Reverend John Logan

Reverend John Logan, son of Samuel Logan and Ann Wylie, was born at Rockbridge Co., Virginia, 14 February 1793.^1,2 He died at Blandinsville, McDonough Co., Illinois, 29 January 1851, and was buried at South Cemetery, Hire, McDonough Co., Illinois.¹

Reverend John Logan married Nancy Newell, daughter of Peter Newell and Susanna Durham, at Simpson Co., Kentucky, 28 November 1816.^3,4

He was a self-made man in every sense of the word. He had a thirst for knowledge, and avidly read every book he could get. Shortly after he married, he and his bride moved to Sumner County, Tennessee, where he lived for five years. It was here, under the preaching of Elder Lee Allen, that he was converted to Christ, and where he and his estimable wife were buried in baptism on the 3d day of October, 1819, and on the first Sunday in November of the same year they united with the New Hope Baptist Church, in Simpson county, Kentucky. From the time of his conversion he began the proclamation of the gospel. In October, 1823, he removed to Dubois Co., Indiana, where he remained for four years.

On June 19, 1824, John was licensed to preach by the Olive Branch Church and later ordained. In 1828, he took his family from the state of Indiana to the Military Tract in Illinois. Strong population moving westward already had set in and it caught him at the time when he was looking for a permanent home and an opportunity to evangelize frontier communities. In the spring of that year, W. M. Carter, one of the first men to erect a cabin in the present town of Industry, Ill. learned that John Logan and his family was making his way westward on the overland route from Indiana. He watched for them.

When Logan and his wife, five small children, covered wagon, team, one cow, and household possessions packed in a wagon and 12 1/2 cents in his pocket made his appearance, Carter hailed him and asked him where he was going to live. Logan replied he had arranged with a family in the neighborhood to occupy part of their cabin. Carter argued that no family around had a house that big. He mentioned a block house and offered it to the Logans for free. It was originally erected for protection against the Indians the year before. It was a two story structure, the upper story projecting about four feet over the lower. In it's projecting floor were holes for offensive operations against the Indians. John Logan accepted the block house as a home and with the help of the settlers quickly had it ready for occupancy. Here the Logan family lived until fall when they moved to a larger cabin.

Immediately after moving and settling in, Logan began ministering to the people, discovering several primitive Baptists. He also found, however, that not many were willing to finance the salary for the preacher. Logan and Nancy were undaunted by this setback. They knew how and did not hesitate to gain their substance from the soil.

In 1829 John moved to Schuyler County and from that point journeyed throughout the military trail from Knox County to the north to Pike County and the South and from Illinois River to Mississippi and beyond. That he was able to be absent from his home for many days at a time was due to the courageous and enduring qualities of his wife. He often preached to the Indians, who learned to call him their friend. His first financial aid came from the Baptist Missionary Society of Mass. in 1829. In October 1832, he received a commission from the American Home Baptist Mission Society and as its appointee journeyed far and wide through Illinois.

On Sunday, 20 October 1834, John Logan and Gardener Bartlett organized the First Baptist Church in Iowa. With fitting ceremonies, on October 20, 1934 Iowa Baptists unveiled a bronze memorial tablet embedded in a granite boulder. This memorial is on the site of the little cabin wherein the two pioneer preachers organized the church at Burlington and Danville Iowa. Delegates from Ill. also witnessed the unveiling for Logan and Bartlett are regarded as Illinois stalwarts of the faith who with John Peck, the Lemen Brothers planted the first churches in the state.^5,6