James Logan, Penn’s Secretary and Trusted Friend and Agent, Born October 28, 1674

The lives of men like James Logan ennoble the pages of history and make its study an elevating pursuit and a reinforcement to the resources of public morality. This man was worthy the compliment which the great vicegerent Shikellamy paid him, when he named his son in his honor; he was worthy to have been the trusted friend of William Penn, and to have had Benjamin Franklin for his printer.

The world has not produced many men, who, after forty years spent in the whirl and muddy currents of active business and intense political strife, can, with clean hands and unsullied reputation, calmly step aside out of the turmoil and retire to the company of his books, to endow a library and make a translation of Cicero’s “De Senectute,” printing it, as the writer himself pleasantly says, “in a large and fair character so that old men may not be vexed by the defective eyesight in reading what was so appropriate to their years.”

James Logan was born in Lurgan, Ireland, October 28, 1674. His father, Patrick Logan, grandson of Sir Robert Logan of Restairig, Scotland, sprang from that stock of proud Scottish lairds, distinguished for long pedigrees and barren acres, whose children have lent their genius to the service of the world.

James Logan was a lad of precocious mind—at sixteen he knew Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and made rapid progress in mathematics. He afterwards mastered French, Italian and Spanish, and probably Dutch and German. He became familiar with several Indian dialects.

He went into trade as a linen-draper’s apprentice in Dublin, then in the Bristol trade for himself.

At Bristol, in 1698, he met William Penn, and became his private secretary and devoted follower ever after.

In the year 1699, he sailed with William Penn on his second visit 753to his province in America. In mid-ocean another ship came into sight, and as England and France were at war, all feared that the strange vessel might be an enemy. The crew prepared for action. Penn and his friends, who did not believe in warfare, went below. Only one of Penn’s party remained on deck to help defend the ship, James Logan.

Soon Logan went below to tell Penn that the strange vessel was English, when Penn reproved him for undertaking to engage in fighting, as he was a Quaker. The young man replied with spirit: “Why did thee not order me to come down? Thee was willing enough that I should stay and help to fight, when thee thought there was danger!”

Penn expected to stay in Pennsylvania the rest of his life, but on his visit he was able to spend less than two years here. But during his stay, Logan had become not only a helper but also an intimate friend.

Penn trusted his secretary to the utmost, and when he sailed away, left all his affairs in Pennsylvania under Logan’s direction. “I have left thee in an uncommon trust,” wrote Penn, “with a singular dependence on thy justice and care.”

There was no mistake in trusting James Logan. He kept Penn informed of everything, and scrupulously attended to all Penn’s business affairs.

William Penn never came back to see his province again. During the last six years of his life his mind failed, so that his wife, Hannah, carried on all business for him. Had it not been for James Logan, poverty would often have oppressed the great founder and his family.

From the moment of Penn’s departure, in 1701, to Logan’s death, 1751, he was always the power behind the proprietary throne, wielding what was sometimes almost absolute authority with singular propriety and judgment.

He was secretary of the province, commissioner of property, and of Indian affairs, member and president of Council, acting Governor, and chief justice.

After more than twenty-five years of residence in Philadelphia, Logan decided to build a country home for himself. He erected a fine mansion, which he called Stenton, near the Old York Road. Here he lived for nearly a quarter century more.

His thigh was broken in a fall, and he was compelled to live retired, but his love of books was so constant and sincere that the pursuit of literature became his passion.

But even in seclusion he never neglected his public duties for his private tastes. Many important affairs of state were transacted at Stenton, which was nearly always surrounded by deputations of Indians, who camped about the house to seek advice and favors from their honored friend “hid in the bushes.” As many as a hundred Iroquois once stayed at Stenton for three days as Logan’s guests.

Thomas Godfrey’s improvements in the quadrant were made at 754Stenton under Logan’s eye, and Franklin and he worked together with a thorough appreciation of each other’s good qualities.

The British determined to burn Stenton, when they captured Philadelphia, but the cleverness of an old Negro woman servant saved the historic mansion. Lord Howe afterwards made Stenton his headquarters.

Now the famous house, quite two hundred years old, is owned by the Philadelphia Society of Colonial Dames, and is kept in good condition and open for visitors. It stands near the station at Wayne Junction.

Logan was an unsuccessful suitor for the hand of Ann, daughter of Edward Shippen, who married Thomas Story. His wife was Sarah Read, daughter of a wealthy merchant of Philadelphia, to whom he was wedded eight years after his ill-success with Miss Shippen.

His children were not literary in their tastes and it was on this account that he left his library to Philadelphia, endowing it for its perpetual maintenance, with the Springettsbury Manor property which he had received from Penn’s estate.

Logan was a fine type, dignified yet courteous, and his conversation was quiet and reserved.

Gordon says, “Never was power and trust more safely bestowed for the donor. The secretary faithfully devoted his time and his thoughts to promote the interests of his master, and bore with firmness, if not with cheerfulness, the odium which his unlimited devotion drew upon himself.”

He died at Stenton, October 31, 1751.