Broad, William A. 1829-1867, Tinner and City Trustee

WA Broad building 300 W MainWilliam A. Broad was born in England about 1829 and when he was only 14, departed Liverpool, England for the Port of New York and came to the United States on board the Adirondack arriving in New York City on October the 24th, 1844. He was listed on the ship manifest as a laborer and it appears that he was traveling alone, since there was no other person named Broad on the passenger list of that trip. Continue reading

Williamson County Early Settlers

The following was extracted from Goodspeed’s “History of Gallatin, Saline, Hamilton, Franklin and Williamson Counties, Illinois” and describes the first settlement of the county. It breaks down each township by who filed the first claims and in what year. The book was published in 1887 and data was likely accumulated in 1885 and 1886. Notes for clarification have been added in parenthesis. Continue reading