About

I didn't start out with an About page but today I think it might be useful to some. 

Lorraine Iona O'Dell 

born: November 22, 1948, Walton, Delaware County, NY 

currently living in New Jersey 

BA in Spanish 

MLS Library Science 

1 adult son 

1 granddaughter 

never married 

Doing family history research for over 40 years. Not a professional genealogist, but a professional librarian with similar skills. 

Software used to store family history database - Ancestral Quest. I formerly used PAF from the Mormon Church but they no longer support it so I spent some time looking for something to replace it. Ancestral Quest is built on PAF so I was able to easily transfer my data into it and was easily able to find my way around the database. I highly recommend it. 

I research ALL my family lines and, when necessary, research collateral families (by marriage) if I think I can find information there. 

My primary families are: BEISMER, WORMUTH, ODELL, OLIVER, MATTICE, DEBECK, FLOWER(S), HAYDEN, HENDRICKS(ON), HOGANCAMP, HULSE, PLATNER, VANDERMARK, CHASE, CRANDALL. I research, of course, all the variant spellings of those surnames. I have found the origins of only one of those families, the MATTICE family who immigrated to the New York colony in 1711-1712, first from Germany to England, then from England to East Settlement on the Hudson, as part of the Palatine ships.