A couple weeks ago a friend mentioned an interest in his family history, and I said I would see if I could find something for him on the Internet. I took what data he was able to provide in the way of names, dates, and places, and although it was nowhere near in-depth research, I still came up with a great deal after only a few days. I was able to identify all his great-grandparents, plus 35 other ancestors, one line going back nine generations to his 7th-great-grandparents. I found a couple obituaries, a will or two, some military records, plus his family in census records from 1850 through 1940.
The best part was how much I enjoyed doing it. Since I've been working on my own family tree for over 30 years, finding anything new is like pulling teeth. This seemed easy by comparison, providing lots of instant gratification when I discovered things.
I began to wish somebody else would ask me to do some checking for them, and that led me to think that there was no reason I couldn't actually solicit clients. I could offer basic research to get somebody started on their family tree, nothing in-depth, just what's readily available on the Internet. I could do like the lawyers -- I don't get paid unless I find something -- but unlike the lawyers, my fees would be ridiculously cheap.
But I'd need to get the word out, and the best way to do that is to create a web site and then spread the URL all over the Internet. So, off I go to do that.
Meanwhile, any takers? If so, email me at janknez@comcast.net.
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