Benld

[John McChesney-Young]

Professor Peter Trudgill <peter.trudgill at UNIFR.CH> asked:

>Can anyone tell me why there is a place in Central Illinois with the
>highly improbable spelling of BENLD?

According to:

http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilmacoup/m_cahok.htm

Illinois Place Names book:
Benld est 21 Mar 1904, Inc as a city 30 Jul 1904

Benld was named for Ben L. Dorsey.

and according to:

http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/ILMACOUP/2002-09/1032526817

(supported by a few other web sites) Mr. Dorsey was the town's
founder; the latter page also says the town's name was originally
pronounced "ben-el-dee."

John

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*** John McChesney-Young  **  panis at pacbell.net  **   Berkeley,
California, U.S.A.  ***