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Pat mealbach

Pat Mealbach

Real Name: Unknown
Case: Lost Family
Location: Dearborn, Michigan
Date: November 23, 1914

John dodge

John Dodge

Case[]

Details: Seventy-two-year-old Frances "Pat" Mealbach is searching for her birth family. She has begun to suspect that she is the daughter of John Francis Dodge, the founder of the Dodge Automobile Industry, and the twin sister of Frances Matilda Dodge. She has lived modestly in Detroit, Michigan, for her entire life.
Pat recalls that, as a young child, an unknown woman came to her home and picked her up. Her mother told her to go with the woman. They went to a beautiful mansion with a big staircase. She was taken to a bedroom where a woman was sitting on the bed. She did not recall what the woman said to her. However, she did remember that the room was beautiful, with pink and gold on the walls. Nothing was ever said about this visit, and she never saw either of the women again.
For years, Pat was puzzled by the memory of the strange mansion. She became even more perplexed when she found a baby photo of herself alongside another baby in similar clothing; it was one of the very few photos of her at that age. In 1959, her father, Robert Manzer, died. At the reading of his will, she was shocked to discover that she had been adopted. She and her family began a search for her birth parents. To this day, that information has been kept secret.
At the Wayne County courthouse, Pat was told that Michigan state law forbids disclosure of adoption records. Judge Thomas Murphy revealed that her father was unknown and that she was born in Jackson, Michigan. When she contacted the county adoption agency, the records there indicated she was born in Detroit and that her parents were not "unknown", but instead unmarried teenagers. When she learned that the records did not match, she knew something was wrong.
At a Christmas party in 1982, Pat's daughter, Brenda Eilers, made a startling discovery. A friend showed her a biography of John Dodge. When she saw pictures of him and his brother, Horace, she felt chills as she immediately saw a resemblance to her mother and brother. She then saw a picture of a house that John had owned. It perfectly matched the one that Pat had been to as a child. She then began to suspect that Pat was a member of the Dodge family. When Pat saw the picture of the house, she knew it was the one she had visited. When she saw the picture of John, she was certain that she had a resemblance to him. Finally, when they turned to the back of the book, she recognized some of the names listed as being friends of Robert's.
John amassed his fortune in the early days of Detroit's automobile industry. He built Model-A's for Henry Ford. In 1914, he and Horace formed "Dodge Brothers", the nation's fourth-largest automobile company. When he died in 1920, he left an estate worth $40 million. However, the money is not the issue for Pat. She notes that, at her age, she would not even know what to do with it. She is more concerned about finding the identity of her birth parents.
If Pat had been raised in the Dodge family, she would have lived in the same mansion she visited as a child. As a teenager, her home would have been the Dodge country estate called Meadowbrook, which is now open to the public. She has visited the estate several times. She does not feel like it belongs to her or that she should have lived there. She felt that she was more loved in her adoptive home than she would have been there. Her daughter, Sharon Stajda, felt that their family was cheated out of a "lifestyle" that they would have enjoyed had they been part of the Dodge family.
When Pat's claims were made public, most of Detroit, including the Dodge family, was convinced that her motive was simply greed. Though initially skeptical, Dodge biographer Jean Pitrone discovered the first solid link between Pat and the Dodge family. Her research revealed that a man named Frank Upton was a close friend of Pat's adoptive father, Robert Manzer. Both were stewards at the same Methodist church. Pat remembered the Uptons frequently visiting her home. Frank also worked for John in a very personal capacity; he managed his business affairs. It is suspected that he may have arranged Pat's adoption. Shortly after she was adopted, the loan on the Manzer home was paid off in cash. Mrs. Manzer began wearing mink, and Robert began driving the first of many brand new Dodge cars.
Another link to the Dodges is the physical resemblance between members of Pat's family and the Dodge family. Pat appeared to have a close resemblance to John. She felt that her son, William, bore a striking resemblance to Horace Jr. She also felt that Sharon, as a teenager, closely resembled John's granddaughter, Fredericka. Finally, Pat appeared to closely resemble John's daughter, Frances Dodge. They were both born in November 1914. There was some speculation that they were twins.
In 1982, Pat requested a copy of her birth certificate. By accident, the State of Michigan sent her Frances Dodge's. The original one indicated that she was the first in order of birth of an "other". This suggests that she was the first to be born of twins. Several witnesses came forward, claiming that it was a common rumor around the Dodge brothers' shop that John had "Siamese twins" and that he kept one and gave the other away.
Mabel Burgett was one of the witnesses that came forward. Her father-in-law was a hunting and fishing companion of John. In 1930, her mother-in-law revealed that John had Siamese twin girls who had been separated. He kept one, but it was not known what happened to the other. The story was kept "hush-hush," allegedly because the twin either had brain damage or died, which was considered a disgrace in a wealthy family.
The Siamese twin theory was met with widespread disbelief. However, Pat had unusual scars on her head and neck that might have been the result of a Siamese twin separation. As the controversy grew, a pediatric surgeon examined the scars. His report said that it was unlikely that she was a Siamese twin, but the age of the scars made it impossible to determine their exact origin.
In 1984, Pat returned to the same courthouse in Wayne County where her twenty-year search had begun. She petitioned the court to delay the distribution of the Dodge estate and to review her adoption records. Both requests were denied. In November 1986, her lawyers appealed the decision. As of yet, there has been no decision on the appeal. Pat and her family are convinced that they are members of the Dodge family. They hope to one day learn the truth about her past.
Extra Notes:

