Dead Millionaire Convinced Dozens Of Women To Have As Many Babies As Possible

Came across this. Hadn't ever heard of this before. It's a pretty bizarre but kind of sad story.

In 1926 an eccentric millionaire in Toronto added a clause in his will to the family in toronto that could have the most children in the ten years following his death. Around two dozen families ended up participating with the money in the end being split between the top four families.


fivethirtyeight.com...

On Oct. 31, 1926, Charles Vance Millar, a well-known and wealthy Canadian lawyer, died at age 73. Halloween was a fitting day for him to go; Millar loved practical jokes and spent far too much time doing silly things like dropping dollar bills on the sidewalk and then hiding to see who would pick them up. But that was just a warm-up. In death, Millar unleashed his biggest prank ever — a last will and testament that was basically a giant social experiment. 

Millar started off by giving shares in a jockey club to gambling opponents and shares in a brewery to teetotalling religious leaders. Then he left his house in Jamaica to three men who hated one another, on the condition that they own it together. But those were just a prelude to the big finish. The remainder of his fortune — about $9 million — would be bequeathed a decade later to “the mother who has since my death given birth in Toronto to the greatest number of children as shown by the registrations under the Vital Statistics Act.” If there were a tie, he wanted his fortune to be divided equally among the winners.

Millar probably thought he was being clever; after all, childless people aren’t often responsible for baby booms...But he probably wasn’t thinking about what would happen to the losers and all the new mouths they would have to feed, and he certainly wasn’t thinking about the Great Depression, which would soon envelop Canada and the rest of the world. That historical coincidence drove an ever-larger and ever-more-desperate group of women to try to win Millar’s fortune.

It’s unknown how many families decided to try to win Millar’s fortune. While there were a few mentions in the press early on, news coverage of the Derby didn’t really pick up until 1932, when the Ontario government tried to have the will nullified and the money given to the University of Toronto. After a huge public outcry —the government’s claim was withdrawn. At that point, several other women seem to have realized that their family size put them in contention and started to compete as well. By the deadline in 1936, more than two dozen Toronto families had welcomed at least eight babies during the previous decade.

Ten years after Millar’s death, 32 lawyers showed up to an initial hearing to claim a share of the fortune for the families they represented. After some quick record scanning, though, the presiding judge, William Middleton, cleared out everyone who didn’t have at least nine kids younger than 10. That left six families.

But some mothers who had more than nine kids still weren’t allowed a shot at the prize. Pauline Clarke was one of them; she had 10 children within the timeline — the first five with her former husband and the second five with a different man, one she lived with after her separation from her husband. Middleton was not impressed. “‘Children,’ when used in any testamentary document, always means legitimate children,” he wrote in his judgment

As for the Kenny family, it eventually settled for the same amount that Clarke did. Although Lillian Kenny gave birth to 11 children, her claim was dismissed on the grounds that three of the babies were stillborn.3 “A child born dead is not in truth a child,” Middleton wrote. “It was that which might have been a child.

Four other families with nine young children — the Timlecks, the Nagles, the Smiths and the MacLeans — were each awarded the equivalent of about $2 million.

The sad part of all this comes from the time this all happened. Shortly after his death the great depression hit. This led to an increase in people trying to win out of a place of desperation and unfortunately, in this case it meant having more kids they couldn't afford to feed and making their lives substantially worse.

The Stork Derby eventually became a huge news story, perhaps since it provided an outlet from the miseries of the Depression. Those miseries were manifold.

Very few articles, though, focused on the toll that the contest would have on the desperately poor families trying to win. Newsweek, for example, first referred to participant Lillian Kenny as a contender for the Derby before noting that one of her babies had recently died from rat bites while living in ghastly poverty.

I recommend taking a look at the full story. It's kind of long, but it's a good read.

Pre contraception, big families were very common back then
Two child families was not common in Europe, maybe Canada was different

a reply to: dug88

I just spit everywhere.

Then he left his house in Jamaica to three men who hated one another, on the condition that they own it together.

