For most of her life, Michelle Donachie thought Mike Nissel was her father.

  • Michelle Donachie grew up believing a different man was her father
  • Donachie spent 10 years searching for biological father
  • DNA sample submitted to Ancestry.com led to Carl W. Benson, Benson's relatives

Thanks to a sample of DNA and the power of the internet, the Inverness woman is learning about the father she never knew and getting to know his family.

It wasn’t until 10 years ago, when Nissel thought he was on his death bed, that he told her something different.

“He goes, ‘I’m not your father,’ and I almost fell off the chair,” Donachie said. “He thought my mother told me before she passed away, but she never did.”

Michelle Donachie (middle) poses with her mother, Marga Oppenheim, and her father, Mike Nissel, in an undated photo. (Courtesy of Michelle Donachie)

Nissel recovered from his illness, but Donachie was forever changed. She learned that Nissel didn’t meet Donachie’s mother, Marga Oppenheim, until after she gave birth to Donachie. The details about her biological dad were a family secret, held for decades.

“As a child growing up, I had a funny feeling that something was not right in that house,” Donachie said. “I don’t know what it was, but I knew something wasn’t right.”

Donachie spent the next 10 years scouring the internet, looking for clues. She tried various websites and even got the help from a cousin.

Recently, she submitted a DNA sample to Ancestry.com. About two months ago, she got a hit.

“She calls me up (and said), ‘I found him. Get on the computer and look at the pictures; I found him,’ ” she said. “So I looked at the pictures, and it’s so obvious. I look just like him.”

Carl W. Benson is Donachie’s father. Benson died in 2000, but Donachie has connected with one of his sisters (her newly discovered aunt) and is learning more about her biological dad.

Carl W. Benson is Michelle Donachie’s biological father. He was in the U.S. Army and fought in World War II. (Courtesy of Michelle Donachie)

He was in the Army and fought in World War II. He met Donachie’s mother, a Holocaust survivor, in Germany after the war. Her mother didn’t find out she was pregnant with Donachie until after Benson went back to the States.

“My mother, when she was alive, her brother sent a letter to my father saying she was pregnant,” she said. “They never replied; she never got an answer. The reason she never got an answer is because he was shell shocked. He was so, so bad that he didn’t even recognize the letter so that’s why my mother never heard from him.”

Though Donachie will never get a chance to meet her father face to face, she’s learning about him through his family members. She’s exchanged letters with a sister and reached out to different cousins.

She’s learned her father loved to work in the yard. Donachie and her husband keep an impeccable yard. He loved music. Donachie said she can’t start her day without turning on the radio.

“My smile, my nose, my cheeks — we’re identical,” she said. “He was a loved person and everyone liked him. He was really nice.”

Benson never married nor had children. Donachie is an only child, and many relatives on her mother’s side died in the Holocaust. She hopes this new connection with her biological father’s relatives creates new family relationships in the upcoming months.