Alice Plebuch, a retired IT manager, thought it would be a bit of fun to find out more about her genetic heritage by sending in a DNA testing kit to a company that helps people trace their family trees. But when the results came back, it changed everything she thought she knew about herself and her family. Raised in an Irish Catholic home, her DNA showed she was not just Irish but Jewish too. Her search for answers would take years, and uncover a mistake made more than 100 years ago that changed lives forever.
Jim and Alice Nisbet Collins on their wedding day in the 1940s.
Jim Collins his wife Alice and John Collins the brother he was raised with in a circa 1944 photo. John was nearly a head taller than Jim.
In looking over Benson family photos, Alice Collins Plebuch was struck by a childhood photo of Phillip Benson on a horse. She wondered what kind of life her ...
The Collins children — from left, Kitty, Jim and John — with their longshoreman father, John Josef Collins, in 1914. Collins, a widower, was unable to care for his three children and sent them to live in orphanages. He died while Jim was still a child.
Phylis Pullman, left, first cousin to Alice Collins Plebuch, and Alice chat with Alice's second cousin Dan Klein while looking over photo albums of their families
In a family photo, Alice Collins Plebuch’s father, James “Jim” Collins, poses with his children. In the second row: Jim Collins, John Collins, Bill Collins, Brian Collins and Ed Collins. In the third row: Alice Collins Plebuch and her sister, Gerry Collins Wiggins.
The images in this gallery are used with permission and are subject to copyright conditions.
