Joseph Logsdon I (1739 - 1815)

Born 1739 in Garrett, Maryland

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 1815 at about age 76 in Kentucky

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Biography

This profile is part of the Logsdon Name Study.

Joseph was born in 1739, the child of Thomas Logsdon, and away in 1815.

Thomas Logsdon and his son, Joseph (Bulger Joe) Logsdon were guides for General George Washington in the Revolutionary War. George Washington visited Thomas Logsdon's home in Ryan's Glade in Maryland. This is mentioned frequently in George Washington's Diaries (1749-1799) , Volume II, 1771-1785, pages 309-312 (regarding 1784 surverys in the vicinity of Back Bone Mountain, Garrett County, Maryland).

"Memoirs of the Lower Ohio valley, personal and genealogical, Volume II" Madison, Wisconsin: Federal Publishing Company, 1905. p. 370-372

JOSEPH LOGSDON, a farmer, living five miles southwest of Shawneetown, Ill., is of German extraction, and a descendant of one of the first settlers in that section of the Lower Ohio Valley. His great grandfather came from Germany ...prior to the Revolutionary war, settled in Maryland... He married there and reared a family of children, one of whom, a son named Joseph, served with Braddock in the French and Indian war, and afterward fought in the Revolution.

This Joseph Logsdon married Susan Durban, whose father owned the ground upon which a part of the city of Baltimore now stands....

Soon after his marriage Joseph Logsdon packed his worldly goods upon horses, and with his wife made his way to Virginia, then to Kentucky, next to Indiana, and finally to Southern Illinois, settling in what is now Gallatin county. The region was at that time the extreme frontier, and troubles with the Indians were of no uncommon occurrence. After a short stay in his new location he and his wife were compelled to seek the protection of old Fort Massac, in what is now Massac county, and there he passed the rest of his days. Most of his life was spent on the frontier and he had frequent brushes with the Indians. While living in Kentucky he was attacked by two Indians, one of whom shot him from his horse, but the ball glanced and saved his life. In the hand to hand fight which followed he killed one of the Indians with his knife, and wounded the other so badly that he committed suicide afterward. He was known as “Big Joe” or “Bulger Joe” Logsdon, the latter name having been given to him while he was with Braddock....

He and his wife had the following children:

Thomas, Polly, Prudy, Peggie, Susan and Joseph. Thomas married in Ripley county, Ind., while the family were living there, and his descendants still live in that state. Polly married Isaac Williams, and Prudy married James Meyer, both of Ripley county. Peggie married a man named Cox, after the family came to Illinois, and died at Shawneetown. Susan died young and Joseph was the father of the subject of this sketch.

He was born near Covington, Ky., Aug. 19, 1795. After the death of his father at Fort Massac he returned with his mother and one sister to Gallatin county, and bought a farm near Shawneetown, where his mother died some years later. On Dec. 16, 1829, he was married to Matilda Thompson, who was born Aug. 13, 1802, and they commenced their married life on the farm above mentioned.

He no doubt inherited some of his father’s liking for a military life, for he served in the Black Hawk war.

In the cholera epidemic of 1832 he, his mother and his sister Peggie all fell victims to the dread disease. His widow afterward married Richard Tarlton, a native of Gallatin county, and lived until 1837. Joseph and Matilda Logsdon had four children: Eliza married a man by the name of Rogers and is deceased; Peggy lives north of Shawneetown;

Joseph is the subject of this sketch, and Thomas died in Oregon from the effects of a kick from a horse.

Joseph Logsdon, the third to bear that name, was born about a mile southwest of Shawneetown, Oct. 22, 1825. In his boyhood he attended the old subscription schools for six months, which constituted his entire schooling. After the death of his mother he went to Indiana, where he lived with relatives for four years, at the end of which time he returned to Gallatin county. For some time he was employed as a farm hand, after which he followed the river for a while, making nine trips to New Orleans. In 1850 he made the trip overland to California. Leaving Fort Leavenworth on May 22, he reached Hangtown, Cal., on August 22d, which was then the quickest trip on record. After working in the mines and in Sacramento for about eighteen months he returned to Illinois in 1852, and took up the occupation of a farmer, which he has followed ever since. In 1859 he bought 185 acres where he now lives, and the following year built the house he occupies. He now owns 435 acres, all under cultivation but about forty acres, and is one of the successful farmers of the county. In 1853 he was married to Mary A. Rogers, who was born Feb. 10, 1835, and died Jan. 23, 1892, leav- ing no children. On April 23, 1896, he was married to Mrs. Ann Lacey, widow of George Lacey. Mr. Logsdon is an ardent Democrat; has been an Odd Fellow since 1866; and he and his wife belong to the Cumberland Presbyterian church in which he has been either deacon or elder for the last twenty-eight years.^[1]

Ridenour, George L.. Early times in Meade County, Kentucky. Louisville, Ky.: Western Recorder, 1929 pg 17

