At 89, She Finally Found Her Identity & 3 Siblings Thanks to MyHeritage

Vicenta Ruiz Oriol grew up not really knowing who she was. Raised in a children’s home in Alfaro, La Rioja, Spain, she didn’t know anything about her parents or how she came to live at the institution; she didn’t even know when or where she was born, or if the name she was given on the paperwork was real. While some of the other children in the home had the good fortune of being reclaimed by family members or adopted, Vicenta stayed there until the age of 7, when she was finally adopted.

Unfortunately, this didn’t turn out as she had hoped. Before long, she understood that the family had adopted her for nothing more than free labor in the fields. Instead of the love and belonging she longed for, she received abuse, punishment, and hunger. She left as soon as she could and changed her surnames back to the ones she’d had at the institution.

Vicenta as a young woman. Photo repaired, enhanced, and colorized by MyHeritage

Who was Vicenta? Who were her parents? Would she ever know her true identity? She carried these questions with her as she moved through life and became a mother and then a grandmother. Finally, her daughter Pilar and granddaughter Estrella decided to take matters into their own hands and do everything in their power to uncover the truth — even when the whole world told them they were getting nowhere.

The Spanish TV program “Déjate Querer” (“Let Yourself Be Loved”) took on the case, but when they struggled to resolve it, they reached out to MyHeritage for help. Our Spanish country manager, genealogist Sonia Meza, dove into the research, and through a complex process of building family trees, digging through historical records, and DNA detective work, she was able to connect the dots. Thanks to her spectacular work, Vicenta not only learned her true identity, but was also reunited with several family members, including 3 half-siblings!

The mystery DNA Match

The research began with a DNA Match. Vicenta had taken a MyHeritage DNA test in the past and received a 2.5% DNA Match. Pilar and Estrella attempted to reach out to this person and began to share details of the family, but were unable to get any answers. So the producers of Déjate Querer were attempting to find possible family members in Medina del Campo who they could invite to take a DNA test, but they were not successful. At this point, it was clear that genealogical research, not just DNA matching, would be necessary to solve the case.

The Déjate Querer program. Vicenta and her family appeared to tell their story and ask for help

The 2.5% DNA Match Vicenta found through MyHeritage pointed to an indisputable family relationship, even if it was a distant one. Vicenta and her DNA Match could share a great- or great-great-grandparent who came from Medina del Campo in Valladolid.

Vicenta’s file at Hospicio de Valladolid from September, 1933

Sonia worked closely with the family to request documents as the investigation moved forward. To achieve their goal, she had to build and document the DNA Match’s family tree going back 3 or 4 generations so she could determine which of their ancestors had a descendant we might be able to contact and ask to take a DNA test. Finally, they found a potential family member who agreed to take a DNA test, and the results indicated a 8% match with Vicenta. The algorithm predicted that this match could be a great-niece. That is, one of this person’s grandparents could be Vicenta’s cousins and siblings.

The DNA match on MyHeritage

Reunion with the cousins

This exciting find led to a reunion with Vicenta’s first cousins, which took place in October of 2022 in Medina del Campo. It was the first time in Vicenta’s whole life that she saw people with whom she shared a family resemblance.

Vicenta Ruiz meeting her cousins, October 22, 2022

This meeting made Vicenta even more determined to get to the bottom of her origins. The family she found was able to provide some more information about who lived where, but more research was needed.

Though it seemed that there was a strong possibility Vicenta’s parents were from Bobadilla del Campo, they needed to determine who could have been Vicenta’s parents. Historical documentation was essential to avoid any doubts or ambiguities.

They knew that one of the descendants of Pedro García Fraile and Petra Gómez Martín was a possible parent of Vicenta’s. They just needed to determine who it could be. To start the process, Sonia built out the family tree and determined that Pedro and Petra had 4 children: Vicente, Anastasia, Ciriaca, and Alvara.

The descendants of Pedro García Fraile and Petra Gómez Martín on the MyHeritage family tree we constructed

They are siblings!

Another surprise was waiting for them among the newspaper archives. A newspaper published in 1933 published an advertisement for a “wet nurse” in Bobadilla del Campo. The person in question was 20 years old, single, and had been lactating for two months. Readers were invited to contact Pedro García Fraile — Vicenta’s possible grandfather — for more details. Bingo!

The wet nurse advertisement in the paper. Periódico El Adelanto, October 20, 1933

The birth certificate of Vicenta Ruiz, born Asunción García Gómez on August 15, 1933. Source: Birth Register, Bobadilla del Campo, Valladolid, Spain

By simple calculation, it seems that the wet nurse’s baby was born in August of 1933.

With this information, Sonia was very close to certainty. According to a birth record Sonia found, Pedro’s daughter, Anastasia, gave birth to a baby on August 17 in Bobadilla del Campo, named Asunción. Anastasia went on to have a family with more children, of whom three are still living. One of them, Simeón, wanted to help Vicenta and her family, and agreed to take a DNA test. On December 15, 2022, Simeón’s kit was analyzed, and these were the results: half-brother.

Vicenta’s DNA Match with Simeón

By this point, the entire family was eagerly awaiting the results, and after they received the exciting news, Vicenta was able to fulfill her dream: to embrace her siblings, Dionisia, Pedro, and Simeón, aged 87, 82, and 73, living in Madrid, Valladolid, and Zamora. The emotional reunion took place in Bobadilla del Monte in Valladolid. There wasn´t a dry eye in the room.

Dionisia, Pedro and Simeón embrace Vicenta Ruiz, their sister

This incredible, long-overdue reunion was made possible thanks to a combination of genealogical research, historical records, and several MyHeritage DNA tests… but most of all, the inspiring determination of Vicenta’s daughter Pilar and granddaughter Estrella to leave no stone unturned and do what it took to fulfill Vicenta’s lifelong dream.

“I encourage everyone to fight for the search for their origins and take a MyHeritage DNA test,” says Pilar. “Anything is possible, if it’s your heart’s true wish. All those efforts paid off in the end. A dream come true!”

If you have also made a life-changing discovery via MyHeritage, we’d love to hear about it! Please share it with us via this form or email it to us at stories@myheritage.com.