Genealogy Pays Off for Utah: BARKING UP THE FAMILY TREE.

• Author: BONHAM, NICOLE A.

It's an odd juxtaposition -- the dusty yellowed pages of ancestral documents and the whiz-bang technology of the Internet. But mix the two together and you have a unique industry providing fast and easy access to historical research through high-tech wizardry.

Genealogy experts tag that unusual partnership as responsible for bringing investigation of one's lineage into the spotlight as a favorite national pastime -- nearly as common now as that other popular American pursuit, contemplating the weather.

Not surprisingly the rising tide of interest in personal ancestry has been a natural boon to Utah -- its mostly Mormon culture long, synonymous with genealogical research. And it's a trend that Utah's business community has been quick to welcome, with companies expanding their genealogy-related services and products to keep up with demand.

Something Old, Something New

It's not that the interest wasn't there all along. It was. Utah is well known in research circles for its venerable collection of ancestral data available at the Family History Library, operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church's Collection is considered the largest repository of genealogical resources in the world. Before the advent of the Internet, genealogists corresponded or met in groups to exchange personal information. Many even traveled to Utah to research their kin at the Family History Library.

But, nowadays, those same folks and thousands more check in daily -- or even hourly -- with genealogy-based list serves, chat rooms and websites, weeding through pages of e-mail and group queries for that missing link: a lost ancestor, an errant birth record or a surprise historical photo.

The snap and zing of a globe connected by an invisible Web has led to real-time communication about a concept as old as mankind: who are we and from where and whom did we come?

Roots: A (Computer-Savvy) Baby Boomer's Passion

"There has always been a strong underlying interest in family history worldwide. Interest in one's past seems to transcend any particular cultural or religious affiliation," says Paul Nauta, manager of the Planning and Communications office of the LDS church's Family and Church History Department. "The noticeable surge in interest of late is in large part due to advancements in technology that have improved organization, access, and sharing of family history resources."

But while technology is the vehicle that perhaps created this new flood of...