Like all new technologies, DNA testing has a good side, a bad side and, as author Margaret Atwood said, a stupid side that you didn’t think of eight years ago. Alice Collins Plebeach, 72, a native of Washington, made a decision that would change her life forever. She sent samples of his saliva for a DNA test just for fun. Alice, a devout Irish-American Catholic, thought she had a good idea of what the DNA test results would say. However, when the results came back, Alice was shocked. She wasn’t who she thought she was. This revelation sent Alice and her siblings on a years-long journey to uncover the mystery surrounding their identities.
Questions about her family had preoccupied Alice for years. Her mother, named Alice, was interested in genealogy and kept an old family book with the handwritten names, births and deaths of their relatives. Alice found her mother’s side easy to follow, even before genealogical records were available online. His mother was Irish on one side and Scottish and English on the other, with relatives in America dating back to colonial times. Alice traced some of her mother’s ancestors back to the 1500s. But with each update to her mother’s lineage, Alice felt guilty because on her father’s side, the family was a different story.
Jim Collins, Alice’s father, was the son of Irish immigrants and knew little of his family history. His mother had died when Jim was a baby, and his father could not care for him, so he gave Jim to a Catholic orphanage. Jim didn’t even know his exact birth year, thinking he was a year older than he really was. As her father grew older, Alice decided it was time to delve into his lineage and find out where he came from. She already knew some details of her difficult childhood at the orphanage.
However, what Alice didn’t know was where Jim came from and what happened to his parents. When her father died in 1999, Alice was unable to provide him with more information. In the years that followed, Alice attempted to find a written record and discovered that Jim was born in the Bronx, New York, to Irish immigrant parents. She also found the name of the orphanage where he grew up, St. Agnes Home and School. But his research yielded little information.
Then, in 2012, at-home DNA kits became available. Alice saw this as an opportunity to facilitate her research. She and her sister Jerry took DNA tests, hoping to discover Irish and Scottish ancestry. However, their results showed a surprising combination of European, Eastern European and Middle Eastern Jewish heritage alongside their ancestors from the British Isles. Alice was determined to get to the bottom of the family secrets and discover their true identities.
The DNA test results were just the beginning, providing Alice with the “what” but not the “why.” » Alice, an IT manager before her retirement, was well equipped to handle data analysis and research. She began looking for patterns in the chaos, aiming to answer complex questions about their family’s history. She considered the possibility that her mother had had an affair, but it seemed unlikely. The lingering fear was that her father may have been changed at birth or that her parents were not who they claimed to be.
To solve the mystery, Alice had two cousins take DNA tests, one from each side of her family. Her maternal cousin’s results were as expected, but her paternal cousin’s results were unusual. They showed that Alice and her paternal cousin had no genetic connection, which meant that Jim’s sister was not actually his sister. This left Alice frustrated and feeling adrift, as her identity and family history became uncertain.
In 2013, the Collins children were close to solving their father’s mystery. They had Jim’s birth certificate and learned that he had been sent to an orphanage by the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Alice explored the possibility of a mix-up at the hospital but found no conclusive evidence. She even wondered if Jim had been mistaken for another child at the orphanage.
Then, in January 2015, Alice’s life changed forever when she contacted a cousin who had taken a DNA test. She discovered a stranger, Jessica Benson, who had taken a DNA test hoping to learn more about her Jewish roots, but had discovered unexpected Irish ancestry. Alice and Jessica’s conversation revealed a connection, with both grandparents having been born at Fordham Hospital in 1913. Further research revealed that Jim and Jessica’s grandfather were born around the same time. time and had been treated by the same doctor.
The truth was revealed, indicating that Jim had been switched at birth with Jessica’s grandfather. In 1913, hospitals did not have a robust system for tracking newborns, which easily allowed a momentary lapse in attention to result in a baby switching. The Collins and Benson families exchanged photos, visually confirming the change. Jim Collins looked a lot more like Jessica’s family, reinforcing the reveal.
Both families couldn’t stop thinking about the “what if” questions. While they consider it a blessing that Jim was not alive during the era of home DNA testing, they also wonder about the different lives they might have led if the change had not taken place in 1913. The Collins children owe their existence to a simple mistake with complex consequences, revealing a family mystery and a life of identity confusion.
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