Call Number:

Logan

Repository:

Library Company of Philadelphia

Extent:

• 11.0 linear feet
• 10 containers, 62 volumes

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Logan family papers, 1684-1925, Library Company of Philadelphia.

Date:

1684-1925 (inclusive)

Creator:

Logan

Form:

Biographies, Commonplace books, Correspondence, Family papers, Genealogical tables, Lecture notes, Legal documents, Manuscripts, Poems, Property records, and Textbooks

Abstract:

The Logan family was prominent in Philadelphia from the start of the province, serving the people in many capacities, including political, medical and literary. This is a collection of manuscripts obtained by the Library Company of Philadelphia that relates to the Logan family. The collection includes papers of the Logan family members Albanus Charles, Algernon Sydney, Deborah Norris, William Jr., and James as well as family materials collected by Frances A. Logan and William Logan Fox. The collection dates from 1684 to 1925 and consists of family papers, correspondence, diaries, writings, medical texts, lecture notes, financial records, poetry, visiting cards, and invitations.

The Logan family was prominent in Philadelphia from the start of the province, serving the people in many capacities, including political, medical and literary.

James Logan, the first secretary of the colony under William Penn, was born on October 20, 1674 in Lurgan, Ireland, the son of Patrick and Isabel Hume Logan. His father was a scholar and an Anglican minister until his conversion to Quakerism. James was educated in his father’s school, the Friar Meetinghouse School in Bristol. His early careers included working as a linen draper in 1687, as an assistant schoolmaster to his father from 1690 to 1693, and as the schoolmaster of the Friar Meeting house from 1693 to 1697. From 1697 to 1698, James unsuccessfully worked in the linen trade; however, in 1699, James Logan obtained a career as a secretary for William Penn, who was about to sail for his province of Pennsylvania.

Upon arriving in Pennsylvania, James Logan began his service to Pennsylvania through positions including Secretary of the Province, Receiver-General of Pennsylvania, Member of the Provincial Council, Mayor of Philadelphia, Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, President of the Provincial Council and Acting Governor. At the same time, he gained wealth through commerce, trade with Native Americans and land purchases.

James Logan was an intellectual. He was “a linguist of competence in a bewildering number of languages, a classicist who in the margins of his books crossed swords with greatest European editors, and a scientist who described the fertilization of corn by pollen, understood and used the new inventions of calculus, wrote on optics, and made astronomical observations,” ( At the Instance of Benjamin Franklin, page 32). He collected books and arranged for his substantial library consisting of nearly 2,600 volumes, the Loganian Library, to be made public upon his death. The Loganian Library, which was received in trust by the Library Company of Philadelphia, exists almost in its original entirety. According to Edwin Wolf II, historian and past librarian of the Library Company, Logan “brought enthusiasm, erudition, and a good Quaker sense of value to bear on his book purchases, [but was] however, finicky, bad tempered, over pedantic and hard,” (Wolf, page 44)

On December 9, 1714, Logan married Sarah Read Smith, the daughter of Charles and Amy Child Read. James and Sarah became the parents of James, William and Hannah. Three other children, James, Rachel and Charles died as children. Sarah Read Smith Logan died on December 9, 1714 and James Logan died on September 2, 1751 at the age of 77 in his country home, Stenton, which he built in Germantown, Pennsylvania. From the time that James Logan arrived in Philadelphia, he was “an integral part of the history of Pennsylvania,” (Library Company of Philadelphia, page 4).

William Logan, the son of James and Sarah, was born on July 14, 1718 in Philadelphia. At age 12, he went to England to study with his uncle, also named William, who was a doctor in Bristol, England. After returning to Pennsylvania, he worked with his father as a Philadelphia merchant. In 1741, he became the attorney to the Penn family. He was elected to the Common Council of Philadelphia on October 4, 1743 and continued to serve until 1776 when the Declaration of Independence dissolved the municipal government. He also served on the Governor’s Council from 1747 until his death, in 1776. As a Quaker and a pacifist, William Logan opposed Indian wars and the Revolution. With his cousin, Israel Pemberton, Logan formed the Peace Association in order to prevent a war with the Delaware Indians in 1756 (French and Indian War, 1756-1763).

