News Flash: Millionaires can be eccentric. Such was
Charles Vance Millar, who loved a practical joke, and didn't let death stop him from enjoying them. Clauses included leaving a vacation home in Jamaica to three men who hated each other as long as they lived there together. But the most well known clause was the one that began what came to be known as The Great Stork Derby.
After a few other bequests, the remainder of his estate was to be changed into cash and given to the Toronto woman who had the most children in the ten years after his death. Just like that, the women of Toronto were off and running. There ended up being seventeen families in serious contention. The 5 front runners had 56 children all together, although only 32 were eligible to be counted under the clauses of the Will.
In the end, four women, Annie Katherine Smith, Kathleen Ellen Nagle, Lucy Alice Timleck, and Isabel Mary Maclean, tied for first place, with each of them giving birth to nine babies. The fortune, at this point worth $568,106, was split and each family claimed $110,000, or over $2 million in today's money. Three of the winners had to pay relief money back to the city.
Two other women, Lillian Kenny and Pauline Mae Clarke, were awarded $12,500 each. Some of Pauline's children were disqualified as during the decade she had left her husband, although they remained married. During this time she had children with another man. However, the law declared that only legitimate children were be counted in Wills unless otherwise notated. Two of Lillian's children were stillborn, and the ruling was that the Will only referred to live children. These last two women had given birth ten and eleven times respectively, and were given the smaller sum in exchange for ending appeals.
Wills, while legal documents, don't have to be super serious. When you're writing your
Will, maybe throw in something fun, like only bequeathing your second nephew thrice removed $10 if they eat an ice cream first. Although, causing women to give birth to dozens of children might be a bit more than is necessary.
