Switched at Birth: A DNA Test Discovers a Century-Old Birth Story

All his life, Marc Spurr remembers his grandparents, Phillip and Mamie, jesting that their middle child, Cecilia, his mom, was actually from a milkman and that she didn't look like a Lefkowitz. But it was all a joke. Until he got a message later that led him to discover that the hospital may have switched his mother at birth, and all the family he knew was not supposed to be his biological family.

The new-found cousins Spurr and Jeff Berzon traced their Spurr's roots and eventually found that the hospital may have switched his mom at birth at Newark Maternity Hospital in 1918, NJ Advance Media reported.

DNA doesn't lie

After reading the message from Berzon, he just let it slide for weeks. However, he had this nagging feeling that there was something about his "alleged cousin" that he should know.

According to List23, he re-examined his DNA profile on Ancestry, and he learned that he shared more known DNA with the Berzons than with the Lefkowitz family, his mother's side of the family. Spurr reconnected with his newly discovered cousin in search of answers. A few months later, he would learn that the hospital may have switched his mother at birth more than a century ago. Her mom died in 2004, at 86, without ever knowing the truth.

Spurr's new-found cousin, Jeff Berzon, on the other hand, signed up for Ancestry.com as he was always interested in the prospect of finding distant relatives. In October 2019, he submitted a DNA sample to the company. He later received two unknown family connections.

When Ancestry.com matched his name with Spurr, Berson, 65, hesitated to reach out as they may accidentally uncover a family secret that would be best-kept.

However, he sent Spurr a message, but he did not expect where the news may lead. Spurr replied two years later. The pair began communicating on the phone and regularly via email, swapping documents and theories, and trying to eliminate and figure out possibilities.

Switched at Birth

The newfound cousin tried to find some common ancestors but to no avail. They also asked their first cousins to submit a DNA sample to look for any commonality. Spurr found out that he does not have a DNA match to his mom's siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, or parents except for his sister. The realization deeply shook him.

Their only explanation was that his mother was not the parents' biological child who raised her. Spurr later learned that he was related to Berzon's grandparents, Edna and Harry, Celia's parents. Berzon's had four children, and one of them, Selma, had the exact date of birth as her mom: March 4, 1918. Berzon said that they also joked Selma did not look like anyone in the family. Cecilia and Selma were born at the same hospital: the Newark Maternity Hospital, Headtopics.com said.

The hospital prided its state-of-the-art facilities and maternal care when Selma and Cecilia were born. Dr. Henry B. Kessler, the hospital's chief obstetrician, has said that their hospital has no baby mix-ups. However, the meticulous months of research of Spurr and Berzon might have proven Kessler wrong.

Unfortunately, Selma Berzon, who had already passed away before this unfortunate 'discovery,' had no children. Hence, there is no way if she is a Leftkowitz after all.