The Genain quadruplets (born in 1930) are a set of identical quadruplet sisters. All four developed schizophrenia, suggesting a large genetic component to the cause of the disease. The pseudonym Genain, used to protect the identity of the family, comes from the Greek, meaning dire (αἶνος) birth (γεν-).
Biographies
Helen Morlok (May 19, 1930, in Lansing, Michigan – October 31, 2003, in Lansing, Michigan) is one of the four sisters listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's oldest identical quadruplets. Her sisters were Edna Morlok, Wilma Morlok, and Sara Morlok. The sisters performed tap dance and comedy routines throughout the mid-east U.S. in the 1930s and 1940s.
Wilma died in 2002. Helen died on October 31, 2003, at age 73. Edna died on April 10, 2015, at age 84. Sarah Morlok Cotton died on July 7, 2025 at the age of 95. Cotton published a book on the girls' childhood called The Morlok Quadruplets: The Alphabet Sisters (). They were considered local celebrities because of the quadruple nature of their birth.
Illness and scientific research
All four sisters developed schizophrenia by the age of 24.