Birthday Times Five

Published on by Joan Hall

Hey, Readers. Today’s post is short and sweet, but it’s something I first became aware of last week. It’s also nice to have something lighthearted and fun for a change.

Some of my past Mystery Monday/Legends and Lore posts have involved what I call strange coincidences. I became aware of the Cummins family just last week. While I wouldn’t exactly call this incident strange, and maybe not even a coincidence, it’s a bit… unexplainable.

On February 20, 1952, Virginia resident Carol Cummins gave birth to a daughter, Catherine. On February 20, 1953, she gave birth to a second child. Not so strange. I’ve known of siblings to share the same birthday, although born in separate years. However, Mrs. Cummins gave birth to other children on February 20, 1956, 1961, and 1966. Yes, you counted right. Five children from one family were born on the same day and in different years.

The Cummins siblings, Catherine, Carol, Charles, Claudia, and Cecelia entered the Guinness book of records in 1977 as “the only verified record of a family producing five single children with the same date of birth.” Record keepers estimated the odds of that happening were 17.7 billion to one.

The family had two additional children, Cheryl, and Chris, who were born on different days. The family joke is that the father, who was a football coach, was less busy in the month when the children were conceived. In the years she wasn’t in labor, Mrs. Cummins made birthday cakes for all the children. Each got their own decorated cake—they didn’t have to share.

I couldn’t find a creative commons or public domain photo of the family, but a 2014 article in the Daily Mail was the source of much of my information. If you’d like to read more and see some family photos, just click on this link.

If we were to write something like this in a book, people would think it to be unbelievable. This story shows that truth is stranger than fiction.

39 thoughts on “Birthday Times Five”

  5. Wow, that is really something. As Staci said, our grandfather and uncle shared a same birthday.

    You are right, if that were written in any book, no one would believe it. Like they say, truth is stranger than fiction.

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  6. Wow! That is just bizarre, Joan. My two granddaughters were born on the 11th, but different months and years. And yes, I agree that truth is much stranger than fiction many times. Thanks for sharing.

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  7. Wow. It’s conceivable that chance would make this possible once out of 17 billion births. Lol. How totally sweet that the mom made separate cakes for each birthday. What an exciting time of year for the family! Thanks for the fun, Joan.

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  8. My grandfather and his brother were born on the same day, ten years apart. I’ve never heard of even three siblings sharing a birthday, let alone five. It is nice to find an oddity that’s pleasant once in a while. Thanks, Joan.

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