.833
Carol Selene.

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Well, hello and welcome back Hiya sister.

00:00:18.806 --> 00:00:26.612
Hiya sister and those well, maybe no one's listening anymore.

00:00:26.612 --> 00:00:27.801
Okay.

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So welcome back.

00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:31.022
Welcome back.

00:00:31.022 --> 00:00:31.905
Welcome to happy.

00:00:31.905 --> 00:00:36.963
What what I was typing?

00:00:36.963 --> 00:00:38.326
I don't know what I was typing in.

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I started typing in happy and I said it out loud.

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That makes no sense.

00:00:47.159 --> 00:00:49.082
Did you mean to be tapping, not tapping?

00:00:49.283 --> 00:00:52.685
happy, no Tap tap, tap it in.

00:00:52.685 --> 00:01:00.487
I was looking up Sister's Day because I was going to mention what day that actually was.

00:01:00.487 --> 00:01:04.046
Oh yes, sunday August 3rd.

00:01:04.046 --> 00:01:04.540
This is coming out.

00:01:04.540 --> 00:01:05.301
Obviously you know it's not Sunday August 3rd.

00:01:05.301 --> 00:01:08.471
This is coming out, obviously, you know it's not Sunday August 3rd as you're listening.

00:01:08.471 --> 00:01:19.912
But we decided to make our comeback around Sister's Day, sisters, so you're welcome and welcome, and thank you.

00:01:19.912 --> 00:01:24.049
Okay, let's not drag this out.

00:01:24.049 --> 00:01:25.748
Nobody wants to listen to this too much.

00:01:25.748 --> 00:01:28.861
Okay, and jessica has a story for us.

00:01:30.525 --> 00:01:31.927
Yes, yes, I do.

00:01:31.927 --> 00:01:35.212
It is um kind of sad and kind of not sad.

00:01:36.313 --> 00:01:38.021
This is this is what jessica does.

00:01:38.021 --> 00:01:40.626
I, in case you need a reminder.

00:01:40.626 --> 00:01:41.527
Jessica cries.

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I'm not going to cry this time and if she's not crying, she wants all of the rest of us to cry, and it doesn't happen.

00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:56.381
So this is a story that I had never heard of, though, of a pair of quintuplets from Canada which were all the rage.

00:01:56.381 --> 00:01:59.650
That's weird to say they were.

00:01:59.650 --> 00:02:05.063
A lot of people knew about them back in the 1900s, which just made me feel really old saying that.

00:02:06.168 --> 00:02:07.784
Okay, Wait, what now?

00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:12.108
A lot of people what now Knew about them in the 1900s.

00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:13.843
Why did that make you feel old?

00:02:14.787 --> 00:02:15.850
Say 1900?

00:02:15.850 --> 00:02:19.149
Because we were born in the 1900s.

00:02:20.181 --> 00:02:22.070
Well, not like 1900.

00:02:22.070 --> 00:02:33.787
Obviously Just in case any of you needed clarification on that.

00:02:33.787 --> 00:02:35.389
But still, why would that make you feel old?

00:02:35.469 --> 00:02:36.513
I don't know, it just did.

00:02:37.699 --> 00:02:38.162
Can I tell my story now?

00:02:38.162 --> 00:02:40.088
26-year-olds were born in the 1900s.

00:02:40.180 --> 00:02:41.865
May I tell my story?

00:02:41.925 --> 00:02:42.044
please.

00:02:42.044 --> 00:02:42.907
Is 26 old.

00:02:42.907 --> 00:02:46.906
No, you should say no because you're twice that.

00:02:46.906 --> 00:02:48.751
Anyway, carry on.

00:02:50.501 --> 00:02:55.367
This story is about the Dion Quintuplets and I may not be saying that name right?

00:02:55.367 --> 00:03:01.072
I tried to look for pronunciations, pronunciations, but I how do you?

00:03:01.072 --> 00:03:04.443
Spell it D-I-O-N-N-E.

00:03:05.705 --> 00:03:06.205
Dion.

00:03:07.167 --> 00:03:07.647
Dion Dion.

00:03:07.647 --> 00:03:08.830
What did you say?

00:03:08.830 --> 00:03:14.883
Dion, diony D-O-N-A.

00:03:14.883 --> 00:03:17.670
Oh gosh, okay, ready.

00:03:17.670 --> 00:03:27.875
Five identical girls were born on May 28, 1934, in the village of Corbeil, ontario, that's, in Canada.

00:03:27.875 --> 00:03:31.721
Their names in order of birth— Do we?

00:03:31.760 --> 00:03:34.811
know how common like multi-births were.

00:03:36.141 --> 00:03:40.104
I'm going to get to that oh okay, okay, sorry, you know it's me.

00:03:40.183 --> 00:03:42.050
That's what—you cry, I jump ahead.

00:03:42.600 --> 00:03:45.693
Oh my gosh, I know that's what you cry.

00:03:45.693 --> 00:03:46.395
I jump ahead.

00:03:46.395 --> 00:03:47.580
Oh my gosh, I know.

00:03:47.580 --> 00:03:51.762
Their names and order of birth were Yvonne, annette, cecile, emily and Marie.