In 1751, his father, James Logan, died and he inherited the family’s home, Stenton. At this point, William began working in agriculture. He also, “with his brother James and sister, Hannah Smith, … on August 29, 1754, deeded library property, designed by his father for the use of the people of Philadelphia to a board of trustees. .. [and] bequeathed to the library thirteen hundred volumes bequeathed to him by his uncle Dr. William Logan of Bristol, England,” (Jordan, page 31).

William married Hannah Emlen on March 24, 1740. She was the daughter of George Emlen and was born on January 30, 1777. She and William had six children, four of whom survived childhood. These children are Charles, George, Sarah, and William Jr. William died at Stenton on October 29, 1776 and Hannah died on January 30, 1777.

William Logan, Jr., son of William and Hannah, was born in 1747. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh, receiving his medical degree in 1770 under the direction of Doctor Fothergill. According to John Woolman, “he made a hasty marriage without the knowledge of either family” (Woolman, page 560) to Sarah Portsmouth in April 1770. Sarah was the daughter of Doctor Portsmouth of England. They returned to Philadelphia where William, Jr. practiced surgery. He died at the age of 25 on January 17, 1772 in Philadelphia. He and Sarah were the parents of William Portsmouth Logan who died before his mother. Sarah returned to England and died in March 1797.

George Logan, the second son of William and Hannah and brother of William Logan Jr., was born on September 9, 1753 at Stenton. He received education at Worcester, England and worked as a mercantilist. After his father’s death, he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, earning his degree in 1779. He worked as a physician and an agriculturist and was described by Thomas Jefferson as “the best farmer in Pennsylvania in theory and practice,” (Stenton). He was also a founder of the Pennsylvania Society for the Promotion of Agriculture.

George Logan was active in politics, serving in the Pennsylvania Assembly and as United States Senator from Pennsylvania. The Logan Act of 1798, prohibiting conducting foreign relations without authority, was created because of his efforts to prevent war with France in 1798.

On September 6, 1781, George married Deborah Norris, an eminent Philadelphian. She was born on October 19, 1761, the daughter of Charles Norris and Mary Parker Norris and the granddaughter of Isaac Norris. She obtained her education at Anthony Benezet’s public school for girls, the first public school for girls in America, and is considered highly educated for a woman of her time. She was “a skilled historian and writer … [and] wrote articles and poetry into her seventies” (Stenton). She documented her life in seventeen volumes of diaries, wrote a memoir of her husband after he died in 1821 and transcribed many of James Logan’s papers. She was the first woman elected as a member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. She died at Stenton in February 1839 and her husband, George, died on April 9, 1821 at Stenton. George and Deborah were the parents of Albanus Charles, Gustavus George and Algernon Sydney.

George and Deborah’s oldest son, Albanus Charles, was born on November 22, 1783. Albanus was a physician. He married his second cousin Maria Dickinson, daughter of Mary Norris and John Dickinson, who was born in 1783. Albanus Charles and Maria Dickinson Logan had four children, Mary Norris, Sarah Elizabeth, Gustavus George and John Dickinson. Maria died in 1854 and Albanus died on February 10, 1854.

Their son, John Dickinson Logan, married Susan Wister on April 28, 1846. John Dickinson Logan headed the Pennsylvania Hospital. They were the parents of Algernon Sydney Logan (1849-1925), born May 17, 1849. He was educated at Yale and travelled to Europe with the goal to be “remembered as a brilliant poet” (Plunkett). According to The Biographical Record of the Class of Seventy, Yale College, 1870-1904, Logan was “never … engaged in any business or trade, having inherited a competence from his ancestors,” (Hicks, page 249). To further complete this picture, Plunkett states, “by 24, [Logan] had settled into a life of full-time aristocratic leisure.” Algernon Sydney Logan married Mary Wynne on November 4, 1873, the daughter of William Wynne Wister, a Germantown banker. They had one child, Robert Restalrig who was educated at Harvard and married Sarah Wetherill.

