Cornelius Ambrose Logan

For his father, the actor and playwright, see Cornelius Ambrosius Logan.

Cornelius Ambrose Logan (August 24, 1832 – January 30, 1899) was an American physician, writer, and diplomat, best known for his two terms as United States Ambassador to Chile (1873-6 and 1882-5[1]) during difficult times.

Cornelius Ambrose Logan
United States Ambassador to Chile
In office
September 7, 1882 – June 16, 1885
PresidentChester A. Arthur
Preceded byHugh Judson Kilpatrick
Succeeded byWilliam R. Roberts
In office
July 27, 1873 – November 10, 1876
PresidentUlysses S. Grant
Preceded byJoseph P. Root
Succeeded byThomas A. Osborn
Minister Resident to Costa Rica
In office
December 25, 1879 – April 17, 1882
PresidentRutherford B. Hayes
James A. Garfield
Chester A. Arthur
Preceded byGeorge Williamson
Succeeded byHenry Cook Hall

Logan spent his early life in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1849 he began to study medicine with Dr. John T. Shotwell; in 1850 he began instruction under Dr. R. D. Mussey, then serving as president of the American Medical Association. He graduated from Miami Medical College (now part of the University of Cincinnati) in 1853. In 1856 he moved to Kansas to practice medicine and was appointed chairman of the State Board of Medical Examiners at the outbreak of the Civil War. He was elected to the first city council of the new city of Atchison in 1858.[2]

After the Civil War Logan published works on a variety of subjects - sanitary conditions, climatology, and infectious disease. He edited a posthumous work on volunteer soldiers by his cousin, General John A. Logan. He co-founded and edited a medical journal in Leavenworth, the first medical journal in Kansas. He was also part of a company trying to mine coal in northern Kansas, and he and his brother Thomas successfully lobbied Congress for a franchise to mine on government land.[3]

Logan served as ambassador to Chile (1873–6), ambassador to Central America (1879–82), and for a second time as ambassador to Chile (1882–5). He attempted to mediate an end to the War of the Pacific, but was unsuccessful. He resigned his post in 1885 due to illness and returned to the United States. After studying in Europe, he resumed medical practice in Chicago. In 1890 he went to Europe as a commissioner of the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition.[4] He died of Bright's disease in Los Angeles in 1899.

Logan was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; he organized the first grand lodge of Odd Fellows in Kansas and served as Grand Sire of the national organization 1872–4. While in Chile he organized the first lodge and Grand Lodge there, in Valparaiso.[5][6]

Logan married Zoe Shaw in 1854; they had two children. His daughter Celia (1855–1946) married Charles H. Waterous Jr. (1861–1925), son of Canadian manufacturer Charles Horatio Waterous; the couple had met in Chile.[7][8]

  1. ^ US Dept. of State, Office of the Historian page on Logan
  2. ^ Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, ed. Frank W. Blackmar, Chicago: Standard Pub. Co., 1912, entry: "Atchison"
  3. ^ American Medical Biographies, Howard Atwood Kelly, Norman, Remington Company, 1920, p. 711–2
  4. ^ The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, eds. Rossiter Johnson and John Howard Brown, Biographical Society, 1904, entry "Cornelius Ambrose Logan"
  5. ^ Kansas GenWeb, biographical excerpt from Kansas Historical Society Collections Archived 2013-06-20 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Odd Fellowship: Its History and Manual, Theodore A. Ross, p. 225, 405–6
  7. ^ FindAGrave entries
  8. ^ The Sarnia Observer, May 23, 1879, "Interesting Wedding", p. 7