00:03:51.762 --> 00:04:04.046
The girls were born two months prematurely and collectively they weighed less than 14 pounds and were reported to be small enough to be held in one hand Not all five of them, but like one in one hand.

00:04:04.167 --> 00:04:15.127
My goodness, I know they were not expected to survive and were the first quintuplets in the world known to have survived.

00:04:15.127 --> 00:04:21.750
First quintuplets yes, yes, yes, yes, wow, isn't that crazy.

00:04:23.220 --> 00:04:24.242
Well, it's crazy that there was a.

00:04:24.242 --> 00:04:25.887
Did their mom survive?

00:04:25.887 --> 00:04:27.081
Yes, are you?

00:04:27.081 --> 00:04:28.925
She did yes.

00:04:28.925 --> 00:04:32.504
Oh, will you let me tell the story.

00:04:32.504 --> 00:04:34.771
I'm sorry, okay, yes, okay.

00:04:35.781 --> 00:04:39.271
Dr Alan Ray Defoe delivered, and he also had two midwives.

00:04:39.271 --> 00:04:46.487
It was just listed as Aunt Donalda, so I don't know her last name.

00:04:46.487 --> 00:04:50.012
It's just Aunt Donalda, Aunt Donalda, donalda.

00:04:50.072 --> 00:04:50.612
Dion.

00:04:52.175 --> 00:04:54.064
Maybe, I don't know if it was their aunt.

00:04:54.064 --> 00:05:01.422
Oh, okay, yeah, and Madame Benoit Lebel, benoit B-N-O-I-T.

00:05:01.422 --> 00:05:04.033
Anyways, about the girls, it's French Benoit.

00:05:04.052 --> 00:05:04.353
Benoit, benoit.

00:05:04.374 --> 00:05:04.473
B-N-O-I-T.

00:05:04.473 --> 00:05:05.718
Anyways, about the girls, it's French Benoit.

00:05:05.718 --> 00:05:19.033
Benoit, emily and Marie shared an amniotic sac, annette and Yvonne shared an amniotic sac and it's suspected that Cecile shared one with a child that was miscarried around week 12.

00:05:19.033 --> 00:05:23.411
Because the mom reported that she passed something around week 12.

00:05:23.411 --> 00:05:33.759
And they think that that would have was the baby sister the baby with Cecile hold on one second.

00:05:34.382 --> 00:05:35.266
Is your microphone on?

00:05:35.266 --> 00:05:39.610
Yeah, is your microphone on the microphone settings?

00:05:40.423 --> 00:05:47.677
yeah okay, okay so their mom's name was Elzire.

00:05:47.677 --> 00:05:48.019
Yeah, okay, okay.

00:05:48.019 --> 00:05:53.797
So their mom's name was Elzire and that's it, period.

00:05:53.797 --> 00:05:59.262
Their mom's name was Elzire.

00:05:59.262 --> 00:06:01.584
I typoed, I'm sorry it threw me off.

00:06:01.584 --> 00:06:16.913
So the girls were fed, quote unquote 70-20 formula, which is cow's milk, boiled water, two spoonfuls spoons full of corn syrup and one or two drops of rum.

00:06:16.913 --> 00:06:18.875
So that's what the girls were fed.

00:06:18.995 --> 00:06:26.884
Well, hey, mm-hmm, I bet they slept, well too 1934.

00:06:26.903 --> 00:06:31.699
So word got out after their dad's name is Oliva I'm probably pronouncing that wrong too.

00:06:31.699 --> 00:06:39.726
Word got out after the dad's brother asked the local paper how much it would cost to run an announcement for five babies at a single birth.

00:06:39.726 --> 00:06:47.769
So after he went that to the paper like word spread everywhere, that's really cute, though that's what he's asking.

00:06:48.411 --> 00:06:49.112
I thought so too.

00:06:49.112 --> 00:07:01.596
So after the word spread, people were donating incubators because what they had done is they had the like hot water bottles all over and because they didn't have incubators and they had to keep the girls warm and they were teeny, teeny tiny.

00:07:01.596 --> 00:07:07.903
So people donated incubators that did not run electricity because the family home didn't have any.

00:07:07.903 --> 00:07:10.749
Go ahead.

00:07:11.050 --> 00:07:11.350
Finish.

00:07:11.350 --> 00:07:12.795
No, finish the thought Sorry.

00:07:12.795 --> 00:07:15.432
Okay, and women, you're so annoyed.

00:07:15.432 --> 00:07:18.913
See, that's good, we don't have a video.

00:07:21.225 --> 00:07:38.857
And women all over the US, canada and I think some even came from overseas, sent in breast milk and were paid 10 cents an ounce, which also helped supplement their income, because 1934, Great Depression was, you know yeah, oh gosh, Okay.

00:07:38.896 --> 00:07:45.726
So my question, sorry, Did it say like when they were allowed to go home or how long they had to stay in the hospital or no?

00:07:45.726 --> 00:07:46.550
Were they home birthed?

00:07:46.550 --> 00:07:48.867
They were home birthed, it's 19.

00:07:48.927 --> 00:07:49.829
Oh, my God.

