Dionne Quintuplets

The Dionne Quintuplets

(Ontario Premier Mitchell Hepburn with the Dionne babies in 1934.)

The Dionne Quintuplets were born on May 28, 1934) were the first Quintuplets known to have survived their infancy.

The identical Girls were born just outside Callander, Ontario, Canada near the village of Corbeil.

Their Father was Oliva-Édouard (1904–1979) and their Mother Elzire Dionne (née Legros; 1909–1986), who married on September 15, 1925.

The Dionnes were a French-Speaking Farming Family with five older Children: Ernest (1926–1995), Rose Marie (1928–1995), Thérèse (1929–2021), Daniel (1932–1995), and Pauline (1933–2018), who was only eleven months older than the Quintuplets. A sixth child, Léo (1930–1930), died of Pneumonia shortly after birth.

he Dionnes also had three Sons after the Quintuplets: Oliva Jr. (1936–2017), Victor (1938–2007), and Claude (1946–2009).

After four months with their Family, custody was signed over to the Red Cross, which paid for their care and oversaw the building of a hospital for the Sisters.

Less than a year after this Agreement was signed, the Ontario Government stepped in and passed the Dionne Quintuplets' Guardianship Act, 1935, which made them wards of the Crown until the age of 18.

The Ontario Provincial Government and those around them began to profit by making them a significant tourist attraction.

Across from their birthplace, the Dafoe Hospital and Nursery was built for the five Girls and their new Caregivers.

The Girls were moved from the farmhouse to this nursery on September 21, 1934, and lived there until they were nine years old.

The compound had an outdoor playground designed to be a public observation area. It was surrounded by a covered arcade, which allowed Tourists to observe the Sisters behind one-way screens. The one-way screens were installed to prevent noise and distraction. The facility was funded by a Red Cross Fundraiser.

The Sisters were brought to the playground two or three times a day in front of the crowd. It was a nine-room nursery with a staff house nearby. The staff house held the three Nurses and the three Police in charge of guarding them, while a Housekeeper and two Maids lived in the main building with the Quintuplets. The buildings were surrounded by a seven-foot barbed-wire fence.

The Dionne Sisters were constantly tested, studied, and examined, with records taken of everything.

While living at the compound, they had a somewhat rigid lifestyle. They were not required to participate in chores and were privately tutored in the same building where they lived. Cared for primarily by Nurses, they had limited exposure to the world outside the boundaries of the compound except for the daily rounds of Tourists, who, from the sisters' point of view, were generally heard but not seen.

 They also had occasional contact with their Parents and Siblings across the road.

Every morning they dressed together in a big bathroom, drank orange juice and cod liver oil, then had their hair curled. They then said a prayer, a gong sounded, and they ate breakfast in the dining room. After 30 minutes, they cleared the table. They then played in the sunroom for 30 minutes, took a 15-minute break, and at nine o'clock had their morning inspection with Dr. Dafoe.

 Every month, they had a different timetable of activities. They bathed every day before dinner and put on their pajamas. Dinner was served at precisely six o'clock. They then went into the quiet playroom to say their evening prayers.

Each girl had a color and a symbol to mark whatever belonged to her. Annette's color was red and her design a maple leaf, Cécile's green and a turkey. Émilie had white and a tulip, Marie blue and a teddy bear, and Yvonne pink and a bluebird.

An Observatory was opened in 1936 so the Tourists could better see the Sisters.

3,000 People viewed the Sisters every day.

Between 1936-1943 3,000,000 People visited “Quintland.”

(The quintuplets in 1947 with their parents and a priest in the background)

 The Dionne Sister starred in three Hollywood feature Films, which were essentially fictionalized versions of their story. They played the "Wyatt quintuplets" in all three films: The Country Doctor (1936) , Reunion (1936) and Five of a Kind (1938).

The Quintuplets had a Trust Fund set up, but they were not rich or living comfortably.

It held $500 Million Dollars.

It was discovered that their Trust Fund contained less money than what was made from advertisements and photographs of the Quintuplets. Instead of the Ontario Government paying for research, food, and travel expenses for Photographers and Filmmakers, the payment came from the Quintuplets' Trust Fund.

In 1939, Olivia Dionne won back custody of the Dionne Sisters from the Ontario Provincial Government (after pressure from the Catholic Church and the French-Speaking Communities in Ontario and Quebec.)

In 1943, the Family moved into a yellow brick, 20-room Mansion was paid for from the Quintuplets' fund. The home had many amenities that were considered luxuries at the time, including telephones, electricity, and hot water.

When the Family was reunited, many struggles followed.

The Quintuplets felt distanced from their Siblings. They struggled to communicate as they spoke French and their siblings preferred English.

There are also reports of abuse by the Father.

The Quintuplets left the family home upon turning 18 in 1952 and had little contact with their Parents afterwards.

(The Dionne sisters in 1952)

Three married and had Children: Marie had two daughters, Emilie and Monique; Annette had three sons, Jean-François, Charlie, and Eric; and Cécile had five children, Claude, Patrice, twins Bruno (who died at 15 months) and Bertrand, and Elizabeth.

Émilie devoted her brief life to becoming a Nun. Yvonne finished nursing school before turning to sculpting, then later became a Librarian.

In 1997, the three surviving Sisters wrote an open letter to the parents of the McCaughey Septuplets, warning against allowing too much publicity for the Children, after which they reached a $4 million settlement with the Ontario Government as compensation for their exploitation.

In 1985, the non-profit Dionne Quintuplets Museum was created.

 

The identical quintuplet girls were, in order of birth:

Yvonne Édouilda Marie Dionne (died 2001)

Annette Lillianne Marie Allard (died 2025)

Cécile Marie Émilda Langlois (died 2025)

Émilie Marie Jeanne Dionne (died 1954)

Marie Reine Alma Houle (died 1970)