On Tuesday 17^th November 2020 we were delighted to host a Zoom online talk, live from Philadelphia, which explored the life of the Ulster-Scot Quaker James Logan (1674-1751), whose migratory Atlantic life took him from a boyhood in Lurgan, to the port of Bristol in England, and ultimately to the “Wilds of Pennsylvania” in America. There he exercised power and influence, becoming the leading colonial administrator in the province, while accumulating great wealth from Atlantic trade. Logan’s success was monumentalised through the construction and furnishing of his fine country mansion called Stenton, near Germantown, Philadelphia, which today is recognised as a National Historic Landmark and operates as an historic house attraction. In Lurgan, Logan’s birthplace is commemorated on a blue plaque attached to the Quaker Buildings at High Street.

This presentation was provided by Laura C. Keim, the curator of Stenton, whose slides also provide a visual tour of the house, highlighting objects and furnishings, as well as selections from Logan’s exceptional library at the Library Company of Philadelphia. The house displays the relative worldliness of a leading 18th-century Pennsylvania Quaker merchant with roots in Ireland.

A recording of the presentation can be viewed below.

USEFUL LINKS:

Stenton House
https://www.stenton.org