William Logan Sr. (71)

William Logan, Sr. (14 July 1718–28 October 1776) was a lawyer, merchant, diplomat, and public official, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1768. The son of the statesman, scholar, and Junto member James Logan, he was educated by his physician uncle William Logan in England and then apprenticed to another uncle, the merchant and APS member Israel Pemberton, back in Philadelphia. In 1741 Logan became one of the attorneys for the Penn family; in 1743 he was elected to the Philadelphia Common Council; and in 1747 he accepted his father’s seat on the Provincial Council. Upon his father’s death in 1751, Logan inherited the family’s five-hundred-acre estate, where he experimented with new agricultural techniques and exchanged seeds and information with other husbandmen. He also inherited his father’s famous library, which he eventually conveyed to the city of Philadelphia, serving as the collection’s librarian from 1760 to his death. Logan was a manager of the Pennsylvania Hospital and a member of the Library Company of Philadelphia, the institution that now houses the Loganian Library. An advocate for indigenous people, he provided space on his estate for native encampments and paid to educate native children. He was the only member of the Provincial Council to oppose a declaration of war against the Delawares in 1756. And as a member of the Friendly Association, he worked to secure peace at the 1758 Easton conference and convinced the Paxton Boys to leave Germantown in 1764. He was also active in Quaker affairs. During a 1760 visit to England he presented an address from the London Yearly Meeting to the recently crowned King George III. Logan signed the Non-Importation agreement but played no role in the revolution. His son William Logan, Jr. and uncle James Pemberton were APS members. (PI)