When Even Housework Sounds More Tempting Than Homework

 

Have you ever become so weary of working on a goal that task avoidance sets in and anything else—I mean anything, as in even housework—seems like the better thing to do? I'm afraid that's what has become of my quest to push back just one more generation on my mother-in-law's second great-grandfather, Nicholas Snider.

Just one more generation—how hard can that be? But after pushing through for a full month with this genealogical homework assignment, I'm still wandering in circles. Granted, tackling 265 DNA matches can take up a wee bit of one's time—but right now, I only have eighteen more to go on Conrad's descendants, and he was the youngest of Nicholas Snider's children to match my husband's test. After that, I'll have to tackle the question of just why ThruLines decided to designate one of Nicholas Snider's grandsons as a son, but once I review those fourteen matches, hopefully the reason will become clear.

But trawling through page after page of non-indexed passenger records for the early 1800s? I just couldn't bring myself to do this last-hope task today. That's how spoiled I've become, so used to tapping in a name on my keyboard and seeing just the right page out of hundreds of possibilities appear on my screen.

I admit, I'll eventually haul myself over to the computer, sit down before the screen, and make myself page through the digitized records of early arrivals at the port of Philadelphia—the supposed port of Nicholas Snider's family's arrival. Or I can put that task on my to-do list for the next time I revisit this question about Nicholas Snider's roots. It is a tempting thought.

Not that I'm chomping at the bit to advance even a day earlier to May's candidate for my Twelve Most Wanted. For next month, I'll be tackling someone just as impossible. The question of her identity is only complicated by her untimely death during a period in Ohio history when records—not to mention, population settlements—were sparse. It may be time to practice those F.A.N. Club research techniques once again.

As for Nicholas Snider, hopefully I'll complete the DNA match review by tomorrow. And that will be time to recap what we've found, assess what still needs to be completed, and roll that task forward to another year's Twelve Most Wanted list.