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