Latest / Illinois Valley - Shaw Local / Paperwork: Oh baby. Oh baby. Oh babies, this was one strange test of motherhood

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Paperwork: Oh baby. Oh baby. Oh babies, this was one strange test of motherhood · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Paperwork. Oh baby, oh baby, Oh babies. This was one
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  Speaker 1: strange test of motherhood. Written by Lonnie Kine. This article
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  Speaker 1: is being read by an automated voice, brought to you
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  Speaker 1: by Everlett. Ninth baby born in stork Derby. Waw. Now
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  Speaker 1: that's a headline I could not ignore. I was online
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  Speaker 1: researching old newspaper archives. Then this short news item popped
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  Speaker 1: from the August nineteenth, nineteen thirty six issue of the
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  Speaker 1: Morris Harold News. It was front page news under a
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  Speaker 1: photo of missus Gus Grasiano. She just had her ninth baby,
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  Speaker 1: a son, putting her among the leaders in a Toronto
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  Speaker 1: stork derby. This race was ending on October thirty first,
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  Speaker 1: and it was getting tense. Missus John Nagel had her
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  Speaker 1: tenth child earlier in August. I'm not sure how Missus
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  Speaker 1: Gradseiana was going to catch up by now you're probably
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  Speaker 1: scratching the same itch I had. What the hey is
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  Speaker 1: a stork derby? And why would women want to have
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  Speaker 1: ten or more babies? It probably had something to do
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  Speaker 1: with the cash prize of five hundred thousand dollars that
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  Speaker 1: buys a lot of diapers, especially in nineteen thirty six,
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  Speaker 1: The money was part of a bizarre last will and
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  Speaker 1: testament crafted by a wealthy Toronto lawyer, Charles Vance Miller.
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  Speaker 1: I had to know more about this strange will that
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  Speaker 1: had to be validated by the Supreme Court of Canada.
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  Speaker 1: I found lots of background via smithsonianmag dot com, more
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  Speaker 1: than I can share. I highly recommend the article by
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  Speaker 1: Jordan Friedman. Let me share some fascinating highlights. Miller got
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  Speaker 1: rich by investing in breweries, real estate, and infrastructure. At
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  Speaker 1: seventy two, he died from a heart attack on Halloween
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  Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty six. He was a prankster. He'd put
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  Speaker 1: money on a sidewalk and hired to watch how people reacted.
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  Speaker 1: He never married, had no children or close living relatives.
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  Speaker 1: His will set aside about five hundred thousand Canadian dollars
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  Speaker 1: worth millions today for the Toronto mother who gave birth
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  Speaker 1: to the most children over the next ten years after
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  Speaker 1: his death. The prize would be divided equally if there
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  Speaker 1: was a tie. The media loved it. Following legal battles
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  Speaker 1: over the will and what types of children could be counted,
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  Speaker 1: such as stillborn or those born illegitimate to unwed parents,
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  Speaker 1: the press put an intense spotlight on women competing, which
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  Speaker 1: some found invasive and stressful. A Canadian TV movie was
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  Speaker 1: produced in two thousand and two on the baby Race.
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  Speaker 1: Friedman reported how the baby Derby flamed controversy in depression
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  Speaker 1: era Canada, where birth control was illegal, but large families
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  Speaker 1: were criticized and ridiculed. There also was growing concern that
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  Speaker 1: some immigrant foreigner might win the contest. The article notes
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  Speaker 1: how some women had to be hospitalized for operations and
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  Speaker 1: blood transfusions. In nineteen thirty six, Ontario Premier Mitchell Hepburn
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  Speaker 1: called the derby the most revolting, disgusting exhibition ever put
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  Speaker 1: on in a civilized country. The derby ended in a
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  Speaker 1: tie among four families with nine children. One of the
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  Speaker 1: four was missus John Nagel, who was mentioned in the
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  Speaker 1: article I found. I'm guessing the news item I discovered
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  Speaker 1: was in error about a tenth child. That would make
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  Speaker 1: more sense. Miller's motives for the Stork Derby are not clear,
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  Speaker 1: but apparently he enjoyed challenging the morality and standards of others.
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  Speaker 1: Miller himself described his will as necessarily uncommon and capricious.
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  Speaker 1: This can be sin since he also left brewery shares
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  Speaker 1: to seven Protestants ministers who supported prohibition, and gave joint
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  Speaker 1: ownership of a Jamaican vacation home to three local lawyers
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  Speaker 1: who despised each other. And he gave shares in the
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  Speaker 1: Ontario Jockey Club to some outspoken opponents of horse racing.
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  Speaker 1: Friedman quoted Marty Gervais, a Canadian author and historian, about
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  Speaker 1: what drove women to participate. I think it was desperation.
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  Speaker 1: I think it was a sign of the times. People
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  Speaker 1: wanted to get rich, people wanted to have money, and
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  Speaker 1: I think it just ignited that kind of desperation. Essentially
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  Speaker 1: included with this observation a bizarre saga in Canadian history.
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  Speaker 1: It now serves as a vehicle for exploring the social, cultural,
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  Speaker 1: and moral issues of the early twentieth century. Then this
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  Speaker 1: from an Associated Press report in December nineteen thirty six.
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  Speaker 1: No one seems to know whether it was ridiculous or tragic.
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  Speaker 1: Probably it was a little bit of each. Lonniekane, retired
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  Speaker 1: managing editor of The Times in Ottawa, also was a
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  Speaker 1: reporter for the Herald News and Juliet in the nineteen seventies.
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  Speaker 1: His paperwork email is Lonni Kane at gmail dot com
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  Speaker 1: or mail the News Tribune for twenty six Second Street, LaSalle, Illinois,
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  Speaker 1: sixty one to three zero one