Algernon Sydney Logan wrote prolifically, but was not commercially successful. In addition to his writing, “in 1881, Logan inherited 2,600 acres of depleted farmland in Delaware and managed, after studying farming techniques, to restore the soil’s fertility” (Plunkett). Despite farming, writing was still his greatest interest and he self-published his books. He is the author of: Mirror of a Mind, 1875; The Image of Air, 1878; Saul, 1838; Jesus in Modern Life, 1888; Messalina, 1890; Not on the Chart, 1899; and A Feather from the World’s Wing. Despite the number of books he self-published, none were successful and towards the end of Algernon Sydney’s life, he became slowly disenchanted by his lack of success (Plunckett). Published after his death, in Algernon Sydney’s diary, Vistas on a Stream, he states “Failure and death are alike in their loneliness. The vast companionship in each case is invisible.”

Bibliography:

Hicks, Lewis Wilder, ed. The Biographical Record of the Class of Seventy, Yale College, 1870-1904. Boston: Beacon Press, 1904.

Jordan, John W., ed. Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1978.

Library Company of Philadelphia. James Logan, 1674-1751: Bookman Extraordinary. Philadelphia: Library Company of Philadelphia, 1971.

Plunkett, Keving. “A Eulogy for Logan,” Philadelphia Independent, Vol. 1. No. 21, October 2004.

Stenton.org. “History, Art and Collections.” (http://www.stenton.org/history/), accessed May 4, 2010.

Woolman, John. “The Journals and Essays of John Woolman.” New York: The Macmillan Company, 1922.

Wolf, Edwin, 2nd. “James Logan, Bookman Extraordinary,” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Third Series, Vol. 79 (1967), pages 33-36.

The Logan family was prominent in Philadelphia from the start of the province, serving the people in many capacities, including political, medical and literary. This is a collection of manuscripts obtained by the Library Company of Philadelphia that relates to the Logan family. The collection includes papers of the Logan family members Albanus Charles, Algernon Sydney, Deborah Norris, William Jr., and James as well as family materials collected by Frances A. Logan and William Logan Fox. The collection dates from 1684 to 1925 and consists of family papers, correspondence, diaries, writings, medical texts, lecture notes, financial records, poetry, visiting cards, and invitations. The collection is divided into seven series and arranged in the following order: “Albanus Charles Logan papers,” “Algernon Sydney Logan papers,” “Deborah Norris Logan papers,” “Frances Armat Logan collection,” “James Logan papers” and “William Logan Fox collection of papers relating to the Library Company of Philadelphia v. William Logan Estate.”

Many of the items within this collection were previously cataloged. In an effort to maintain an original system, items that are cataloged retain the number within the finding aid.

The first series is the “Albanus Charles Logan papers.” This series dates from 1831 to 1834. The series is arranged in chronological order and consists of four volumes of almanac and diary materials. Most of the entries within the volumes are brief and contain information about weather conditions. The series has one marriage certificate with an unknown provenance that dates from 1856 and is from Richard Piers and Eliza Nevins. There are two letters addressed to Albanus within the series “Frances Armat Logan collection.”

The second series, “Algernon Sydney Logan papers,” consists of Algernon Sydney’s manuscripts and typescripts of his works. The works include poems, plays, novels and diaries. Most notable in the series include hand written manuscripts of Saul: a Dramatic Poem, Messalina, a Tragedy in Five Acts, The Image of Air and Other Poems and The Mirror of a Mind. Also in this series are seventeen diaries containing Algernon Sydney’s writings and reflections titled "Glimpses of Vistas from the Stream." The diaries contain Algernon Sydney’s reflections on government, man and womankind. These volumes were later published by Algernon Sydney’s son, Robert Restalrig Logan, in two volumes titled Vistas on a Stream. These volumes portray Algernon Sydney as a reflective man with a variety of interests, which are also revealed through his other writings and undertakings, including a book about clock making and violin and piano sheet music. The numerous writings expose Algernon Sydney’s longing to become a successful writer and poet while the diaries, “Glimpses of Vistas from a Stream,” reveal his frustration with his lack of success in this undertaking. Many of the manuscripts are edited and this gives a glimpse into Algernon Sydney’s writing process, and the document titled “List of misprints in books,” gives an idea of the meticulousness of Algernon Sydney. The series is arranged in chronological order and the diaries, “Glimpses of Vistas from a Stream,” are placed in chronological order at the end of the series.

