Fischer quintuplets
{{Short description|First surviving American quintuplets (b. 1963)}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}}
The Fischer quintuplets also known as the Fischer quints, were the first surviving quintuplets in the United States. They are Mary Ann (named after their mother), Mary Magdalene, Mary Catherine, James Andrew, and Mary Margaret.{{cite news |last=Hevesi |first=Dennis |date=December 14, 2012 |title=Mary Ann Fischer, Whose Quintuplets Were a U.S. First, Dies at 79 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/us/mary-ann-fischer-who-had-first-surviving-us-quintuplets-dies-at-79.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 13, 2022}} The news of the quintuplets' birth garnered world wide attention in 1963 and the family received a parade, money, and even five medals from Pope Paul VI. The parents sold the magazine and television rights to their story and then attempted to give the "quints" an ordinary life.
Birth
They were born at St. Luke's Hospital in Aberdeen, South Dakota, on September 14, 1963, and were placed in incubators because they were "tiny, premature babies, so small that any one of them could be held in a hand". The nurses at St. Lukes Hospital named the babies A, B, C, D and E. It was thought the quintuplets came from three different eggs, leading to two fraternal twins and three triplets.{{Cite journal |last=Crossley |first=Robert P. |date=September 1964 |title=Quints, anyone? Could it happen to you? |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MiYDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA53#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live |journal=Popular Science |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220613214730/https://books.google.com/books?id=MiYDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA53#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=2022-06-13}}
Childhood
Their parents are Andrew and Mary Ann Fischer, who treated their children normally despite the public treating them as a "rare natural wonder".{{cite magazine |last=Bird |first=John |date=July 31, 1965 |title=Summer on the farm |magazine=The Saturday Evening Post |publisher=The Curtis Publishing Company |issue=15 |pages=28–29}} Catholic Bishop Lambert Anthony Hoch baptized them in 1963.{{cite magazine|date=September 27, 1963 |magazine=Time|title=The Pride of Aberdeen|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,875191,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071122143534/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,875191,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 22, 2007}} Exactly a month after they were born, a two-hour long parade was held in Aberdeen for the quintuplets with their parents leading the procession. The parade was watched by 50,000 people, including 24,000 from Aberdeen. Five medals from Pope Paul VI were given to the Fischer family during the parade. Due to the publicity, the family received a large sum of money and bought a $100,000 house and an {{convert|800|acre|hectare|adj=on}} farm. They were raised near Aberdeen, along with their six other siblings. When their daughter Cynthia was born the following year, Mary Ann said that Cindy kept the quintuplets from thinking that they were "the whole show" because much of the family's attention was focused on her.
In 1980 the parents divorced, and the divorce settlement allowed Mrs. Fischer to stay in the customized home with the eleven children until 1985; the home was to be sold at the time with the funds split between Mary Ann and Andrew Fisher.{{cite news |title=Fischers Divorced |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-oct-08-1980-3267762/ |access-date=14 July 2022 |publisher=Huron Daily Plainsman |date=8 October 1980}} Mary Ann Fisher died in 2012 and Andrew Fisher died in 2015.{{cite news |last=Langer |first=Emily |date=February 2, 2015 |title=Andrew Fischer, father of famous quintuplets, dies at 89 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/andrew-fischer-father-of-famous-quintuplets-dies-at-89/2015/02/02/4d00022a-aaf0-11e4-9c91-e9d2f9fde644_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=June 13, 2022}}
Media
John Bird, of The Saturday Evening Post, covered the quintuplets' first summer outside, on their family farm, when they were 22 months old. They were written about in The Saturday Evening Post several times. There was once a sign in Aberdeen that said, "Aberdeen—Home of the Fischer quints".{{cite news |last=Callison |first=Jill |date=September 14, 2013 |title=Happy 50th birthday, times five. Famous Aberdeen quintuplets will celebrate, with all 11 siblings |url=https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/local/2013/09/14/happy-50th-birthday-times-five-famous-aberdeen-quint/28936595/ |work=Argus Leader |access-date=June 13, 2022}}
A 1963 film titled Happy Mother's Day was shown at the Venice Film Festival and Dok Leipzig, winning awards at both of them. The film later aired on European television and was covered in European film journals. However, the film never aired on television in the United States. In Happy Mother's Day, Mary Ann Fischer was shown to be "quietly suffering" because of the publicity.{{cite book | last=Barnouw | first=Erik | title=Documentary: A History of the Non-fiction Film | publisher=Oxford University Press| year=1993 | isbn=978-0-19-507898-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qtZ91DNvgBMC&pg=PA240 | access-date=June 13, 2022 | page=240}} The American television channel ABC showed a heavily cut version of the film, titled The Fischer Quintuplets with negative content being replaced by narration.
When the quintuplets turned five years old they were living in "relative seclusion". After the worldwide publicity, the Fischers decided they wanted their children to have as "ordinary a life as possible." The Fischers signed exclusive contracts with publications which gave them $250,000.{{cite news |title=Fischer Quintuplets Observe Fifth Birthday |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-15-1968-3267751/ |access-date=14 July 2022 |publisher=Joplin Globe |date=15 September 1968}}{{cite news |title=Fischer and Prieto "quints" remain out of-bounds for curious visitors |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/103718145/fischer-quintuplets/ |access-date=14 July 2022 |publisher=The Ottawa Citizen |date=9 October 1963}} By 1976 the quintuplets were 13 years old and their parents still kept the children out of the spotlight. Mary Ann Fischer stated that she wanted the quints to be "ordinary, everyday kids". Their father Andrew Fischer had become a cattle rancher.{{cite news |title=Fischer Quintuplets Mark Quiet 13th Birthday at Farmhouse in South Dakota |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-30-1976-3267759/ |access-date=14 July 2022 |agency=UPI |publisher=Cumberland News |date=30 September 1976}}
The quintuplets turned 50 years old in 2013 and the Associated Press ran a story updating their life history.{{cite news |title=South Dakota quintuplets turn 50 in Aberdeen |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-oct-24-2013-3267774/ |access-date=14 July 2022 |agency=Associated Press |publisher=Ironwood Daily Globe |date=24 October 2013}}
See also
References
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External links
- [https://www.apimages.com/Search?query=Fischer+quintuplets+&ss=10&st=kw&entitysearch=&toItem=15&orderBy=Newest&searchMediaType=allmedia Associated Press photos]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT5EE08tFdU Fischer Family Quins (1963) video]
- [https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidleeguss/5233544268/in/photolist-8YthnS Home of Fischer Quints Sign on Flickr]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZA1h2O0_oE Happy Mother's Day Part 1 on Youtube]