Episode description

Charles Vance Millar was the greatest troll ever. Born in Aylmer, Ontario in 1854, Charles was a fan of practical jokes. Some might have described him as a cantankerous man, capricious and out to do whatever the hell he wanted to do. 

Extremely intelligent, and top of his class in law school, Charles built a silly amount of wealth by investing in companies and real estate. Then he bought some racehorses as wealthy men do. 

But he was also an ass. With no love, no living relatives and a fortune worth 5 million in today’s money, Millar collapsed dead on the evening of Halloween in 1926.  

So who got all his money?

Soon after his death, articles started appearing in newspapers about the curious nature of Millar’s will. Some interesting clauses were found that ended up shaking the entire city and pissing a bunch of people off. 

Millar’s money was to go to the mother who gave birth to the greatest number of children in the ten years after his death. 

And so the race began. 

Women went wild! The government tried to step in, issuing a bill to escheat the estate and nick all the cash but that couldn’t stop the women. They talked emphatically and persistently until the town seethed with indignation, eventually turning over the government’s rule.

Tune in to hear about some of the families who were contenders for the Millar’s loot. 

Perhaps not so coincidentally, contraception was legalised in Canada in 1969.

References

• Bearing the Burden: The Great Toronto Stork Derby 1926 - 1938, Masters Dissertation by Elizabeth Marjorie Wilton at Dalhousie University
• Comstock Act of 1873, at The First Amendment Encyclopedia 
• Ghost Road: and Other Forgotten Stories of Windsor, by Marty Gervais
• How A Dead Millionaire Convinced Dozens Of Women To Have As Many Babies As Possible, by David Goldenberg on FiveThirtyEight
• It’s a long story: The history of birth control in Canada
• The Toronto 'Stork Derby' Baby Race, by Barbara Mikkelson on Snopes

The Will of a Troll, by Five Guys Facts

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.