sigh..I haven't gotten back that far. I'm going stark-raving mad trying to figure out who jesse's father is for SURE. Hugh Orndorff used to be "into" identifying who is who, but he's not really active right now and all the 'big' discussions on the "O" lines happened around 2000-2004 - then again around 2008 on ancestry - with everyone pretty much happy with what they have. Even Stephen - who wrote "The descendents of Simon zu Ohrndorff" made his conclusions with no proof really....and linked him to Major Christian Orendorff - the place of birth just don't pan out BUT....the other families that my line married into ARE around that area. However, Roy Orndorff (Philip Henrich & Elizabeth) discount my ancestor as part of their lines - even though they all settled in the area where Jesse was born - saying he 'suddenly appeared' at the time of his marriage to Betsy Cashman - and that's not so either. I think we both are claiming the same Jesse/William Military documents - but the documents "I" have show Jesse claiming property in Kentucky - where my line moved and no mention of Kentucky in his book. I'm beginning to wonder if the Jesse he's talking about didn't 'die' but deserted his family and started over - which in THAT line has happened before with the whole Eva/McIlwee deal.

On top of THAT, there is a Henry that in Maryland around the same time was signing his name "Orenduff" - and the tax records of Frederick for the year 1800 have Phillips sons - Jesse, Jonathan and John all signing either "orandorff" or "orendorff" and was missed in his book. That means that HIS Jesse would have had to been counted that year and moved on to Greene Penn lickety split. Then MY jesse 'suddenly' appears as marriageable to the Cashman family just 3 years later in the same area. sigh...

I need to find a tree for the "Orenduff" line in Kentucky that is already done lmaoo...I'm about ready to take all the "O"s that migrated before 1800 (there's one that arrived about that time) and do the entire dang line until I find an answer lmaooo..okay - rant over :)

Oh, that is sad and funny!  We need to keep in mind that our ancestors did not always act in linear fashion.

Yes indeed, there were "suspect" relationships and moves for reasons lost to history.  It was especially easy  back

then when the official paper trail was basically non-existent.  One could pick up and move with a new identity and name with great ease.  For example, I just learned of a great family secret on my mother's side that not even all of my cousins know about.  My mother's parents were not officially married when they started a family.  The often told story of how they met..which oddly differed depending on which aunt or uncle you asked....was that they either met on the boat coming over or she was picking olives (they were Italian / Sicilian) and he saw her etc.  The immigration records from Ellis Island never show them together.....the truth:  She was married and living in NY....her spouse was abusive...and my grandfather and her ran off to PA then Illinois and started a new life together.  Being Catholic this was a no - no....years later, when it came out, and after confirming her original spouse had either died or divorced her, their local priest arranged for a formal wedding and kept the news out of the papers.  So, their kids were shocked to find they were the product of an out of "wedlock" marriage.  I told my sister (who informed me of this) that it was vital history and people should know about it.  It made no difference to me and most of my aunts and uncles have died.  Once their generation is gone, those cousins who don't know should know the truth.

FYI - there are several Orendorff lines....one family is centered in NY, others in Canada etc.

Jesse was not an uncommon name so duplication / mistaken family lines is the bane of our "hobby".

I have a similar issue with conecting my Allwein family to various proposed ancestors in the Netherlands / Germany....different spouses for the same name and slight spelling variations, dob off by a year or two....Professor Duane Alwin even wrote a book on the family yet has run into the same problem.

My wife's side is different....all kinds of connections to Scottish and other "royalty" that I have tried to investigate carefully as many people try hard to make connections that don't really work out.  I told her you have no estates because all of your "royal" relatives were the youngest daughters of many kids who were married off and out of the inheritance so to speak.