Vandalia history

Dave --

 

On the contrary -- the most corrupt county seat in southern Illinois was named after what was probably the biggest attempt at 'insider trading' attempted to date in the colonies.

 

Benjamin Franklin and his brother had a tremendous amount of money tied up in a land deal with the crown concerning a huge tract of property west of the mountains and bordered by the Ohio River.  But there were interests in Virginia who wanted that property to remain Virginia.  Vandalia was Benjamin Franklin's name for the 14th Colony and a business deal with the British Crown that went sour, costing the Franklins a fortune. 

 

But I still like Vandalia.  Just like I've always liked Franklin.  We studied him in Journalism History at WVU and the guy was fascinating.  He skipped out on his last year as an indentured servant and apprentice to his brother in Massachusetts, who was a printer.  He ran to Pennsylvania and started printing Poor Richard...selling every issue to a waiting audience (and thus, the beginnings of a fortune).  When the time came, he paid his brother off (the years' apprenticeship/indenture) and those two got their heads together buying land all over the colonies.

 

Franklin was probably our most colorful founder.  The British Royal Society attempted to have him banished from the British Isles when they heard he was coming to visit Parliament.  They had heard Franklin had caputred lightning in a bottle and were concerned he might unleash it on Parliament. 

 

He never sought a patent for the Franklin Stove (thus warming thousands of homes cheaply), bifocal lenses, nor his discoveries on the fundamentals of electricity.  Yes, he WAS a ladies man (on his 80th birthday, he was quoted as saying how lucky he was he hadn't contracted syphillis)...he was a spy for the colonies (the British aristocracy found him charming and he got into their societal inner circle), and I think, overall, the patriot's patriot.

 

Best regards,

 

Lyell.