Edward Tocus wrote: > > In 1797 a party of 154 persons led by Reverend David Badgley came to > Illinois from Hardy County, Virginia (now part of West Virginia). Their > intention was to help establish and settle the town of New Design (now > in Monroe County). New Design had been founded in 1786 by Reverend > James Leman, a friend of Thomas Jefferson. He intended it to be a model > town, a "new design" for a frontier town with a Jeffersonian > anti-slavery position. The colonists who accompanied Badgley > encountered flooding and disease and some died. Many others dispersed > to take up land in other areas, and today the Badgley Colony has been > largely forgotten. > > If you believe that your ancestors may have come to Illinois as members > of the Badgley Colony, or if you have information about these people > (such as the location of gravesites), or if you have heard of your folks > coming originally from Hardy County, please get in touch with me. Let > us see if we can put some information together. This important part of > Illinois history deserves to be better remembered. Thanks, Nora > > ==== ILMONROE Mailing List ==== > About 1796 a small settlement was formed between Bellefontaine and the > Mississippi Bluff, comprehended probably within the limits of the present > Bluff Precinct. Families with the names of Short, Griffin, Gibbons, Roberts > and Valentine lived in this locality. There is also a record of a man named > Golden erecting a blockhouse on Section 24, Township 3, Range 11 near the > present town of Monroe City. At this place Andrew Kinney, a son of Joseph > Kinney, built a water mill, and thus laid the foundation for the present > town of Monroe City. > Combined Atlases of Monroe County 1875, 1901, 1916 p. 14 Nora, where in Monroe County was New Design located--do we know? Marsha