Jim, In the 1868 Lee Co., Iowa Gazetteer Directory- Valencourt Van Ausdall, res n e cor Blondeau and 11th There are many, many spelling variations. So many that it makes researching a nightmare!! I hope this is of some help to you. Linda -----Original Message----- From: Jim Hendricksen [SMTP:Jimmyh@hal-pc.org] Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2000 1:48 PM To: VanArsdale-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [VanArsdale-L] Simon Van Orsdale Help!<G> My Greatgrandmother, Katie Van Orsdale never related much about her family, nor did her father, Valencourt. Valencourt was born Aug 25, 1817 in French Village , St Clair County Ill His father was Simon Van Orsdale, who disappeared in 1824. He was a frontier trader. His mother was Catherine Claypoole, b 12-31-1784 and died in 1821. Valencourt had a sister named Eva Marie, who, with her husband(Moses Stillwell), took Valencourt and possibly another brother(Amos?) to Keowok IA in 1827. I don't know if there are other brothers or sisters. I don't know how accurate any of this is. Most of it is from newspapers, etc... I find several Simons in the tree, but not sure where the Valencourt came from One other note, a memo from the desk of a Genealogists in Iowa had the last name spelled Vanausdol any help would be useful ==== VanArsdale Mailing List ==== GenConnect USA Visitors Center <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/usaindex.html> GenConnect Global Surname Search <http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi?search>