All Psyched Up: Ethnicity

By Linda Hancock on March 22, 2025.

I have been a member of Ancestry.com international for several years and have entered over 6,000 relatives on their software portal. In fact, one branch of my tree goes back to B.C. (before Christ). I remember telling this to my older son who replied: “Mom you don’t really know if all of that is correct” and I answered: “You are right. One sperm donor or an affair could blow up the whole thing!”

There are mistakes on it and probably many reasons why this occurred. For example, I paid $15.00 to get the Saskatchewan Marriage Certificate of my paternal grandfather. Listed were his mother as Melinda Brown (she was never a Brown) and his father as John Hancock (that was his grandfather).

We don’t always know what is correct and even when I meet with cousins, there are discrepancies noted from information we each received from our parents. Often communities print history books only to find out afterwards that there are errors, but readers innocently believe the stories.

We have all heard tales about immigrants who had the spelling or whole surname changed when they came to North America because custom officers didn’t understand the person’s pronunciation.

Many people do not know (or care) about their roots while others go into great detail investing time, money and energy in the process. In fact, the Mormons in Utah actually have an underground vault with records of thousands on microfiche.

Two of my clients were surprised after submitting DNA for testing. One found her birth father, and another found out that the girls he thought were his cousins were actually his sisters.

Ooops!

I had my DNA done and results revealed that I was 19% Irish. I would tease the accountant across the hallway in our professional building who came directly from Ireland that we were relatives.

A few months later I got an email message from Ancestry stating that I had the same DNA, but their software changed and because of this I was 21% Irish.

I threatened my neighbour’s purebred status saying that I was going to pass him.

Each St. Patrick’s Day I would tease my “cousin” across the hallway with gifts. The last year that I was in Medicine Hat, I gave him a potato and he was thrilled stating that he could grow a whole crop with the eyes in it! He would tease back by changing my name to O’Hancock.

Well, as time has passed, the software has changed again and again.

As of today, I am 4% Irish.

I know who I am as a person but as far as ethnicity – can’t be 100% sure.

However, it was St. Patrick’s Day this week and so I cannot help but send a message to my “cousin!”

Top o’ the morning to ya, Seamas!

What do you know about your roots? Maybe this would be a good thing to check into! (Just don’t believe everything you hear or read!)

Dr. Linda Hancock, the author of “Life is An Adventure…every step of the way” and “Open for Business Success” is a Registered Psychologist who has a private practice in Calgary. She can be reached by email at office@drlindahancock.com

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