One of the most fiercely contested Indian battles on Meade County soil was on East Hill at. Brandenburg. A party of marauding Indians crossed the river and hid their canoes in Flippen's Run. Big Joe Logsdon with a party of hunters jumped the band. After a running fight along the buffalo trail the Indians decided to make a last stand in the big walnut timber of East Hill. How­ever, it was not long until the savages decided to seek better security on the northern bank of the Ohio. The whites suffered no casualties. The Indians carried their dead with them. From the river bank at the mouth of Flippen's Run Big Joe shot an Indian in a canoe al­most across the Ohio. Big Joe Logsdon was one of the famous Indian fighters that spent much time in Meade County. ^[2]

George Washington's Diaries Volume IV : 1784-June 1786 pp 39-54

^[3]

pg 42 Joseph Logston of Washington County, Md., lived near present-day Gorman, Md.. He enrolled in the Washington County militia 28 Aug 1776 (Md. Geneal. Bull., 4 (1933), 17}.

pg 46 From Friends I passed by a spring (distant 3 Miles) called Archy's, from a Man of that name, crossed the backbone &: descended into Ryans glade Thence by Joeseph Logston's &.McCulloch's ford of the No. Branch, to old Mr. Thos. Logston's (the father of Joseph). The way &: distances as follow-to the foot of the back bone, about 5 Miles of very good ground for a road; being partly glady, and partly \Vhite Oak ridges-across the ridge to Ryans glade one Mile and half bad, the hill being steep & in places stony-to Joseph Logston's 1 1/2 Miles very good going-to the No. Branch at McCullochs path 2 Miles-infamous road and to Thos. Logstons 4 more, partly pretty good, &: in places very bad. But it has been observed before to what fortuitous circumstances the paths of this Country owe their being, & how much the ways may be better chosen by a proper investigation of it; & the distances from place to place reduced. This appeard evident from my own observation and from young Logston, who makes hunting his chief employment; and according to his own Acct. is acquainted with every hill & rivulet between the North Branch&: the Dunkers bottom.

pg 47 He agrees precisely with Charles Friend respecting the Nature of the road between the North Branch and the Dunkers bottom: but insists upon it that the distance will not exceed 20 Miles Be that Friends ought to be left two Miles to the Westward. This may acct. for their difference of opinion; the latter wanting his House to be introduced as a stage and here it may be well to observe, that however knowing these people are, their accts. are to be received with great caution-compared with each other and these again with one's own observatns.; as private views are as prevalent in this, as any other Counrry; and are particularly exemplified in the artide of Roads; which (where they have been marked) seem calculated more to promote individual interest, than the public good. ....

pg 48 I could obtain no good Acct. ol the Navigation of the No. Branch between McCulloch's crossing and Wills's Creek (or Fort Cumbcrland) • Indeed there were scarce any person, of whom enquiries could be made, for, from Lemon's to old Logs­ton's, there is only Friend & young Logs­ton living on the track I came and none on it for near 20 Miles below him-but in general I could gather from them, especially from Joseph Logston, who has (he says) hunted along the water course of the river that there is no fall in it-that from Fort Cumberland to the Mouth of Savage river The water being good is frequently made use of in its present State with Canoes and from thence upward, is only rapid in places with loose Rocks which can readily be removed.

At this place-viz. Mr. Thos. Logston's-I met a brother of his, an intelligent man, who informed me that some years ago he had travelled from the Mouth of Carpemters Creek (now more generally known by the name of Dunlaps) a branch of Jacksons, which is the principal prong of James River to the Mouth of Howards Creek wch. emptys into the Greenbrier a large branch of New River abe.

Pg 49 Thomas Logston lived in Hampshire County, Va. (now Grant County, W. Va.) about halfway between McCullough's crossing (near present-day Gormania, W.Va.) and the Stony River, a tributary of the North Branch of the Potomac. ln 1787 he obtained three patents totaling about 500 acres on Stony River (siMS, to6).

pg 50 27th. I left Mr. Logston's a little after day-break. At 4 Miles thro' bad road, occasioned by Stone, I crossed the Stony River; which, as hath been before observed, appears larger than the No. Branch. At ten Miles I had by an imperceptible rise, gained the summit of the Alligany Mountain and began to desend it where it is very steep and bad to the waters of Pattersons Creek which embraces those of New Creek, Along the head of these, & crossing the main [Patterson's] Creek & Mountain bearing the same name (on the top of which at one Snails I dined) I came to Colo. Abrabm. Hites at Fort pleasant on the South Branch about 35 Miles from Logstons a little before the Suns setting.

My intention, when I set out from Logstons, was to take the Road to Rumney by one Parkers; but learning from my guide (Joseph Logston) when I came to the parting paths at the foot of the Alligany (abt. 12 Miles) that it was very little further to go by Fort pleasant, I resolved to take that Rout as it might be more in my power on that part of the Branch to get information of the extent of its navigation than I should be able to do at Rumney.

Sources

1. ↑ "Memoirs of the Lower Ohio valley, personal and genealogical, Volume II" Madison, Wisconsin: Federal Publishing Company, 1905. p. 370-372
2. ↑ Ancestry.com. Early times in Meade County, Kentucky. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: Ridenour, George L.. Early times in Meade County, Kentucky. Louisville, Ky.: Western Recorder, 1929 pg 17.
3. ↑ George Washington's Diaries Volume IV : 1784-June 1786 pp 39-54 [1]

• George Washington's Diaries (1749-1799), Volume II, 1771-1785, pages 309-312.
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