The third series, “Deborah Norris Logan papers,” contains her diaries, her writings and an obituary letter for Deborah probably written by Maria Logan Dickinson. The series dates from 1808 to 1839. Deborah’s diary (1808 to 1814) contains Norris and Logan family history, reflections on meeting George Washington, and memorials for friends and family. The diary entries include comments on national and world events. The remaining papers from Deborah give a glimpse into her education and her skills as a historian and writer. The papers contain biographical sketches about her husband and a copy of the “Memoir of James Logan.” The biographical sketches of George Logan are what would become a volume titled Memoir of George Logan from Stenton, which was published by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, written by Deborah Norris Logan and edited by her great granddaughter, Frances Armat Logan. For further information on Deborah Norris Logan, see her diaries held by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

The fourth series, “Frances Armat Logan collection,” is a collection of papers compiled by the great granddaughter of Deborah Norris Logan and George Logan. The series dates from 1684 to 1854 and is arranged in chronological order. The series consists of various papers of numerous family members and other individuals, including correspondence, poetry, death notices, deeds, visiting cards, invitations, autographs and business papers. Some families included in the series are the Marshall family, the Norris family, the Dickinson family, and the Logan family. Some papers also relate to the Quakers and to the Library Company of Philadelphia. The series has personal papers and correspondence regarding Deborah Norris Logan, William Logan, George Logan and Albanus Logan. A document of interest includes the 1815 account of Thomas Clarkson’s audience with the Emperor of Russia in Paris written by George Logan. The account delineates their discussion of the slave trade, and the emperor’s stance against the slave trade.

The fifth series, “James Logan papers,” dates from circa 1730 to circa 1867. The series consists of a genealogical table of James Logan’s descendants, a commonplace book, and an account of James Logan’s land titles, arranged in that order. The commonplace book contains proverbs, recipes for ale, hunting vocabulary, verses in Greek and Latin, information on which meats are good for eyesight, and an essay. For other papers related to James Logan, contact the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

The sixth series, “William Logan Jr.'s papers,” dates from 1640 to 1770, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1769 and 1770. The materials primarily consist of volumes of notes from lectures on medicine and philosophy, which were from William Logan Jr.’s studies in Edinburgh. The volumes are arranged alphabetically and include notes on Barton’s “Materia Medica,” Black’s “Chemistry,” William Cullen’s lectures on physiology and Alexander Monro’s lectures on anatomy. The lectures on Rhetoric and Belle’s Lettres are from Hugh Blair, a first regius professor of rhetoric and belles lettres at Edinburgh. A highlight of this series is William Logan’s personal notes on treating various clinical cases at an infirmary, medical observations and notes and Thomas Young’s lectures on midwifery. These works all shed light on medical practices of the late 18th century and offer examples of interesting treatments as well as causes for illnesses. There is also a volume titled “de Fermentation,” which was owned by William Logan of Bristol, England. The volume includes Latin notes on animal locomotion and fevers and their effects. The volume also contains notes on logic and natural philosophy foundations and a journal, written in English, of patient case histories from 1713 to 1714.

The seventh series is “William Logan Fox collection of papers relating to the Library Company of Philadelphia v. William Logan Estate.” The collection dates from1753 to 1798 and is arranged in chronological order with the exception of the “Accounts of William Logan of the Loganian Library,” the “Sundray tenants accounts on the Loganian Library Lands in Solebury, Bucks County” and the “Accounts of Library Company with Logan, William,” which are placed within the middle of the series. This series contains numerous business records and correspondence from Thomas Fisher that relate to a claim of the William Logan Estate seeking redress from the Library Company of Philadelphia for Logan’s unpaid wages as Librarian of the Loganian Library. The series includes attorneys’ opinions and judgments.