This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/kUB.2ACE/879.3 Message Board Post: The only "proof" there was of Nehemiah being from Ireland, to my knowledge, was hearsay...I suggest that he was from the New York Odell line, in the Rockland County area, and Orange County..of those who migrated into the Shenandoah Valley...and then on further..many settling on the Deep River in N.C., which is well documented. There were VERY FEW Odell's from Ireland at that time in history..the name was corrupted at the time of the Irish Potato Famine, around 1850's...with so many O'Days, O'Roarks, O'Malleys, O'Sullivans et. al., that they were told "this is how to spell your name"..and we Odell's know different..but for some reason, in the southern states, O'Dell has become commonplace, neither can presume to be RIGHT OR WRONG...and there's no right or wrong to it. But Irish? Nope.