Crossing the Chasm

 

While there may be facetious remarks in family history circles about "leaping across the pond," I'm convinced that connecting some immigrant ancestors to their roots is more like attempting to cross a chasm. That, at least, is how I'm feeling, now that I've run across a DNA match whose roots lead back to relatives of my third great-grandmother, Mariana Nierzwicka.

That, in fact, is all I know about her: her name. I found that little detail on the baptismal record for her daughter Susanna Radomska. Finding anything further, though, has been an effort taking much time for minuscule results. 

Looking at this match's tree, I can see how the Nierzwicki line was traced back to the start in the immigrant's adopted home in the United States. But the few documents producing details about the immigrant's origin in Poland are reports which I cannot corroborate, despite searching on three different databases.

And yet, there's the DNA. We certainly are connected in some way. The question is how. And the answer must rely on documentation. Yet, arriving at the records to confirm what seems to be true is a journey with no destination. There's an uncrossable chasm separating each of us from the answer we are both seeking.

Perhaps it helps to take on a philosophical air and accept that some things we will never know. In my case, it takes on more of an itch that, whether scratched or not, merely gets itchier, no matter what choice of action is taken. At halfway through this month and the immediate answer to my research question in hand—finding Susanna Radomska's parents—the question becomes whether to continue the research path to the past, or acquiesce to the obvious. Perhaps adding Susanna's siblings to the tree should be satisfaction enough for this year's attempt at the Radomski line.