The Great Stork Derby was a contest held from 1926 to 1936. Female residents of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, Ontario, Canada, competed to produce the most babies in order to qualify for an unusual bequest in a will.

Background

The race was the product of a scheme by

Charles Vance Millar Charles Vance Millar (June 28, 1854 – October 31, 1926) was a Canadian lawyer and financier. He was the president and part-owner of the Toronto brewery of O'Keefe Brewery. He also owned racehorses, including the 1915 King's Plate–winning h ...

(1853–1926), a Toronto lawyer, financier, and practical joker, who bequeathed the residue of his significant estate to the woman in Toronto who could produce the most children in the decade following his death.Orkin, Mark M
Millar, Charles Vance
, The Canadian Encyclopedia online. Retrieved April 17, 2009; It is one of many unusual bequests in his will, along with giving a vacation home in Jamaica to a group of three men who detested each other under the condition that they live in the estate together indefinitely, brewery stocks to a group of prominent

teetotal Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of total personal abstinence from the psychoactive drug alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller, or is ...

Protestant ministers if they participated in its operations and collected its dividends, and jockey club stocks to a group of anti-horse-racing advocates. Litigation over the validity of the contest was resolved when the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the clause's validity. The Court further held the clause did not encompass children born out of wedlock, or stillborn.

Competition

Eleven families competed in the "baby race." Seven of them were disqualified, but eventually Judge William Edward Middleton ruled in favour of four mothers (Annie Katherine Smith, Kathleen Ellen Nagle, Lucy Alice Timleck and Isabel Mary Maclean) who each received $110,000 for their nine children ($ in dollars). Three of the four had to pay back relief money given to them by the

City of Toronto government The municipal government of Toronto ( incorporated as the City of Toronto) is the local government responsible for administering the city of Toronto in the Canadian province of Ontario. Its structure and powers are set out in the '' City of Tor ...

. Two of the disqualified candidates, Lillian Kenny and Pauline Mae Clarke, each received $12,500 out of court in exchange for abandoning pending appeals.

In popular culture

The Canadian 2002 TV movie ''The Stork Derby'', depicted the stories of Lillian Kenny, Pauline Mae Clarke and Grace Bagnato and starred

Megan Follows Megan Elizabeth Laura Diana Follows (born March 14, 1968) is a Canadian-American actress and director. She is known for her role as Anne Shirley in the 1985 Canadian television miniseries '' Anne of Green Gables'' and its two sequels. From 201 ...

. The film was based upon Elizabeth Wilton's book ''Bearing The Burden: The Great Toronto Stork Derby 1926–1938''. In February 2019, the radio program ''

This American Life ''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internatio ...

'' covered the story in some detail. In 2016, Toronto's Muddy York Brewing Company produced a ''Stork Derby Stout'' as a nod to the unusual event.

References

External links

Snopes.com summary of the event
* {{IMDb title, id=0281230, title= The Stork Derby History of Toronto Practical jokes Natalism Maternity in Canada