Dionne quintuplets
The Dionne quintuplets (French pronunciation: [djɔn]; born May 28, 1934) are the first quintuplets known to have survived their infancy. The identical girls were born just outside Callander, Ontario, near the village of Corbeil. All five survived to adulthood.
Dionne quintuplets | |
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Ontario Premier Mitchell Hepburn with the Dionne babies in 1934 | |
| Born | May 28, 1934 Callander, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | Yvonne: June 23, 2001 (aged 67) Montreal Émilie: August 6, 1954 (aged 20) Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec Marie: February 27, 1970 (aged 35) Montreal |
| Known for | Being identical quintuplets |
| Parents |
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The Dionne girls were born premature. 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.
The identical quintuplet girls were, in order of birth:
- Yvonne Édouilda Marie Dionne (died 2001)
- Annette Lillianne Marie Allard (living)
- Cécile Marie Émilda Langlois (living)
- Émilie Marie Jeanne Dionne (died 1954)
- Marie Reine Alma Houle (died 1970)