This reporting was published in partnership with NHPR , a nonprofit public media newsroom based in New Hampshire.

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Erin Moulton’s interest in genealogy was casual at first. It started when people began stopping by her desk at the Derry Public Library with questions about the 198-year-old New Hampshire town’s history or for help looking up their ancestors.

Moulton, 43, soon developed an obsession with solving these history puzzles, chasing a “geeky” kind of rush.

“I'll go flying through the archives. I'll be diving through the newspapers. I think it's exhilarating,” Moulton said. "It's like overturning treasure — another clue brings you to another clue brings you to another clue. And the whole story starts to kind of flesh out in front of you.”

Over the years, M

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