00:07:50.129 --> 00:07:51.951
I'm so sorry, hold on, I'll catch up.

00:07:51.951 --> 00:07:53.153
Just give me a second.

00:07:53.153 --> 00:08:02.148
Oh, my God so there, it's been a long day, okay, stop talking.

00:08:02.168 --> 00:08:02.850
It's a podcast.

00:08:02.850 --> 00:08:04.915
A train, a train.

00:08:04.915 --> 00:08:06.177
Could you?

00:08:06.177 --> 00:08:09.956
Would you on a train?

00:08:09.956 --> 00:08:19.492
A train with 28 ounces of breast milk?

00:08:19.492 --> 00:08:23.442
Was delivered every morning for the girls, which doesn't sound like a lot, but they were so teeny, tiny, all five of them.

00:08:23.442 --> 00:08:24.125
This is crazy, this is craziness.

00:08:24.125 --> 00:08:26.269
So they actually went down and broke down.

00:08:26.269 --> 00:08:37.077
They only had estimates for how much each girl weighed because they didn't keep track of that, but I mean five girls less than 14 pounds, that's less than three pounds.

00:08:37.077 --> 00:08:40.912
Like it's so tiny, they're just so tiny.

00:08:41.452 --> 00:08:41.673
Yeah.

00:08:41.813 --> 00:08:44.399
Oh, so cute there are.

00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:48.168
Life Magazine actually has this wonderful picture spread.

00:08:48.168 --> 00:08:57.826
We'll put the link in the show notes because the pictures are copyrighted, I can't share them ourselves, but oh my gosh, they're just adorable.

00:08:57.826 --> 00:09:01.013
Okay, so this is where it gets a little icky.

00:09:01.013 --> 00:09:13.731
So the girl's father, oliva Dion he had a problem Before the birth of the five girls they already had five other children and so now they had 10.

00:09:13.731 --> 00:09:14.895
Oh man.

00:09:15.384 --> 00:09:18.154
Was his problem fathering children.

00:09:19.164 --> 00:09:20.972
Obviously that was not his problem.

00:09:21.586 --> 00:09:22.851
No, I mean with like other people.

00:09:23.629 --> 00:09:24.803
Oh no, it was all him and his wife.

00:09:24.803 --> 00:09:26.532
Oh, okay, okay, okay, okay, yeah.

00:09:26.532 --> 00:09:32.057
So it was because it was in the middle of the Great Depression and now they have 10 kids to raise.

00:09:32.057 --> 00:09:34.990
Oh my gosh, yes, it's just crazy.

00:09:34.990 --> 00:09:42.678
So he was worried about the medical bills, the child care costs, food, you know, just taking care of everyone.

00:09:44.004 --> 00:09:48.017
He wasn't worried about that when he was feeling frisky, no, was he Six times?

00:09:49.066 --> 00:09:52.416
Even when she was pregnant, they didn't expect that there was five.

00:09:52.416 --> 00:09:54.870
They thought maybe that she was carrying twins.

00:09:55.410 --> 00:09:56.493
Because they're so tiny.

00:09:57.033 --> 00:09:59.278
Yeah, they did not expect that there was five babies.

00:09:59.339 --> 00:10:00.488
And they were the first ones ever.

00:10:00.488 --> 00:10:01.971
So who would ever think that?

00:10:02.352 --> 00:10:04.285
Well, they were the first ones ever to survive.

00:10:04.285 --> 00:10:05.388
They weren't the first ones ever.

00:10:06.750 --> 00:10:09.417
Yeah, I really should just mute myself.

00:10:09.476 --> 00:10:18.663
I'm not smart tonight For the love of baby Moses, I hope you do so rude, okay.

00:10:18.663 --> 00:10:22.028
So this is where the story gets bad, okay.

00:10:22.028 --> 00:10:34.196
So the dad, being worried about money, the century of progress exhibit at the world's fair in chicago reached out to the family and said hey, can we have your babies?

00:10:34.196 --> 00:10:36.725
And their incubators showed our exhibit.

00:10:36.725 --> 00:10:51.211
And apparently it wasn't unusual for quote unquote incubator babies to be shown at fairs because the incubator was such a new technology that they wanted to show off the actual technology of the incubator.

00:10:51.211 --> 00:10:53.636
But they actually had babies in there.

00:10:53.784 --> 00:10:55.491
So like right next to the bearded lady.

00:10:57.365 --> 00:10:58.229
Right, I don't know.

00:10:58.229 --> 00:11:04.908
I mean, the exhibit was a century of progress, so I think they were trying to show like the medical marvel of it.

00:11:04.908 --> 00:11:14.312
But at the same time, come look at these teeny, tiny babies Right, struggling to survive yeah, exactly, and traveling all the way from Canada to Chicago.

00:11:14.312 --> 00:11:15.416
Oh, come on.

00:11:15.416 --> 00:11:20.832
So the dad signed a contract with yep for the kids.

00:11:21.614 --> 00:11:24.058
It's a typical Feb request, by the way.

00:11:28.147 --> 00:11:33.570
Let me see your babies, oh Chicago.

00:11:33.570 --> 00:11:42.009
So he signed the contract, but he revoked it a couple days later.

