BADGER, Joseph, clergyman, born in Gilman-ton, New Hampshire, 16 August 1792; died 12 May 1852. His father, revolting against the Calvinism in which he had been educated, had become a deist, and Joseph was given no religious training. When he was ten years old his family removed to Crompton, Canada, then almost a wilderness. He was converted in 1811 while visiting his native place, and in 1812 was baptized and began preaching without connecting himself with any regular Church. He traveled for a time with a young man named Adams, who shortly afterward united with the Methodists; but Badger determined to "go forth and preach a free salvation to all who would hear." After laboring for two years in Lower Canada with great success, Badger received ordination at the hands of the Free-will Baptists, but maintained his independent position. In 1814 he returned to New Hampshire and preached with remarkable success, though his methods made him unpopular with the Calvinists. In 1817 he preached as an itinerant in the state of New York, and the Churches that he founded joined the denomination known as Christians. After a preaching tour through the west in 1825 and a visit to Boston, Mr. Badger returned to New York, where he edited the "Palia-dium," at that time the organ of the Christian denomination. A stroke of paralysis forced him to give up work, but he preached again for some time before the final shock. See " Life of Joseph Badger," by E. G. Holland (New York, 1854).