A 1920s millionaire started a baby-making race known as the Great Stork Derby.

  • Stork Derby entrant with 16 children
Stork Derby entrant with 16 children
Credit: Toronto Star Archives via Getty Images
Author Sarah Anne Lloyd

November 20, 2025

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When Canadian lawyer, investor, and known practical joker Charles Vance Millar died in October 1926 with no heirs, he left a slew of social experiments in his will, including bequeathing a home to multiple people who hated each other and leaving shares of a Catholic brewery to Protestant ministers. But the bulk of his fortune went toward his most bizarre and impactful postmortem project: granting around $500,000 CAD ($9 million CAD in today’s money) to whichever Toronto woman had the most babies in the decade following his death. 

The “Great Stork Derby,” as reporters eventually called it, got off to a slow start. In 1932, the Ontario Legislature tried to transfer the money to the University of Toronto instead, prompting both outrage and publicity. The baby race moved forward and became a media frenzy, and families covered in the press dealt with multiple kidnapping threats and scamming attempts.

In 1936, several mothers, along with a couple of Millar’s distant relatives hoping to nullify the contest, started a two-year court battle to decide who took home the cash. In 1938, four mothers, each with nine children born within the time frame, were determined the winners, and were awarded $100,000 CAD (about $2 million CAD today) each. 

By the Numbers

Did you know?

A wealthy lumber magnate kept his heirs from inheriting for nearly a century.

Lumber baron Wellington R. Burt was one of the wealthiest men in the United States when he died in 1919 with a fortune of up to $90 million. He left most of his children and some of his staff a small annual pension, but Burt made sure they’d never see a dime beyond that. Due to family strife, he stipulated in his will that the vast majority of his wealth would be held until 21 years after the death of his last grandchild. That tied up the money for 92 years, and 12 descendants split the remaining $110 million in 2011.

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