My husbands G.Grandmother was a Bottorff and I worked on this family quite a few years ago. I think I found 7 different spellings and most of the men were John George, John Jacob, John Peter, John Simon, John Martin etc. Some times they went by John and sometimes by the middle names. The name is Swiss and originated in Switzerland. It means bathing place or watering hole. They were part of the Palatine Immigration of 1709. There are passenger lists, subsistance lists etc. in the book, "Early Eithteenth Century Palatine Emigration" by Walter Allen Knittle, published by the Genealogical Publishing Co. The Palatines went originally to Livingston Manor, NY. Many of them moved to Schoharie, NY and then in 1723 they moved to the Tulpehocken and Lebanon Valleys of Pennsylvania. The Bottorffs are a very interesting family and have been researched by quite a few people. Maaxine Blankenhorn Bennett published a book in 1984. She tells a lot of the early history and some of their descendants. Have fun! BettyLouCox@aol.com (if you find a female named Batdorfin or Bottorffin etc., it is the same name, it means she was a single woman.)