Our Family Tree
The history of the Logan family began in the Boernician tribes (mixture of Scottish, Picts, Angles and Vikings) of Ancient Scotland. The Scottish Logan family name comes from the Gaelic word Lagan or Lag which means a little hollow. The earliest Logan recorded is a Robert Logan mentioned in 1204 at Ayrshire witnessing the resignation of the lands of Ingilbristoun. There are records of a village there called Logan in east Ayrshire. Logans are mentioned throughout Scottish history, usually in some of the more turbulent periods. Robertus de Logan is listed in the period from 1165 to 1215 as having served King William the Lion.
There were many spellings over the years – Logan, Loganaich, Lobban, Loggin, etc. Moray or Morayshire (formerly Elginshire until 1919) is a historic county in northeastern Scotland. It is partially in the Highlands. Forres is a town in Moray, a former royal burgh and one of Scotland’s oldest small towns, 27 miles from the highland capital of Inverness. Rafford is a village in Moray. Elgin is a town and formerly a royal burgh in Moray. Rafford is 63 miles from the major city of Aberdeen. Our line begins with William Logan and Elizabeth Willocks, we could not find records of William Logan and Elizabeth Willock’s parents so our family tree could not be traced earlier than 1645 at this time. William was my 5th great-grandfather
William and Elizabeth were married in 1677, and their son Robert was born in 1680. Robert was my 4th great Grandfather. In 1705 Robert married Anna Urquhart, and their son Robert was born in 1713. he was my 3rd great-grandfather. Robert married Finella Bates. Their son James (my 2nd great-grandfather) was born in 1748, James left Scotland in 1748 to fight in the War of Independence, and when his service ended, he chose to settle in Sheet Harbour where he met and married Dorthy Mary Paul, she was Mi’lmaq, she was born in NS. James died in 1810. James had several children, one was my great-grandfather David. David was born on June 29, 1853 He passed on Oct 26, 1946.
My Grandfather Robert Jamieson Logan was born on May 26, 1885. He married my Grandmother Elizabeth Adelaide Johnstone, “commonly called Lizzie”. She was First Nations and the daughter of Thomas Johnstone. Grandma was living along the St Claire River in Sarnia when they met.
My Grandfather was a Merchant Marine and by 1920 owned 3 tugs on the St Clair River. Grandpa passed away on Jan 3, 1967, and is buried in the Windsor Memorial Gardens Cemetery. My grandfather’s brother, my Granduncle Howard came back from World War I shell-shocked, it would prove to be too much. He put a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. My brother Howard Thomas was named after him.
My dad was born in 1909 in Charlottetown, PEI, he was one of 12 children. My mom was born in 1919 in Burnley, Lancashire, England. My mom and dad met during the war years when my dad was stationed in England, seems my mother loved to sing and one evening, while she was singing in a local tavern, in walks my dad. Mom was 21 years old at this time and according to my dad, the most beautiful woman in the world. He fell instantly and madly in love. Dad was over there with the military. he was being deployed to Normandy in 2 weeks. They spent every moment together over the time Dad had left.
Things progressed pretty quickly in the relationship and they were married 12 days after they met. Robert Alexander Logan married Mary Dorthy Hargreaves in Surry, England. My oldest sister was born in England sometime after this and before Mom moved to Canada. Dad went to Normandy and did not see Mom again for more than 2 years. Yet my dad’s love for Mom never failed right up till his death in 1974. He truly loved my mother deeply.
My Grandparents on mom’s side were Albert Hargreaves who was born in 1894 and Mary A Bonsall who was born in 1897.
My mom’s brother, my uncle Terry worked at CBC, he was a war correspondent during the Vietnam War, I remember Mom would call out that Terry was on the news, and we would all run to see him on TV. It was pretty cool to see him right at the front lines talking with the soldiers. More recently Terry was the Executive Director of CBC Radio International. His wife, my Auntie Anna was an Ambassador of Canada whose last post before retirement was in the brand-new (at the time) Canadian Embassy in Outer Mongolia. My Uncle Terry passed away in 2022. He was the last of his generation to go I do believe, I am in contact with a few of my cousins from Mom’s side. My cousin Teresa and I chat quite often, her mother my Aunt Winnie lived in Parksville, she came to visit us not long before she passed away..
Mom moved to Canada in 1944 while Dad was overseas in France, she was well received, and our logan family loved her. When mom came across the sea, she had my oldest sister with her, Peachy, who was born in England. In the census papers. she is listed as my half-sister. Not sure what that means and as all the elders are gone, I most likely will not get to the truth.