Mexico Orendorff of Breckinridge Co., KY 1812-1854

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by J Orendorff on May 22, 2011 at 6:33pm

What an unusual first name, especially for the time.  There had to have been some strong connection but it is not readily apparent.

Permalink Reply by Sherry Hightower on May 22, 2011 at 8:38pm

Yes..I agree. Mexico didn't become known as Mexico until 1821, nine years after the birth of Mexico Orendorff. Here is some interesting info on the name. Who knows...maybe there was more to this family than we know right now??

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Mexico

Permalink Reply by J Orendorff on May 22, 2011 at 9:03pm

I wonder if that was his birth name as opposed to a nickname that became his more or less official name, such as "Red Grange"...full name Harold Edward "Red" Grange.  Could he have been a Mexican War vet?

Or could he have moved to what was then called "Mexico" but became U.S./Texas?   Very odd, I doubt anyone at the time knew of the Aztec origins.

Permalink Reply by Sherry Hightower on May 22, 2011 at 10:36pm

I have wondered over the years how he came to have this name. He is not my direct ancestor. His son-in-law, W.H. Perrin (the author) was my ancestor's brother and is how we came to have a copy of the book.

 

We have never heard about how Mexico got his name.

Permalink Reply by J Orendorff on May 22, 2011 at 9:07pm

Well, if he lived most of his life in KY it shoots down the Texas connection......the clipping does not mention status as a veteran.   Very, very unique name...for his parents to have given him a birth name of Mexico stretches the imagination.

Permalink Reply by Andrea Orenduff-Peel on May 23, 2011 at 9:28am

Haven't found an answer yet, but still searching. His nickname was "Mac" as far as I can tell from letters and reference material. His father Jesse (as far as we know) was the first one in his line to call himself "Orenduff" unless we can find a "real link" to his father. At that time in history, many of German decent were changing their names. Mary Cashman - it has been recently discovered, was born "Kirschman' - and I linked to the individual that researched her family on my tree on Ancestry. Of all of Jesse's children - Mexico was the only one to not have a 'standard-type' name for the times.

Permalink Reply by Sherry Hightower on May 23, 2011 at 9:35am

I have  few pictures and some scant info but nothing which I think is "new".

 

http://www.texashistoryhunter.net/perrin.html

 

I wonder about the "Orenduff". Andrea, are you saying that Orenduff was the original name and Jesse was the first to spell it Orendorff ?

Permalink Reply by Andrea Orenduff-Peel on May 23, 2011 at 9:43am

no..sorry. Jesse was the first of our line to call himself "Orenduff" (as far as we know). As with a few others,  we have been unable to find PROOF who his father was - although tradition etc, throws him in the Christian Ohrendorff  (Millwheel to Plowshare) line - but we are trying. Some of Jesse's children kept the Orenduff spelling - others did not - and many changed their names after the reunion of 1888 in Illinois.

 

Permalink Reply by Sherry Hightower on May 23, 2011 at 10:13am

Andrea, I am working on my tree on Ancestry.com. I see where many have attached Jesse to Johann Christian Ohrndorff and Elizabeth Ann Huffman. I also see that you do not agree. I am inclined to follow your research as I can tell you do actual research (!)  :-), 

 

Can you tell me more about this 1888 Family Reunion? Sounds interesting!

Permalink Reply by Andrea Orenduff-Peel on May 23, 2011 at 10:42am

Well, I'm not certain of where Jesse is at the moment - and have him there as a bookmark - for one thing, the Christian I am attaching him too - the dates aren't lining up so well, but I am still researching. I am concentrating on "Virginia" vs "West Virginia" for two reasons - one Roy L Orndorff (in his book An Orndorff Family, Notes on Philip Henrich and Elizabeth Ohrndorff) has a branch in West Virginia that several unidentified men (Issac, Jacob, etc) were all born about the same time as Jesse and William (Jesse's son) in one census has has father born in West Virginia - instead of Virginia as the other census states. The whole tradition of "Jesse being on the outs with his father" and not being mentioned in Christian Orndorff/Ohrendorff's will and being part of the Major Christian Orndorff line - is more in tune with the Christopher Orendorff that he is attached to and his children that eventually moved to Illinois - so the stories may have gotten kinda intertwined. I am at the point now where I'm looking into other O lines because it seems everyone just wanted to prove they had the right to be in DAR through these ancestors - I just want the truth.

I can't find my link right this second - but the full article is posted online - i'll have to dig, the same summary of it is in the Mill Wheel to Plow Share book by Drake

Attachments:

• img245.jpg, 2.1 MB

Permalink Reply by Andrea Orenduff-Peel on May 23, 2011 at 10:47am

http://genforum.genealogy.com/orndorff/messages/40.html

Permalink Reply by Sherry Hightower on May 23, 2011 at 12:48pm

Andrea, Thanks!!  I found your tree and all the sources you have associated with this, especially Dr. Henry C. Orendorff. Thank you for being one who actually attaches their sources as they find them...to me this is a major reason to have a tree on Ancestry in the 1st place...

 

I have not worked on this line in some time and the two of you have spurred my interest. Thank you both!!

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