00:11:42.009 --> 00:11:49.139
However, this caused some controversy, because the Red Cross was now concerned of are these parents going to exploit these kids?

00:11:49.139 --> 00:11:51.970
We want to make sure to help them out.

00:11:51.970 --> 00:12:01.695
And because they were five quintuplets, I almost said five quintuplets I always say five quintuplets and because they were the first quintuplets.

00:12:01.926 --> 00:12:04.014
My smartness is rubbing off on you.

00:12:07.428 --> 00:12:08.091
They were a big deal.

00:12:08.091 --> 00:12:10.227
So the Red Cross stepped in.

00:12:10.227 --> 00:12:15.999
And the Red Cross said hey, we will take care of your kids for two years.

00:12:15.999 --> 00:12:21.101
We'll pay for all the medical costs, and they also want to protect them from this contract.

00:12:21.101 --> 00:12:33.374
So the parents agreed, because of the amount of medical costs and their financial status, to let the Red Cross take over ownership guardianship.

00:12:33.374 --> 00:12:34.034
I'm so sorry.

00:12:34.414 --> 00:12:35.616
Are they taking them somewhere?

00:12:35.616 --> 00:12:37.259
Where are they going?

00:12:38.085 --> 00:12:38.990
I'm getting kids of that.

00:12:38.990 --> 00:12:40.751
Oh my gosh.

00:12:40.751 --> 00:12:45.230
Okay, so that was in 1934.

00:12:45.230 --> 00:12:48.855
So this is when the girls were so young, in February of 1935.

00:12:48.855 --> 00:12:51.279
So they're not even a year old yet.

00:12:51.279 --> 00:13:02.977
Even a year old yet, the parents went to Chicago as a quote, unquote, parents of the world famous babies, because these babies were absolutely world famous and they started making stage appearances.

00:13:02.977 --> 00:13:10.246
So the premier of Ontario, which is some political position, I'm not quite sure what it equates to in the US.

00:13:10.246 --> 00:13:12.432
I didn't do that research.

00:13:13.798 --> 00:13:17.408
It wasn't like prime minister, premier it says premier?

00:13:18.931 --> 00:13:30.639
Yeah, premier, he used this trip to extend the guardianship and then he passed a law called the Dionne's Quintuplets Act of 1935.

00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:34.731
So the act is named after the quintuplets, not very specific.

00:13:34.731 --> 00:13:40.828
I know right, how many kids can we apply this to?

00:13:40.828 --> 00:13:46.480
So the acts actually made the girls wards of the crown until they were 18.

00:13:51.030 --> 00:13:51.171
What?

00:13:51.171 --> 00:13:54.956
Yes, but in a way like it would make sure that they're taken care of.

00:13:54.956 --> 00:13:56.219
It would.

00:13:57.000 --> 00:14:02.755
Okay, but I mean, is that a good enough reason to take away guardianship from parents?

00:14:02.755 --> 00:14:12.976
I don't know, it's very controversial, okay, so there was actually a board of guardians, and on the board of guardians it was the doctor who delivered them, dr Defoe.

00:14:12.976 --> 00:14:22.945
There was a judge His name was Joseph Ballin, the minister of welfare at the moment who was David Kroll, and then I saw conflicting information.

00:14:22.945 --> 00:14:36.537
One said that it was the girl's grandpa that was on the board, and then the other one said that it was actually the dad that was also part of the board.

00:14:38.027 --> 00:14:39.552
But, a family member nonetheless.

00:14:40.114 --> 00:14:45.490
Yeah, so I think it was a grandpa until he may have passed away and then the dad took over, I think I don't know.

00:14:45.490 --> 00:14:47.272
It's just I couldn't get a straight answer.

00:14:47.272 --> 00:14:49.187
There's just too many back and forth with it.

00:14:49.187 --> 00:15:03.097
I did find that the dad actually didn't partake much into the board matters, supposedly because he felt his vote wouldn't matter and also to dispute the fact that the Crown had guardianship of his children.

00:15:03.097 --> 00:15:18.634
So the board met once a month and they had full control over all business matters for the girls, which meant caring for them, managing their money, creating contracts which were done of movies and commercials.

00:15:19.186 --> 00:15:25.114
Oh, I was just about to ask what contracts and the government actually created a tourist industry around the girls?

00:15:26.596 --> 00:15:28.898
Yes, and then the government gets all the money.

00:15:28.898 --> 00:15:28.999
Yeah.

00:15:31.308 --> 00:15:33.394
Well, it's supposed to go into a trust fund.

00:15:34.336 --> 00:15:34.717
Okay.

00:15:35.625 --> 00:15:47.278
And this trust fund is supposed to be just for the girls and it's supposed to be for them when they grow up, and that the money that is used to take care of them is supposed to come from the Red Cross and the government already.

00:15:48.360 --> 00:15:48.679
Okay.

00:15:48.700 --> 00:15:49.561
Mm-hmm.

00:15:49.561 --> 00:16:00.798
Okay, so the kids were born on a farmhouse and across the street from the farmhouse they actually built the Defoe Hospital and Nursery where the girls lived.

00:16:00.798 --> 00:16:02.759
So it was across from their farmhouse.

