John Logan
John Logan, one of the leading and influential members of the bar of Fayette county, is a native of the old Buckeye state, having been born in Washington township, Clermont county, on January 30, 1857. His parents, Lewis Ashby Logan and Sarepta (Taylor) Logan, were both also natives of Ohio, the father having been born in Brown county and the mother in Clermont county. The subject's paternal grandparents were John and Margaret (Clark) Logan, the former a native of Kentucky, where he followed the vocation of a farmer. During the War of 1812 he enlisted for active service and became the major of a battalion. He and his wife became pioneer settlers of Brown county, Ohio, and enjoyed the high regard of the community because of their upright lives and their interest in the welfare of tlieir neighbors. They both passed away when about seventy years of age. Lewis A., father of the subject of this review, was reared in Brown county, Ohio, and during his early years followed farming as a vocation. Later he became an expert millwright and for many years gave his attention to a flourishing mill business in Clermont county. He died in September, 1803. at Westwood, aged seventy-one years, and was survived a number of years by his widow, whose death occurred in October, 1901, in the sexenty-seventh year of her age. They were folk of sterling worth and were long consistent members of the Presbyterian church. Mrs. Sarepta (Taylor) Logan was a daughter of John H. Taylor, a pioneer of Clermont county, this state, where he followed farming during his active years, his death occurring there when about seventy years old.
To Lewis A. and Sarepta Logan were born the following children: Lewis Ashby, who was accidentaly drowned at the age of four years; Samuel Taylor, of Westwood, Cincinnati, Ohio; John, the immediate subject of tliis review ; Harry C, of Mobile. Alabama; Anna Elizabeth. principal of the state normal department of Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio, and Frank P., of Cleveland, Ohio.
When John Logan was about nine years of age, his parents removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, and there he grew to manhood. He attended the public schools there, graduating from the Hughes high school in June, 1875. During the following year he was employed as a clerk in a law office in Cincinnati, and during tlie following three years he engaged in teaching school. His year's experience in a law office aroused within him a purpose to make the practice of law his life work and, to this end, he began the study of Kent, Blackstone and other of the great legal authorities in the office of Judge Marshall J. Williams. In April, 1881, Mr. Logan was formally admitted to the bar and he immediately entered upon the active practice of his profession at Washington C. H., where he has remained continuously since and where he was soon in command of a representative clientele. In 1881 he entered into a partnership with Judge Williams, a relation which was continued with marked success until, in 1885. the senior member of the firm was elected to the bench of the circuit court. From that time until January 1, 1893, Mr. Logan was in partnership with Frank G. Carpenter, who is now judge of the common pleas court, but since the last-named date Mr. Logan has practiced alone. He served efficiently as city solicitor for three years, but otherwise has held no public office.
As a lawyer, Mr. Logan is informed in his profession and faithful to clients and the law. He has been connected, on one side or the other, as counsel in much of the more important litigation which has been tried in the local courts, and his reputation as a lawyer has steadily increased until today his place in the front rank of the profession is generally conceded. Mr. Logan is a man of high intellectual attainments, gained by much reading and study and close observation of men and events. He possesses a. splendid library and some of his most enjoyable hours are spent among his books.
On the 26th day of October, 1887, Mr. Logan married Elizabeth B. Pearce, a native of Washington C. H., and a daughter of Elgar B. and Virginia Bell (Knight) Pearce, the latter a native of Fayette county. Elgar B. Pearce was well known as the editor and publisher of the Ohio State Register, but died when comparatively young. On the maternal side. Mrs. Logan is descended from Joseph Bell, her great-grandfather, who was numbered among the pioneer settlers of Fayette county, acquiring considerable land adjoining the city of Washington C. H.. much of this land being now within the corporate limits.
Politically, John Logan is an earnest advocate of the principles and policies of the Republican party and has been a frequent figure in the councils of that organization. Fraternally, he is a member of Washington Lodge No. 129. Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. While laboring for his individual advancement, Mr. Logan has never forgotten his obligations to the public and his support of such measures and movements as make for the general good can always be depended upon. A man of vigorous mentality and strong moral fiber, he has achieved signal success in an exacting calling and is eminently deserving of the large prestige which he enjoys in the community with which practically all his mature life has been identified.
From History of Fayette County Ohio - Her People, Industries and Institutions by Frank M. Allen (1914, R. F. Bowen & Company, Inc.)
JOHN LOGAN. In the forty odd years of his law practice John Logan has handled a large and varied routine of legal business in the courts of Fayette and adjoining counties. He has held few public positions, but his ambition has been directed rather to performance within the limits of his profession than to the many outside interests that claim attention from lawyer.
Mr. Logan was born on a farm about four miles from Moscow, in Clermont County, Ohio January 30, 1857. His grandfather, John Logan, came from Pennsylvania, was a major in the American army in the War of 1812, and died in Clermont County in 1863. His wife, Elizabeth, died about 1840, in Washington Township of Clermont County. The father of the Washington Court House attorney was Lewis Ashby Logan, who was born in November of 1822, and for many years was in the Government service. He died in Cincinnati at the age of seventy-one, and was buried in Brown County, Ohio.
John Logan spent most of his boyhood in Cincinnati, where he attended public schools, graduating from the Hughes High School in June, 1875. From 1876 to 1879 he was a teacher, and then entered the law offices of Marshall J. Williams. Mr. Williams in 1884 became judge of the First Judicial Circuit, and in 1886 was elevated to the State Supreme Bench and was as associate justice until his death on July 7, 1902. In 1881 Mr. Logan was admitted to the bar, and practiced at Washington Court House as a partner of Judge Williams until 1885, when the latter went on the bench. He then took over Judge Williams' practice, and has been fully engaged in the work of his profession ever since. He is a stockholder in the First National Bank of Mount Sterling, Ohio. From 1883 to 1885 he served as village solicitor of Washington Court House, and during the World was was chairman of the Legal Advisory Board.
His brothers and sisters are: Samuel Taylor Logan, born in 1855, now principal of the Avondale Public School at Cincinnati; Harry C., born in 1858, a resident of Cincinnati and the father of a son Bruce, now twenty-seven years of age; Frank Porter Logan, born in 1863, chief engineer in a Cleveland hospital; and Anna Elizabeth, born in 1861, who was principal of the Normal Department of Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, and is now assistant superintendent of the Cincinnati public schools.
Mr. John Logan married at Washington Court House, October 26, 1887, Miss Elizabeth Belle Pearce, who was educated in the public schools of Washington Court House, and is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Her father, Elgar B. Pearce, was a newspaper man, and died in Washington Court House in 1866.
Mr. Logan is affiliated with the Masonic Order, a member of the Royal Arch Chapter at Milford, Ohio, until 1879, when he transferred to Washington, Court House. He also belongs to Garfield Commandery of the Knights Templar, is a member of the Elks and is a republican.
From History of Ohio by Charles B. Galbreath, The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925, Volume III