Her Parents Prepared For A Baby, But Got Triplets

The Meriwether Sisters, Born Near Vichy, Mo., 74 Years Ago,
Had A Fine Time In Childhood, And The Smallest Baby Grew To Be The Largest Adult

 (By Mrs. Ida Brookings)

 Los Angeles—Ever hear of people getting more than they bargained for? When my mother ordered the stork to bring me to her farm home near Vichy, she certainly got more than she was looking for. Instead of one baby she got three – all girls.

Come to think of it, I couldn’t have been the one she ordered. I was so poor and scrawny – weighed only two pounds. Mother used to tell me they could put a teacup over my head down below my ears. For almost a year they carried my on a pillow – so afraid they would hurt me. Added to all the rest I was a sort of mousy blond.

 On the other hand, my sisters, Eda and Ada, were nice, plump babies – weighed six and one-half pounds each and had dark hair and eyes. Everybody made over Eda and Ada. I must have been a care and worry.

Favorite of her Father
Father took pity on me. Father was a doctor and I suppose it’s natural for a doctor’s heart to go out on anyone who is weak and sickly. I was father’s pet. He named me. Of course, he liked Eda and Ada too. I still have a picture of father holding the three of us in his lap.

That was a long time ago. We’re old ladies now – 74 years old last February 26. As far as I know, we are the oldest set of triplets in the United States. Do you know of any older?

 We were born in 1875 in a nine-room farmhouse in South Central Missouri, near the little town of Vichy – then called Vichy Springs. A wonderful spring of cold water gushed out of the hillside on which the town is located. The water was said to contain several kinds of minerals. It became widely known for its medicinal qualities. There were a number of bathhouses built a little way below the spring. Then we were born and became an added attraction. People came from all over Missouri - to the springs to drink and bathe in its waters and to the farm to see Dr. Meriwether’s triplets.

 That must have been a trying time for our mother. One tiny baby can make a lot of work- but think of three – none of them very strong and one especially frail!

How the Triplets Grew

When we were 3 years old Ada took asthma and her growth was retarded. About the same time I began to grow and soon was the largest on of the three. I’m still the largest. It seems I was meant to be the odd one.

As we grew older we developed many differences. We didn’t look alike nor were we alike in disposition. Ada was of a decidedly jolly nature – Eda somewhat on the same order; but I was more serious and sensitive.

For the most part our troubles and joys were those of ordinary children. We got into the same mischief – suffered the usual children’s diseases. But being triplets does make a difference. Think of triplets with the whooping cough!  That made quite a noise.

Our presents were all alike when our folks could get them that way. If they couldn’t get them all alike I always got the odd one. One Christmas they got Eda and Ada a chalk rooster with beautiful colors. As they could get only two roosters they got me a big white chalk cat. The roosters could be made to crow and my cat could meow, but I wished and wished my cat had colors on it.

They dressed us all alike while we were growing up. Wherever we went we were a curiosity. Always people wanted to see us and, of course, they wanted to see us together. We got tired of being stood up and exhibited.

I can never forget one such occasion. It was at a picnic when we were about 6 years old. As usual our parents must stand us up in a row to be looked over. I heard an old lady say, “That one in the middle isn’t as good-looking as the other two.” I was the one in the middle. While I knew I wasn’t as good-looking I didn’t want her to tell me so.

We were seven when the circus came to town and offered our parents money if they could let us triplets travel with them. Or course our parents refused. But they kidded us, said they would fix us up and let the circus people take us. Eda and I didn’t want to go – we almost cried – said we didn’t want to leave Mamma. But Ada, the jolly one of the trio, wanted to go; she became quite enthusiastic over the idea. Ada cried when the glamorous show left town without her.

Say, we had some dizzy experiences on the farm. There was the time we were chased by a large flock of geese and before we could get away an old gander bit my finger. Another time a mad dog ran after us when we were coming home from town. We barely got inside the gate in time. The dog bit a calf – the calf went mad and died.

Eda and I were married on the same day in a double wedding when we were 22. I married a farmer and she married a preacher. Two years later Ada married. Then we three became separated.

Father had given each of us a 40-acre farm. My husband and I farmed ours. We farmed heavy and there was always plenty of work to do. But it was a pleasure to me. I would still like to live on a farm if I were able to do the work.

We were in our early 40s when our health began to fail. My husband developed heart trouble and I had bronchitis. We couldn’t do farm work any more so we moved here to Southern California. The wonderful California climate cured me but my husband got no benefit. He died in 1916 when he was only 44.

Ada and her husband came here for reasons of health. Our homes were not far apart. Lastly Eda and her husband who were living in Minnesota, decided to locate here to be near us.

Ada and I hadn’t seen Eda for twenty-two years. She stopped at Ada’s place. On my way over to Ada’s place I met Ada on the street about a half block from her house. She said, “Don’t tell Eda who you are. She’ll never know you since your hair has turned black.”

You see, when I was young my hair had been a very light brown, but it had gradually darkened until it was almost black. I knocked and Eda came to the door.

The Trick Works Out

“I’d like to see the lady of the house. Is she at home?” I asked.

“No she isn’t,” said Eda, and stood there looking, oh so dignified. She didn’t know me and looked like she wished I would go away.

“Well, may I come in and rest a while?

“I guess so.”

She let me in – none too cheerfully. And then’s when the fun began for I began to ply questions at her thick and fast. I asked her one silly thing after another until I could hardly keep from laughing. She just looked at me amazed – for she thought I was a stranger. And talking funny like that – she was beginning to be afraid of me. Then I did laugh, and I said, “I’m your sister, Eda. I’m Ida.”

“Well, I never would have known you with that black hair.”

That was a joyful meeting after being separated for twenty-two years. And were we happy!

After that we three lived close together for many years – our doors just across the hall from each other.

We are all widows now – Eda, Ida and Ada. We’ve written our names in that order all our lives and whenever we are photographed I am always in the middle. I live alone here in Los Angeles and Eda and Ada live with their children at Fontana about sixty miles distant.

Some say that twins and triplets run in a family. But there have been no multiple births among us triplets or our children or grandchildren.

--Kansas City Star
They are the aunts of Mrs. D. F. Warner of St. Louis, formerly of Vichy, and great-aunts of Mrs. Wilford McQueen of Belle.

This article appeared in the Maries County Gazette, Vienna, Missouri, on August 11, 1949, Vol. 76 No. 19. Reprinted with permission.

Editor's Note:

Ada Meriwether Surplus died July 21, 1955 in Los Angeles, California, aged 80y 4m 25d. [TMSI #8821]

Ida Meriwether Brookings died January 09, 1959 in Los Angeles, California, aged 83y 10m 14d. [TMSI #8819]

Eda Meriwether McNabb died December 15, 1969 in Rialto, San Bernardino Co., California, aged 94y 9m 19d. [TMSI #8820]