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When Benjamin Robert Smith was born to a young single mother who couldn’t care for him he was sent to live with his mother’s older sister Kim who was studying and raising her family in China. He was raised with his three cousins who he thought of as siblings. He was the youngest and had two older sisters and an older brother.

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Margaret Louise Parker grew up in China as well, living with her maternal grandparents, who were Chinese, after her parents were killed in a car accident near their home in Michigan when Margaret was a year old. Margaret and her older brother Matt were sent to live with them.

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The couple met at college during their sophomore year and instantly bonded, having similar stories. They got married after college and lived in the town Ben grew up in. There they raised their twelve children: Robert Bo, Abigail Mei, Charlotte Li, James Tai, Jacob Zhou, Catherine Wei, David Chen, Rebecca Ai, Louise Ling, Mary Su, Michael Ru, and Grace Min.