I was at the Family History Library in Salt Lake last week. While there, I saw a new Van Orsdall book had been added to the surname books collection. The book is "Van Orsdall Family History", by Judy Van Orsdall Downey. The book appears to be self-published. It covers a branch of the Van line that starts with Tunis in Orange Co, NY and follows the descendents to various parts of Ohio. The author is Mrs. Steven Downey, 1815 46th Street, Des Moines, IA 50310. One of the comments in the book is that the name Orsdall or Orsdael -without the Van- is fairly common in the Netherlands. That raises a question about a possible origin of the surname that was taken by Simon Jansz. The report from The Institute for Genealogy in the Hague, which many of the Van researchers have acquired, mentions that the name Van Arsdale is not found in the Netherlands. But how about the possibility that there is some relationship between the name Van Arsdale and some other Orsdall in the Netherlands? Ken Keller krk@ma.ultranet.com