Yes I'm sure Catholics and Mormons were prepared to get the job done and have the prize. In the end though... even if these women didn't get the money, they got children and a bigger family. Family is worth more than gold.

My second thought on the matter, Charles Vance Millar might have been a true believer in reincarnation. He had the money and motive to pull it off. Cue plot twist chime! 🎶DA DA DAAAAA🎶😊

While I was driving, I listened to one of those NPR type radio shows about this a few months back.

Absolutely heartbreaking. These woman were living in absolute poverty and enduring having child after child.

The four front runners were disqualified for stillborns or not being married. The final checks went to middle class woman who really didn't need it.

a reply to: Bigburgh

Early 20th century was awesome.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: dug88

Thanks, man. Wild story. Nice way to start a Sunday.

Desperate people being manipulated for free stuff. Things don't change much I suppose.

The time period though.., led to insane innovations. I want to go to the Vanderbilt mansion one day, my uncle was a mechanical engineer and a diesel tech (he mainly worked with large earth moving machines) went their before his death last year and told me how amazing the technology in that mansion was for its period, it had electricity before they had power lines and said the place is literally a museum that wrote a love letter to art and the modern mechanical age. I would love to see that!

Shame for the losers looking to rock out a bunch of money spitting out babies though. I appreciate Millars dark side though.

My father was one of 12 in the 1920's and 1930's. His father was one of 13 and his father was out of 9. But back in 1760 only one child of record moved from Grenoble France to Detroit. And started the US family.

a reply to: dug88

Kinda sounds like my Great-Aunt, only with a twist.

She had one daughter who had one daughter herself.

That Great-Aunt was married 3 times and all her husbands died in tragic accidents... making her quite well off.

Once her daughter wanted a $50,000 loan for something which her mother gave to her.

Years later, my Great-Aunt asked her daughter (who was doing well financially at the time) if she was ever going to pay her back.

She answered no and told her mother that she had too much money anyways, so paying the loan back didn't matter.

When my Great-Aunt died she left about $5 million to her only grand-daughter.

On the condition that she collected NONE of it until her mother died.

The grand-daughter is now the caregiver for the daughter...

a reply to: dug88

This reminds me of circumcision being so popular in America because of Kellogg.

We cut up babies because of a guy who made cereal... . Smh

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
a reply to: dug88

This reminds me of circumcision being so popular in America because of Kellogg.

We cut up babies because of a guy who made cereal... . Smh

maybe foreskin was a main ingredient in rice krispy cereal?

Rich in protein and stem cells nom nom nom jk

a reply to: Brotherman

Adrenochrome from the little head?

a reply to: Lumenari

That Great-Aunt was married 3 times and all her husbands died in tragic accidents... making her quite well off.

Hummmmm

a reply to: SeaWorthy

Stop that!

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: Brotherman

Adrenochrome from the little head?

I'm not sure bro some are bigger then others.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: Bigburgh

Early 20th century was awesome.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I live 14 miles from Westinghouse. They made sure in the 1920's Tesla wasnt going to have a US Patent . Hence all the Wires over my head.

This requires an on subject thread OP post thread

This Westinghouse all ready didnt buy nuclear power plants in china that the U.S. Navy didn't already purchase. But Westinghouse did.

a reply to: Bigburgh

They made sure in the 1920's Tesla wasnt going to have a US Patent .

But he did. Dozens of them. Patenmaniac.
en.wikipedia.org...

originally posted by: SeaWorthy
a reply to: Lumenari

That Great-Aunt was married 3 times and all her husbands died in tragic accidents... making her quite well off.

Hummmmm

Yea... but none of them were something she could have done.

One was a window washer for skyscrapers that fell to his death.

One was a circus clown that an elephant stomped to death.

Did you know that clown faces are actually trademarked? Weird, that...

The last was a pilot who crashed.

So there was no "black widow" thing going on.

Maybe...

a reply to: dug88

I was gonna' ask..."Brigham, is that you???"...but I think I'll stick with..."Stupid human tricks for $500, Alex"

Final answer.