Web Helps Create Genealogy Businesses
The Wall Street Journal Online:
Ten years ago, Laura Prescott immersed herself in her family’s history and its tales of Westward-bound pioneers, New England farmers, Revolutionary soldiers and Mayflower passengers.
Now Ms. Prescott is turning her love of a good puzzle, a gripping story and an era gone by into a full-time profession.
Last year, she joined the growing ranks of self-employed professional genealogists who make a living tracing and chronicling the lives of ordinary families.
Before the Internet, genealogy “was primarily a hobby for retired people,” says Kathleen W. Hinckley, owner of Family Detective, of Westminster, Colo., and executive director of the Association of Professional Genealogists.
Indeed, “it wasn’t economically feasible to make a living at it before the Internet,” when travel and printing costs added up to big expenses, says Loretta Dennis Szucs, author of genealogy’s modern bible, “The Source.”
For Ms. Prescott, who has her own Web site, extensive research makes the difference. To bring her subjects to life, she studies their towns and times, seeking out county histories to learn why people settled there and what kind of community they created.
Photo by mookE.
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