Charles Vance Millar
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| Charles Vance Millar | |
 Charles Vance Millar
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| Born | 1853 Aylmer, Ontario |
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| Died | October 31, 1926 |
| Occupation | Lawyer, financier |
Charles Vance Millar (1853 - October 31, 1926) was a Canadian lawyer and financier. However, he is now best known as for his penchant for practical jokes and his unusual will which reflected that sense of humor.
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[edit] Early years
Charles Millar attended the University of Toronto and graduated with an average of 98% in all his subjects. He chose to study law, passed the bar examination and opened up his own law office in Toronto.[1]
[edit] The BC Express Company and the Millar Addition
In 1897, Millar purchased the BC Express Company from Stephen Tingley and took over the government mail delivery contracts for the Cariboo region in British Columbia.[2]
When it was announced that the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway would go through Fort George (later to named Prince George) Millar expanded the company's services to Fort George and built two sternwheelers, the BX and the BC Express.[3] Millar also foresaw that Fort George would become a major center in Northern British Columbia and he made arrangements to purchase the First Nations reserve at Fort George. However, the railway was already planning to purchase the property and they convinced the Department of Indian Affairs to cancel their negotiations with Millar. When Millar took the railway to court, the railway agreed to sell him 200 acres of the property, which became known as the Millar Addition.[4][5]
[edit] The Stork Derby
Though highly successful in the law and in his investments, Millar is now known primarily for his love of jokes and pranks which played on people's greed and hypocrisy. One favorite was to leave money on a sidewalk and watch from hiding as passers-by furtively pocketed it.
Millar's greatest and final prank was his will, which says in part,
This Will is necessarily uncommon and capricious because I have no dependents or near relations and no duty rests upon me to leave any property at my death and what I do leave is proof of my folly in gathering and retaining more than I required in my lifetime.
The will was full of playful bequests. Anti-gambling and temperance advocates were left shares in race tracks and breweries. Three men who were known to despise each other were granted joint lifetime tenancy in Millar's vacation home in Jamaica.
But the final bequest was the largest and strangest. The balance of Millar's estate was to be converted to cash and given to the woman who gave birth to the most children in the 10 years following Millar's death. In the event of a tie, the bequest would be divided equally. The resulting contest became known as the Great Stork Derby.[6]
Although the Government of Ontario attempted to invalidate the will as against public policy, Millar had prepared it with care. The will survived ten years of litigation and the Derby continued uninterrupted. Because of Millar's long-term investments, particularly with the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, his estate increased drastically during the 10 years, and was worth $750,000 when it was finally liquidated. Most of this prize was shared by four Toronto women who each had 9 children. The estate also settled $25,000 on two women with dubious claims to a share in the prize. The childless Millar ended up "fathering" 36 children. The contest would be immortalized by a made for television movie The Great Stork Derby which starred Megan Follows.[7]
It was speculated that Millar prepared this clause in his will as a means to discredit indiscriminate births and prohibitions against birth control.[8]
[edit] Notes
- ^ West, Willis (1949). BX and the Rush to Fort George: BC Historical Quarterly July-October, page 134.
- ^ West, Willis (1949). BX and the Rush to Fort George: BC Historical Quarterly July-October, page 135,136.
- ^ West, Willis (1949). BX and the Rush to Fort George: BC Historical Quarterly July-October, pages 136,137.
- ^ Christensen, Bev (1989). Prince George: Rivers, Railways and Timber. Windsor Publications, page 36. ISBN 0-89781-266-2.
- ^ "Settlers' Effects - Valemount - Environmental, Cultural & Social Change from 1805-1972 - Timeline 1914". Settlerseffect.ca. Retrieved on 21 August 2007.
- ^ Mikkelson, Barbara. "The Great Stork Derby". Snopes.com, 19 July 2007. Retrieved on 21 August 2007.
- ^ "The Stork Derby (2002) (TV)". IMDb.com. Retrieved on 21 August 2007.
- ^ West, Willis (1949). BX and the Rush to Fort George: BC Historical Quarterly July-October, pages 135-136.
[edit] Further reading
- Wilton, Elizabeth (1994). Bearing the Burden: The Great Toronto Stork Derby, 1926-1938. (Ottawa) National Library of Canada. ISBN 0-6121583-6-5.
