Cornelius Ambrosius Logan (May 4, 1806 – February 23, 1853) was an American actor, playwright, and journalist who was father to a famous family of actresses and writers.

Biography

Born in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

to Irish immigrant parents, Logan was educated for the Catholic priesthood at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, but then entered a shipping house, where his work led him to travel to Europe several times. He next became a journalist, and after working as a drama critic began to write plays and act himself. He moved to Cincinnati with his growing family in 1840 where he operated the "National Theater". He later operated theaters in other cities and traveled with his oldest daughter Eliza, playing comic "

yankee The term ''Yankee'' and its contracted form ''Yank'' have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from the United States. Its various senses depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders, residents of the Northern United S ...

" roles. He also wrote short stories, poetry, notably a well-regarded ''Ode to the Mississippi'', and a defence of the theater against criticism from the pulpit. He died onboard the steamer ''Pittsburg'' on the Ohio River between

Marietta, Ohio Marietta is a city in, and the county seat of, Washington County, Ohio, United States. It is located in southeastern Ohio at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers, northeast of Parkersburg, West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, Ma ...

and Wheeling, Virginia on February 23, 1853.

Family

Logan was married in 1825 to Eliza Acheley, and their children were:

Eliza ELIZA is an early natural language processing computer program created from 1964 to 1966 at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory by Joseph Weizenbaum. Created to demonstrate the superficiality of communication between humans and machines, ...

(1827–1872), a successful actress; Thomas (1829–1906), a prominent Cincinnati lawyer; Cornelius Ambrose (1832–1899), a physician, writer, and diplomat; Celia (1837–1904), an actress, journalist, translator, and novelist; Olive (1839–1909), an actress and writer and lecturer on the theater; and younger sisters Alice, Grace, and Kate, all of whom appeared on the stage for a time. Kate (1847-1872) was adopted by politician and Civil War hero

John A. Logan John Alexander Logan (February 9, 1826 – December 26, 1886) was an American soldier and politician. He served in the Mexican–American War and was a general in the Union Army in the American Civil War. He served the state of Illinois as a st ...

, a distant cousin, probably in 1866. Alice (1844-1917) suffered a mental breakdown on the day of her marriage to actor and writer Albert W. Aiken in 1871; she died many years later in a

Norristown Norristown may mean: * Norristown, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Norristown, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Norristown, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Norristown, Pennsylvania Norristown is a municipality with home ...

, Pennsylvania insane asylum. Olive also died in an asylum, in England, although she only became incapacitated in the last years of her life.''New York Times'', May 1, 1909, "Olive Logan Left Effects to Friends"

Theatrical works

*''Yankee Land, or The Foundling of the Apple Orchard'' (1834) (popularly performed in by

Dan Marble Danforth Marble (April 27, 1810 – May 13, 1849) was an American comedic actor who gained great popularity playing "Yankee" roles in the 1830s and 1840s. Marble was born in East Windsor, Connecticut and made his stage debut in 1831 at Chatham G ...

)(July 1879)
The American on the Stage
''

Scribner's Monthly ''Scribner's Monthly: An Illustrated Magazine for the People'' was an illustrated American literary periodical published from 1870 until 1881. Following a change in ownership in 1881 of the company that had produced it, the magazine was relaunch ...

'', pp. 324-35. *''The Wag of Maine'' (1835) *''The Vermont Wool Dealer'' (1840?) (also performed in by Marble) *''Removing the Deposits'' *''Astarte'' *''The Celestial Empire; Or, The Yankee in China'' (1846) *''Chloroform, or New York a Hundred Years Hence'' (1849)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Logan, Cornelius Ambrosius 1806 births 1853 deaths American male stage actors 19th-century American poets American male poets Male actors from Baltimore 19th-century American dramatists and playwrights Poets from Baltimore 19th-century American male actors American male dramatists and playwrights 19th-century American male writers