Revolutionary War soldiers Zebediah Barker and Moses Varnum later put down roots in the New Design settlement and are buried in the New Design Cemetery. Zebediah Barker, a sergeant from Massachusetts, was born on 25 Nov 1750 in Essex County, Massachusetts, and died on 10 Oct 1819 in Monroe County, Illinois. Moses Varnum, a private from Massachusetts, was born on 9 Aug 1780 in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and died circa 1830 in Monroe County, Illinois. The New Design settlement, circa 1786, played a significant role in early Illinois history, and New Design First Baptist Church, established in 1786, was the first Protestant church in Illinois.