  • This case originally aired on the January 20, 1987 Special #1 episode hosted by Raymond Burr. Pat was also interviewed for the "Third Anniversary Special".
  • It was later reprofiled in the Dennis Farina hosted series on the March 18, 2010 episode.
  • It was excluded from the FilmRise release of Robert Stack episodes.
  • Pat's story was researched in the book, Tangled Web by Jean Pitrone.

Results: Unresolved. In January 1990, the court ruled that Pat's adoption records should be made available. In February, she was finally given access to them and her birth certificate. It was severely damaged and had been clearly altered. Many sections had been erased and typed over. It listed her name as "Remilda May Bornalive". The name of the hospital where she had been born was listed as "Woman's Hospital of Detroit". However, it had no records of her birth, despite otherwise meticulous recordkeeping.
On the birth certificate, Pat's birth mother's name was listed as "Emma Jane Nelson" of Jackson, Michigan. However, it appeared that another name was written underneath it. Emma was a maid at the Dodge Home on Boston Boulevard in Detroit. Pat's birth father's name and birthdate had been erased and altered. The birth certificate also revealed that she was not the Siamese twin of Frances Dodge. Strangely, it was filed in 1942, even though she had been born in 1914. Pat also learned she had briefly lived in a tuberculosis hospital in Niles, Michigan, which was also John's hometown.
Pat later agreed to a DNA test. It was conducted at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor. The results were never disclosed or used in court against her. She was never able to see them and was told that the file had been misplaced. This only led her to believe that the results were in her favor and that the Dodge lawyers had stifled the results.
Sadly, on January 1, 2009, Pat passed away at the age of ninety-four without ever learning the truth. Sharon continued the search. In December 2017, she received an Ancestry DNA kit as a Christmas present. In 2018, she revealed that the DNA tests indicated that she and Pat were, in fact, related to the Dodge family. The results showed that they were related to John's mother and his first wife, Ivy Hawkins. Since she had passed away in 1901, over a decade before Pat was born, this would suggest that Pat was the child of one of John and Ivy's three children. The results also showed that Pat and Sharon were related to Emma Jane Nelson's family. This would suggest that Pat's birth parents were Emma Jane Nelson and John's oldest son, John Duval Dodge. However, her birth parents' identities have never been conclusively determined.
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