James Logan

James Logan (1674-1751), American colonial statesman and scholar, became noted as a jurist, political philosopher, and botanist.

James Logan was born on Oct. 20, 1674, in Lurgan, Ireland, of Scottish parents. His father, an Episcopalian clergyman turned Quaker, headed a Latin school in Lurgan. James was apprenticed to a linendraper but later succeeded his father as a schoolmaster at Bristol, England. After further study he entered the shipping trade, where he so impressed William Penn with his ability that the proprietor of Pennsylvania took him to America in 1699.

Penn made Logan secretary of Pennsylvania and clerk of the provincial council; when Penn returned to England in 1701, Logan became commissioner of property and receiver general as well. By 1704 he was a fully qualified council member and remained so for 43 years.

Logan dominated the aristocratic Proprietary party and greatly influenced provincial administration. He was opposed by the democratic faction, which wanted reduced proprietary authority. Charges that Logan had usurped power were quashed when he took his case to England and returned in 1712 completely vindicated. In 1714 he married Sarah Read; the couple had five children.

Logan broke with Pennsylvania's governor when the latter joined the party attempting to weaken proprietary control. A wordy pamphlet controversy ensued. The governor's replacement made Logan county justice, judge of common pleas, and provincial chief justice. In 1736 Logan delivered a "Charge … to the Grand Inquest, " outlining man's duties to society. Though he believed in self-defense, Logan urged fellow Quakers who could not approve frontier military appropriations to decline legislative office. Upon the governor's death, Logan became acting governor. His 2 years in office were marked by violence arising from a Maryland border dispute and a questionable purchase of land from the Delaware Indians.

Logan accumulated a fortune in trade and lands. In 1730 he completed a fine brick mansion near Germantown, where he lived luxuriously and studied literature and science, especially botany. He corresponded widely, made reports to the Royal Society, and published Impregnation of the Seeds of Plants (1739) and translations of Cato and Cicero (1735 and 1744). Logan retired from the council in 1747 and died on Oct. 31, 1751.

Further Reading

An adequate biography of Logan is Frederick B. Tolles, James Logan and the Culture of Provincial America (1957). Though hardly exhaustive, it is a good account, superseding the sketchy and not entirely accurate volume by Irma Jane Cooper, The Life and Public Services of James Logan (1921). The Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, no. 86 (1942), has a brief sketch stressing Logan's scientific contributions.

Additional Sources

Tolles, Frederick Barnes, James Logan and the culture of provincial America, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1978, 1957.

For other persons of the same name, see James Logan.

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James Logan (October 20, 1674 – October 31, 1751), a statesman and scholar, was born in Lurgan, County Armagh, Ireland of Scottish descent and Quaker parentage. In 1689, the Logan family moved to Bristol, England where, in 1693, James replaced his father as schoolmaster. In 1699, he came to the colony of Pennsylvania aboard the Canterbury as William Penn's secretary.^[1]

Later, he supported proprietary rights in Pennsylvania. After advancing through several political offices, including commissioner of property (1701), receiver general (1703), clerk (1701), and member (1703) of the provincial council, he was elected Mayor of Philadelphia in 1722. During his tenure as mayor, Logan allowed Irish Catholic immigrants to participate in the city's first public Mass. He later served as the colony's chief justice from 1731 to 1739, and in the absence of a governor of Pennsylvania, became acting governor from 1736 to 1738.

He opposed Quaker pacifism and war tax resistance, and encouraged pacifist Quakers to give up their seats in the Pennsylvania Assembly so that it could make war requisitions.^[2]

Meanwhile, he engaged in various mercantile pursuits, especially fur trading, with such success that he became one of the wealthiest men in the colonies. He collected a personal library of over 3,000 volumes. He wrote numerous scholarly papers published by the American Philosophical Society and European journals.

Logan was also a natural scientist whose primary contribution to the emerging field of botany was a treatise that described experiments on the impregnation of plant seeds, especially corn. He tutored John Bartram, the American botanist, in Latin and introduced him to Linnaeus. He was also a mentor of Benjamin Franklin, who published Logan's translation of Cicero's essay "Cato Maior de Senectute".

Logan died in 1751 and was buried at the site of Arch Street Friends Meeting House (built in 1804).

In Philadelphia, the Logan neighborhood and the landmark Logan Square are named for him. His 1730 estate "Stenton" (now a National Historic Landmark, operated as a museum) is located in Logan area.

Contents 1 The Loganian Library 2 See also 3 References 4 External links

The Loganian Library

James Logan, who was known by his peers as “the best Judge of Books in these parts,” donated his private collection of over 3,000 books to the Loganian Library, which, in 1792, was incorporated into the Library Company of Philadelphia.

See also

• Logan
• Walking Purchase

References

1. ^ Keith, Charles Penrose (1997), The provincial counsilors of Pennsylvania, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., p. 6: "They [William Penn and James Logan] sailed from Cowes on September 9th, 1699, in the "Canterbury." On the way over, the ship was attacked by pirates, and Logan took part in the defence of it," "The pirates were beaten off,"
2. ^ Gross, David M. American Quaker War Tax Resistance (2008) pp. 45-52 ISBN 1438260156

• Strahan (ed.), Edward (1875). A Century After, picturesque glimpses of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Allen, Lane & Scott and J. W. Lauderbach. 

External links

• Abstract of his life at GwyneddFriends.org
• Biography and portrait at the University of Pennsylvania
• Biography at USHistory.org
• An essay by Logan urging support for war requisitions
• The Bailout Debate of 1722 / James Logan: Colonial Defender of Honest Money
• James Logan (statesman) at Find a Grave

Legal offices
Preceded by David Lloyd	Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania 1731–1739	Succeeded by Jeremiah Langhorne
Political offices
Preceded by William Fishbourn	Mayor of Philadelphia 1722–1723	Succeeded by Clement Plumsted

v • d • e Mayors of Philadelphia (chronologically) Morrey • Shippen (I) • Morris (I) • G. Jones • Willcox • Stanbury • Masters • Hill • Carter • Preston • Dickinson • Roch • Hill • Dickinson • Fishbourn • Logan • C. Plumsted • Norris • Hudson • Read • T. Lawrence (I) • Griffitts • T. Lawrence (I) • Allen • C. Plumsted • Griffitts • Morris (II) • Roberts • Hasell • C. Plumsted • Till • B. Shoemaker • Shippen (II) • Hamilton • Attwood • C. Willing • T. Lawrence (I) • W. Plumsted • Strettell • B. Shoemaker • T. Lawrence (I) • C. Willing • W. Plumsted • Shute • T. Lawrence (II) • Stamper • B. Shoemaker • Duché • Harrison • T. Willing • T. Lawrence (II) • J. Lawrence • I. Jones • S. Shoemaker • Gibson • Fisher • Rhoads • Powel • vacant • Powel • Miles • Barclay • Clarkson • Baker • Wharton • Inskeep • Lawler • Inskeep • Wharton • J. Barker • Wharton • Keppele • J. Barker • Geyer • Wharton • J. N. Barker • Wharton • Watson • Dallas • Richards • Milnor • Richards • Swift • Roach • Swift • McCall • Swift • J. Jones • Gilpin • Conrad • Vaux • Henry • McMichael • Fox • Stokley • King • Smith • Fitler • Stuart • Warwick • Ashbridge • Weaver • Reyburn • Blankenburg • Smith • Moore • Kendrick • Mackey • Moore • Wilson • Connell • Lamberton • Samuel • Clark • Dilworth • Tate • Rizzo • Green • Goode • Rendell • Street • Nutter

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