00:16:02.759 --> 00:16:03.681
See, a hospital.

00:16:03.681 --> 00:16:09.989
Yes, yes, but they moved there in 1934.

00:16:09.989 --> 00:16:14.611
It was dubbed Quintland eventually.

00:16:14.851 --> 00:16:17.053
Oh my gosh, did they have like vendors and stuff?

00:16:17.053 --> 00:16:18.215
It was dubbed Quintland eventually.

00:16:18.235 --> 00:16:20.716
Oh my gosh, Did they have like vendors and stuff?

00:16:20.736 --> 00:16:21.417
Stop, and listen.

00:16:21.957 --> 00:16:22.878
Okay, okay, so they moved in.

00:16:22.898 --> 00:16:23.438
Food trucks.

00:16:24.700 --> 00:16:27.101
They didn't have food trucks back then.

00:16:27.101 --> 00:16:30.586
I know, Farmer's market.

00:16:30.645 --> 00:16:33.527
Maybe they actually probably really did have farmer's markets.

00:16:34.488 --> 00:16:37.028
Probably so.

00:16:37.028 --> 00:16:43.493
They moved there in 1934 when the Red Cross decided to take over, and the girls lived there until they were nine years old.

00:16:43.493 --> 00:16:54.739
It had a pool and an outdoor playground, but it was surrounded by a viewing area for the public which had one-way screens to minimize noise and distractions.

00:16:54.739 --> 00:16:57.159
So they're like an exhibit.

00:16:57.159 --> 00:16:58.061
Mm-hmm.

00:16:58.061 --> 00:17:07.589
The girls were brought to the playground two or three times a day to be viewed by the public and the whole entire compound.

00:17:07.589 --> 00:17:09.482
Because the staff lived there too, it was surrounded by a seven-foot barbed wire fence.

00:17:09.502 --> 00:17:11.652
Oh my gosh, Did they get to see their siblings?

00:17:12.746 --> 00:17:13.971
I'm going to get to that part?

00:17:13.971 --> 00:17:19.675
Oh my gosh, not until they left their Quint land.

00:17:19.675 --> 00:17:23.613
Yeah, I think they met them, but they didn't engage.

00:17:23.613 --> 00:17:24.916
That's awful.

00:17:24.916 --> 00:17:26.730
I'll get to their siblings in a second.

00:17:26.791 --> 00:17:35.471
Okay, so their day consisted of this they dressed together in a big bathroom, they drank orange juice and cod liver oil, and then they had their hair curled.

00:17:35.471 --> 00:17:40.038
They said a prayer, a gong sounded, they ate breakfast in the dining room.

00:17:40.038 --> 00:17:49.935
30 minutes later they cleared the table, then they played in the sunroom for 30 minutes, took a 15 minute break and at nine o'clock, had their morning inspection with dr defoe.

00:17:49.935 --> 00:17:51.988
Not sure what that entails, I'm not, I don't know.

00:17:51.988 --> 00:17:55.557
Um, every month they had a different timetable of activities.

00:17:55.557 --> 00:18:04.901
They bathed every day before dinner, put on their pajamas and then ate dinner, which was served precisely at 6 pm, and then they went into the quiet playroom to say their prayers.

00:18:04.901 --> 00:18:09.608
Each girl had a color and a symbol to mark whatever belonged to her.

00:18:09.608 --> 00:18:19.881
So instead of knowing the girls and making sure that they knew which girl was which, they had colored ponytails, colors and animals.

00:18:19.881 --> 00:18:21.930
So they're just objects.

00:18:23.226 --> 00:18:27.676
So I know that education for women and girls was a really big thing back then.

00:18:27.676 --> 00:18:36.978
Was there any kind of school or education or teaching them anything?

00:18:37.459 --> 00:18:40.571
they, they did, it did say that they attended school there.

00:18:41.194 --> 00:18:56.512
It didn't say what they learned, though but they're probably like embroidery or cross-stitching or something their education does come into play, because I think it's in their adult part that I talk about, because when they were 18 and they were out on their own, they didn't know the difference between a nickel and a quarter.

00:18:56.512 --> 00:18:58.278
Oh my God, okay, yeah.

00:18:58.278 --> 00:19:03.314
So the girls and the colors Annette's color was red and her design was a maple leaf.

00:19:03.314 --> 00:19:06.694
Cecile was green and her sign was a turkey.

00:19:06.694 --> 00:19:19.647
Emily had white and a tulip, marie was blue and a teddy bear and Yvonne was pink and a bluebird and a teddy bear and Yvonne was pink and a bluebird.

00:19:19.647 --> 00:19:21.854
So, finally, the doctor was viewed as being taken advantage of his new fame.

00:19:21.854 --> 00:19:23.518
He spent a lot of money.

00:19:23.518 --> 00:19:37.780
He removed one of the three primary caretakers of the quintuplets that lived at Quintland with him, and this removal involved only their dad, as he took legal action to regain custody.

00:19:37.780 --> 00:19:49.779
So the general public did not know that the doctor profited $182,466 in 1943.

00:19:49.779 --> 00:19:50.540
What?

