The country’s first documented set of quintuplets born in Pictou County in 1880 will be forever remembered by county council.
Coun. Peter Boyles put a motion forward recently asking council to consider placing a plaque at the historic homestead of quints that were born to Mr. and Mrs. Adam Murray of Little Egypt Road who were already the parents of seven children.
Boyles said several newspaper articles documented the historic birth that marked the arrival of the first set of quints born in Canada.
The babies, two boys and three girls, were delivered by Dr. William Fraser and were very small at birth and all died with days of their birth. He said their birth caused a huge stir in the small rural community with people coming for miles to see the babies.
Council agreed to support the motion for a plaque to mark the birth, but wanted more details before it would commit to its location. In particular, it wanted to speak to the current landowner of the property to see how he feels about having such a plaque on the property.
If this is not an option, council said the plaque could hang in the municipality’s administration building where it would be more visible to the public.