james alvin palmer was born in manhattan, new york city on october 15, 1945. research conducted by his third wife susan in 2017 revealed that his biological father and mother were michael joseph geheran and mary ann moroney, both irish immigrants from counties leitrim and clare respectively. joe was a married 41-year-old man about town, while mary ann was an unmarried 37-year-old domestic worker for the feinstein family which was prominent in the garment industry. moroney gave up her infant for adoption and concealed information in the new york city birth registry, where palmer is listed as baby boy kennedy, whose father was maroney and mother was kennedy. maroney was the incorrect spelling of her surname as listed when she registered at ellis island, while kennedy was her sister katharine's married name. moroney eventually married john lane and the couple had a daughter, patricia, palmer’s biological half-sister, who died of leukemia at age 40 in 1987. (as of may 2018, the palmers were still searching for patricia lane's daughter, whose married name is kimberly hughes and who would be jim palmer's half-niece.) geheran died in 1959 and moroney in 1979.