00:19:50.540 --> 00:19:55.416
Which is the equivalent of over $3 million in 2023.

00:19:57.266 --> 00:20:02.377
Oh my God, yeah, he profited over $3 million off these babies.

00:20:02.377 --> 00:20:25.436
So when the visits first started, the people could watch them through a window in the hospital, and then the hospital realized that this wasn't good for the girls, because they got so excited when the visitors came and they got irritated when they left, because they wanted to play with them and interact with them because it's you know, it's something different, and so telling the visitors to make to not make loud noises wasn't enough to stop them.

00:20:25.436 --> 00:20:29.309
So that's how they decided.

00:20:29.309 --> 00:20:30.012
I'm so grossed out.

00:20:30.085 --> 00:20:31.644
They're probably like tapping on the window.

00:20:31.644 --> 00:20:34.114
You know how people do at the zoo.

00:20:34.885 --> 00:20:37.968
Yeah or aquariums yep, exactly, oh my gosh.

00:20:37.968 --> 00:20:41.474
So they, um, I think I said this.

00:20:41.474 --> 00:20:44.384
They were displayed, displayed four times a day.

00:20:44.384 --> 00:20:50.137
I did quote unquote, sorry, y'all couldn't see that, so they could, if we were doing video stop.

00:20:51.007 --> 00:21:00.232
so the observatory, which is the this enclosed area enclosed area to look at everyone and not just through the window of the hospital opened on Canada Day in 1936.

00:21:00.232 --> 00:21:06.332
Thousands of tourists came to see the daughters, the sisters, and hundreds of cars came in.

00:21:06.332 --> 00:21:18.770
They were told to be quiet, not to speak to the girls, continue moving to avoid blockages and if the weather was bad, the girls would not be shown, quote unquote, and no photographs were allowed.

00:21:18.770 --> 00:21:24.087
The girls were known that they were watched because they could hear screams and laughter.

00:21:24.087 --> 00:21:34.114
The one-way screens didn't fully block out the visitors and it said it acted more like a frosted glass, so like you could see a shape behind it.

00:21:34.114 --> 00:21:34.796
You know the noise.

00:21:34.796 --> 00:21:42.570
Approximately 3,000 people per day visited the observation gallery that surrounded the 3,000.

00:21:42.570 --> 00:21:43.413
3,000.

00:21:43.413 --> 00:21:44.703
In 1934.

00:21:44.703 --> 00:21:47.252
Well, this is probably no 1936.

00:21:48.645 --> 00:21:49.770
To view the playground.

00:21:50.011 --> 00:21:56.674
Yes, almost 3 million people walked through between 1936 and 1943.

00:21:56.674 --> 00:21:59.686
Their dad set up a souvenir shop.

00:21:59.686 --> 00:22:10.698
The souvenirs had pictures of the five sisters, autographs, framed photographs, spoons, cups, plates, plaques, candy bars, books, postcards and dolls.

00:22:10.698 --> 00:22:17.005
The dolls of the five girls even outsold whatever doll was popular back in that day.

00:22:17.005 --> 00:22:18.608
I can't remember what it was, I didn't write it down.

00:22:20.413 --> 00:22:23.586
Did the mom and dad get to interact with them routinely?

00:22:24.990 --> 00:22:29.746
They could, they were allowed to go over there, but they did not go over there consistently.

00:22:31.007 --> 00:22:33.308
I mean, I know they have five other kids too.

00:22:33.969 --> 00:22:34.269
Yeah.

00:22:34.390 --> 00:22:34.809
Gosh.

00:22:35.911 --> 00:23:00.291
So another thing that they had, which was free for the public and it was placed in bins, were stones from the area that were claimed to have the magical power of fertility, and it would say that the bins had to be refilled almost every single day, and there was women who would go up to their mom and touch the mom in hopes that the fertility her fertility would rub off on them.

00:23:00.311 --> 00:23:04.559
I think the dad kind of did something like to exploit that as well.

00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:15.079
So quintland became ontario's biggest tour attraction of the area, surpassing the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.

00:23:15.079 --> 00:23:27.276
It was only beat by like three things in North America and even several Hollywood stars visited Quintland.

00:23:27.276 --> 00:23:30.773
So the nursery was eventually converted.

00:23:30.773 --> 00:23:44.919
So the girls moved up from there at nine, like I said, and the nursery was eventually converted into an accredited school where the sisters finished their secondary education along with 10 Roman Catholic girls from the area who were chosen to attend Later years.

00:23:44.919 --> 00:23:51.215
The hospital was used by the recluses of Corbeil as a convent.

00:23:51.215 --> 00:24:12.145
So other things that the sisters were advertised with, along with Dr Defoe they were used for commercial products including carob, corn syrup, quaker oats, lysol, palm oil, palm, olive Palm olive, it's the dish soap.

00:24:12.426 --> 00:24:13.130
Yeah, it is.

00:24:13.130 --> 00:24:15.356
I don't know why I couldn't say that right.

00:24:15.356 --> 00:24:31.132
Colgate, aluminum goods manufacturing Company, behab, corn Syrup, canada Starch Company, carnation Milk, colgate, palmolive Peak Company, which makes sense, corn Products, refining and Crown Brand Corn Syrup and Baby Ruth.

