Dionne Quintuplets

948 Words2 Pages

Dionne Quintuplets

During the blackest days of the Great Depression there wasn't much hope for anyone, but the Dionne quintuplets helped to lighten the Great Depression somewhat. Who were the Dionne quintuplets and did the Ontario government exploit them? These five sisters had a difficult life; they were displayed to the public for nine years, taken away from their family and put under the guardianship of the doctor who had delivered them. They were used as commercial products, and were robed of the money that they had earned during their early lives.

The thirties was a dark period for many Canadians. A depression had occurred. A lot of people lost their jobs and more and more people were getting poorer by the day. The thirties were a sad and hard time for many of the population. The birth of the Dionne quintuplets had sparked some hope. They were the first known quintuplets, however, to survive infancy, and they were one of the few sources of cheerful headlines during that period. Their miracle gave people a chance to get some positive news for a change instead.

Annette, Cécile, Emilie, Marie, and Yvonne were born on a humid morning, between three and six A.M., of May 28, 1934. They were born in their parent's, Oliva and Elzire Dionne's, two story farmhouse in the town of Collander, Ontario. The babies were born two months prematurely, each weighing less than two pounds. The babies needed incubators, donated by Red Cross, to survive the first few critical months of their lives. A hospital was then built near the Dionne home as a nursery for the five babies. Dr.Allan Roy Dafoe was the doctor who delivered the quintuplets; he claimed that because of him the five baby girls were alive.

In 1935 the Dionne quintuplets were taken away from their family and became wards of the Government of Ontario. A bill was passed that the quintuplets were to stay wards of Ontario until their eighteenth birthday's. The government put the quintuplets under the supervision of Dr.Dafoe. Oliva Dionne fought for nine years to get his daughters back. In 1943, the quintuplets were finally returned to their family. Also, that same year Dr.Dafoe died. The sisters only returned twice to see their family, since they didn't feel wanted at home. Some of their brothers and sisters felt like strangers to the Quintuplet sisters. The rest of their siblings were both proud and jealous of them since they were treated like princesses.

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