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Remember plasterware?

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I found some possible contacts at the Minisink Valley Historical Society web site and sent them emails.

I also made a couple of contacts on Facebook.

I stumbled on some interesting items in the catalogs of the New York State Library which you can search online.  Just search on a surname.  You have to scroll through many listings but it's worth the time.  Of course, it means getting there to actually look at items but some might be available for Inter-Library Loan (ILL).  You can check with them.  Some are in manuscript collections.  It might take several visits to see everything that has potential value.

I'll be searching the catalogs of other libraries that might have useful items with valuable information.  I already know that the New York Public Library has a mountain of items I'd like to look at.  I was recently told that their 42nd St. branch is being remodeled and re-focused and that much of it's historic collection has been put in storage.  I haven't confirmed that yet but plan to investigate.  That branch was given much of the collection of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society including boxes of manuscripts and papers related to specific families.  I personally saw boxes for the Hulse and Odell families.

I also recommend that, at least once a year, you search on Yahoo or Google, or whatever other search site you prefer for each surname you're interested in.  I begin, in alphabetical order, with just the surname itself:  Odell, Wormuth, Hulse, etc., to see what turns up.  I scan through about 3 pages of search results to see if anything interesting turns up.  Often, you'll find an online query or an obit that looks promising, or a newly published historic list of some kind.  Depending on what I find, my mood and intuition, I also search on names of individuals or the combined names of couples:  Joseph Odell, James and Mary Hulse, etc.  This also turns up similar results from time to time or a family history web site.  Often, the results are things I've already seen but sometimes there's something new somewhere and I have a new bit of information.  

Also, search major online resource sites regularly.  They add information continually.  The amount of data online keeps growing.

Just a family photo to add some interest:

If I remember correctly, this is Mom, Georgiana Beismer O'Dell.