00:24:31.132 --> 00:24:36.910
They also promote the sales of condensed milk, toothpaste, disinfectant, candy bars and many other products.

00:24:37.751 --> 00:24:39.196
So pretty much everything on the market.

00:24:40.065 --> 00:24:43.895
Yeah, when they were children and this money was supposed to be going to their trust fund.

00:24:44.904 --> 00:24:45.488
Supposed to be.

00:24:45.488 --> 00:24:46.511
Are you getting to that?

00:24:48.125 --> 00:24:48.767
I am eventually.

00:24:48.767 --> 00:25:01.165
So I said they left the hospital when they were nine and by 1939, defoe no, I think they actually got custody back before that Sorry, I got my ears mixed up.

00:25:01.165 --> 00:25:10.328
The doctor resigned as a guardian and the dad was gaining more support to have his family reunited, and so finally they were able to regain custody.

00:25:10.328 --> 00:25:17.473
The Catholic Church and the French-speaking communities in both Quebec and Ontario pressured the government to give the dad custody back.

00:25:17.473 --> 00:25:24.487
So the pressure stemmed from the fact that the parents had never agreed to the removal of the quintuplets from their custody.

00:25:24.487 --> 00:25:30.232
So they used public opinion a lot.

00:25:30.232 --> 00:25:31.619
Oh no, it was nine years.

00:25:31.619 --> 00:25:39.815
So finally, in 1943, they were able to get custody and they succeeded after Dr Defoe retired.

00:25:39.980 --> 00:25:42.269
Ok, this is what comes to their siblings.

00:25:42.269 --> 00:25:49.289
So siblings usually team up against their parents, right, Like that's just what we do, right?

00:25:49.289 --> 00:25:52.946
So, unfortunately, their siblings felt like strangers.

00:25:52.946 --> 00:25:58.182
They distanced themselves from the children because they hadn't seen each other in nine years.

00:25:58.182 --> 00:26:07.086
They struggled to connect, and then also the quintuplets spoke French, which was the nursery rules, and all their siblings spoke English.

00:26:07.086 --> 00:26:10.633
So that's yes.

00:26:10.633 --> 00:26:15.028
And so the parents also treated them differently at home.

00:26:15.028 --> 00:26:21.282
They treated them as one person and five different bodies instead of five different little girls.

00:26:21.282 --> 00:26:28.833
And, yes, they often lectured them about the trouble they were causing the family by just existing.

00:26:28.833 --> 00:26:31.155
No Uh-huh.

00:26:32.502 --> 00:26:33.465
Okay, take them back.

00:26:34.047 --> 00:26:38.430
I know, I know that's so awful, absolutely awful.

00:26:38.430 --> 00:26:45.406
The girls said that they were physically abused by the hands of their mother and they were unaware.

00:26:45.406 --> 00:26:47.286
So, oh my gosh, I can't believe.

00:26:47.286 --> 00:26:47.988
I left this part out.

00:26:47.988 --> 00:26:49.484
So they don't live in the farmhouse anymore.

00:26:49.484 --> 00:26:50.188
The family doesn't.

00:26:50.188 --> 00:26:53.549
They literally built a mansion for the family to live in.

00:26:54.461 --> 00:27:00.832
I don't think I wrote down what their house was like Did they build that because the girls were coming home, or that was before?

00:27:01.319 --> 00:27:25.733
It was built because the girls were coming home, or that was before it was built, because the girls were coming home A little extra, though, and so they didn't know that their house, the food, the series of cars the family were purchasing were paid for by the money the girls had earned, and they called their time in the big house quote unquote the saddest home we ever knew.

00:27:27.240 --> 00:27:33.221
Oh my gosh, they went from being an exhibit to the saddest home they ever knew, mm-hmm.

00:27:33.603 --> 00:27:34.424
And then their dad.

00:27:34.424 --> 00:27:35.888
Their dad kind of got a little crazy.

00:27:35.888 --> 00:27:41.508
He was resentful and suspicious of outsiders, he said, because he lost custody of the girls.

00:27:41.508 --> 00:27:51.522
And so in 1995, the three surviving sisters at that time reported that their dad had sexually abused them during their teenage years.

00:27:51.522 --> 00:27:59.652
You could see one of the daughters that would constantly wear a turtleneck and she said that she dressed to be as modest as possible and not show parts of her body.

00:28:02.320 --> 00:28:03.847
Wait, how old were they at this time?

00:28:04.779 --> 00:28:07.670
Well, yvonne told a story about when she was 13.

00:28:07.670 --> 00:28:10.429
She felt pressured to undress in front of her dad.

00:28:10.429 --> 00:28:17.711
Her dad rubbed this liniment all over her and then he told Emily that he was going to have to apply it to her too.

00:28:17.711 --> 00:28:25.304
They didn't like going on car rides with their dad and felt the need to dress extra conservatively on these car rides.

00:28:25.304 --> 00:28:37.881
During the car rides, the girls were squished up front with their dad as the backseats were out, and he allegedly French kissed them and put his fingers on their blouses.

00:28:38.481 --> 00:28:38.821
Oh my.

