Illinois sextuplets: Lucy, Laberto, Norberto, Alberto, Alice, Alincia

Long before the Dionne family of Ontario welcomed quintuplets in 1934, the Bushnell family of Chicago welcomed sextuplets — way back in 1866!

On September 8, 1866, James Bushnell and Jennie Bushnell (née Charlton) welcomed three boys and three girls — and all six babies were born alive, remarkably.

Here are their names (birth order unknown):

• Lucy
• Laberto
• Norberto James (d. 1934)
• Alberto James (d. 1940)
• Alice Elizabeth (d. 1941)
• Alincia Lucy (d. 1952)

While all six did survive birth, two (Lucy and Laberto) died during early childhood due to illness.

After losing their home in the Great Fire of 1871, James, Jennie, and the four surviving children moved to western New York in 1872.

According to the longest-lived sibling, Alincia, the four of them weren’t told that they’d been part of a set of six until they were teenagers.

If you had sextuplets, three boys and three girls, what would you name them?

Sources:

• Linnabery, Ann. “Niagara Discoveries: The Bushnell sextuplets.” Union-Sun & Journal 3 Aug. 2019.
• Nichols, John Benjamin. “Quintuplet and sextuplet births in the United States.” Acta geneticae medicae et gemellologiae, vol. 3, no. 2, 1954, pp. 143-152.

Images: Ein Kinderfest (1868) by Ludwig Knaus; clipping from Life magazine (2 Feb. 1953)