00:28:38.942 --> 00:28:39.644
God.

00:28:40.664 --> 00:28:41.465
Yeah, yeah.

00:28:42.228 --> 00:28:43.869
Just awful, Awful, awful, awful.

00:28:43.869 --> 00:28:55.682
So they, when they turned 18, they all decided that they wanted to get out of the house, and I think I don't have that part.

00:28:55.682 --> 00:28:58.909
I think it was Emily that decided to leave first.

00:28:58.909 --> 00:29:03.662
I can't remember, but one decided to leave first and slowly the rest of them followed.

00:29:03.662 --> 00:29:06.428
Three of them got married and had children.

00:29:06.428 --> 00:29:11.951
One of them joined a convent and then the other one, I think she, became a librarian.

00:29:11.951 --> 00:29:17.575
So the money in their trust fund decreased through spending on marriage houses, child support and divorce.

00:29:17.575 --> 00:29:19.801
The ones that got married also got divorced.

00:29:19.801 --> 00:29:36.391
It was discovered that their trust fund contained less money than what was made from advertisements and photographs and instead of the government paying for research, food and travel expenses for photographers and filmmakers, the payment came from the quintuplets trust fund.

00:29:36.391 --> 00:29:38.232
The government, the government did that.

00:29:41.537 --> 00:29:44.386
Oh Well, you knew that was going to happen.

00:29:45.148 --> 00:29:53.394
Yes, the girls were able to go against the government, and the government responded like, hey, we'll give you $2,000 a month.

00:29:53.394 --> 00:29:59.153
And there was a huge uproar of like how is that even fair $2,000 a month?

00:29:59.153 --> 00:30:03.809
Because the girls were living on $7734 a month living all together.

00:30:03.809 --> 00:30:14.361
And so, finally, with the public opinion up in arms, I think they settled on $4 million for the girls to have from the government.

00:30:15.663 --> 00:30:21.912
So $4 million split between five, when the doctor made three million.

00:30:22.732 --> 00:30:24.414
Yeah, okay.

00:30:24.414 --> 00:30:31.558
So one of the great things about being identical quintuplets is that they always have their sisters by their side, no matter what.

00:30:31.558 --> 00:30:43.630
When they moved to Montreal, yvonne and Cecile went to nursing school together, and Annette and Marie became roommates at the university, and so, yeah, so Emily went to the convent.

00:30:43.630 --> 00:30:47.150
Emily died at age 20 as a result of a seizure.

00:30:47.150 --> 00:30:54.385
She had had seizures before, but she asked at the convent she wasn't supposed to be left alone.

00:30:54.385 --> 00:31:05.526
Well, one of the sisters that was with her went to mass and left her alone, and during that she fell over onto her pillow and suffocated to the seizure, oh my gosh, very, very, very sad.

00:31:07.440 --> 00:31:13.391
In 1973, marie was living alone in an apartment and her sisters were worried about her.

00:31:13.391 --> 00:31:23.031
After not hearing from her for several days, the doctor went to the home and found her in bed and she'd been dead for a couple of days and she had a blood clot found on her brain.

00:31:23.031 --> 00:31:24.355
How old was she?

00:31:24.355 --> 00:31:26.428
It was 1970.

00:31:26.428 --> 00:31:29.468
, so they were born in 34.

00:31:29.468 --> 00:31:29.901
What?

00:31:29.901 --> 00:31:31.226
35, 40,?

00:31:31.306 --> 00:31:31.847
late 30s.

00:31:32.500 --> 00:31:33.685
Yeah, late 30s.

00:31:33.685 --> 00:31:37.761
Yvonne was alive, I think.

00:31:37.761 --> 00:31:40.135
She just passed away in like 1998.

00:31:40.135 --> 00:31:42.125
She lived for a while.

00:31:42.125 --> 00:31:45.326
Annette and Cecile still live together.

00:31:45.326 --> 00:31:54.453
Yes, as of May of this year they are 91 years old and they are living together outside of Montreal.

00:31:55.059 --> 00:31:57.286
You've got to be kidding me.

00:31:59.009 --> 00:32:00.133
Yeah, isn't that amazing?

00:32:00.133 --> 00:32:02.087
That is crazy.

00:32:02.087 --> 00:32:07.561
Yes, yes, yes, yes, I love that.

00:32:07.561 --> 00:32:17.686
It's not like it's sad, but the sisters that's why my quote was sisters function as safety nets in a chaotic world, simply by being there for each other I love that, yeah, it's.

00:32:17.686 --> 00:32:24.301
I had never heard story, but it was such a big deal in the 1930s and like we're got out of.

00:32:24.702 --> 00:32:53.249
There was people I was reading stories about people from Australia coming to visit them and then there was a lady from I think she was from Ohio that wanted to go back and be the home because she'd always wanted to see inside the nursery, because she went to go visit it when she was a little girl and she actually got kicked out of the observatory because she was throwing a tantrum because she wanted to go in and go play with the little girls that were playing and they the monitors or however made her leave.

00:32:53.249 --> 00:33:00.542

87-Food Trucks and Vendors (The Dionne Quintuplets' Survival Story)

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