Next month, Tazewell County will celebrate Juneteenth with a program on Thursday, June 19, at 10 a.m. in rural Tremont along Franklin Street, near the southwest corner of the intersection of Franklin Street and Springfield Road. This year’s event will be the dedication of a new Illinois State Historical Marker recognizing the homestead of Tazewell County pioneer Peter Logan (c.1780-1866) and his courageous activities helping enslaved individuals to escape to freedom on the Underground Railroad.
Logan was the earliest known formerly enslaved person to become a landowner in Tazewell County, acquiring farm and timber land in rural Tremont in 1837. At the Juneteenth dedication ceremony, Susan Rynerson, president of the Tazewell County Genealogical & Historical Society, will present historical evidence she has found confirming that Logan was a conductor on the Underground Railroad.
Two days before the dedication of Logan’s historical marker, on Tuesday, June 17, at 6 p.m., the Pekin Public Library will offer a Juneteenth-themed history program titled, “Tazewell County History Makers,” presented by Jared Olar, the library’s Local History Program Coordinator. The program will tell the stories of Jefferson Frizzel and Peter Logan, who together were Tazewell County’s earliest known African-Americans to own land in our county.
Logan is mentioned in Emma Scott’s “Early History of Washington, Illinois, and Vicinity” (1929), where Scott says Logan “was owned by a man in Arkansas, who gave him a chance to buy his own freedom and also that of his sister Charlott (sic) and her daughter Nancy. When on their way north they were captured in Missouri and taken back. Their master said, ‘They are free and shall be privileged to go unmolested.’ They came and located near Tremont, where he was for many years in the employ of the Dillons and was known for miles around as Uncle Peter Logan.” Scott describes Logan’s sister Charlotte as an excellent cook and says Nancy was a very good student at school.
Other than the traditional account of Logan’s life and family recorded by Scott in 1929, little is known of Peter Logan’s origins. Census records tell us he was born about 1780 in Virginia, and his sister Charlotte Hurst also was probably born in Virginia as well. We cannot be sure whether Charlotte’s surname “Hurst” was her married name, or rather a name that she acquired from the family of the man who had been her master. Peter and Charlotte did not necessarily have the same master.
Preliminary investigations in Virginia records have yielded a few interesting research leads, showing two or three free men of color named Peter Logan. Most interesting is a free colored person’s registration record from Lynchburg, Powhatan County, Virginia, dated 19 Dec. 1810, shows that a black man named Peter Logan, age 30, had been emancipated by the wills of John and Jonathan Pleasants, his former masters. Significantly, this Peter Logan has the same age as the noted Tazewell County pioneer. However, we cannot be sure if he is the same man, since the traditional story says Peter Logan bought his own freedom in Arkansas, rather than being freed in Virginia. Furthermore, there is a 19 Oct. 1831 free colored person’s registration for Peter Logan, age 41, in Powhatan County, Virginia, who is almost certainly the same person as the Peter Logan who was registered in 1810, which would thus show that he is not the same man as the Tazewell County pioneer.
Virginia records also show another free black man named Peter Logan, born circa 1785, living in Henrico County, Virginia, at the time of the 1850 U.S. Census. That Peter Logan married and had children in Virginia, also dying in Virginia and being buried that. While he and the Powhatan County Peter Logan could not be the same as Tazewell County’s Peter Logan, it is possible that they were related, or at least had worked for the same Virginia family and thus acquired the same surname.
One particularly tantalizing research lead is that the Henrico County Peter Logan was sometimes called Peter “Liggans.” That spelling of the surname is similar to the surname “Legins,” the original surname of Pekin’s pioneer African-American settler Nance Legins-Costley. It may be a false lead, but makes one wonder whether or not Peter Logan chose to settle in Tazewell County in the 1830s because he was related to Nance’s father Randol Legins (c.1772-c.1817) and wished to live close to a kinswoman. Could that have something to do with Peter’s sister Charlotte naming her daughter Nancy?
A fascinating speculation, to be sure, but unfortunately at this point it is only a speculation, and does not seem to be very probable. From their long years living in Tazewell County, Peter Logan and Nance Legins-Costley no doubt knew each other (since our county’s pioneer black families were closely knit and soon became interrelated through marriage), but we cannot tell if Peter and Nance were kin.
Here follows an outline of the first three generations of the known pedigree of Peter Logan and his family, which builds upon the foundation laid by Rynerson’s research into the descendants of Logan’s niece Nancy:
First Generation
Peter Logan, b. c.1780 in Virginia, d. 21 March 1877 in Peoria, Ill., bur. in Old City Cemetery, Peoria. Born into slavery in Virginia about 1780, Peter Logan was the first formerly enslaved person to own land in Tazewell County, Ill. Logan purchased his own freedom in Arkansas, also buying the freedom of his sister Charlotte Hurst and her daughter Nancy (Hurst) Williams. They then settled in the 1830s in Elm Grove Township in Tazewell County. Affectionately known in the area as ‘Uncle Peter’, Logan was first employed by the Dillons, who were noted abolitionists. By a deed of sale dated 14 Jan. 1837, Logan purchased land in Sections 22 and 29 of Elm Grove Township for $880. He built his homestead, a station on the Underground Railroad, on Section 22 just west of what is now the southwest corner of Franklin Street and Springfield Road in rural Tremont. His land in section 29 was a timber lot along Mennonite Church Road just north of Red Shale Hill Road. Following his sister’s death in 1857, Logan sold all but 10 acres of his homestead to Thomas A. Prunty in March 1859. He sold his timber lot in 1860, but it was quit-claimed back to him in 1861, and it remained his until his death. In the early 1860s, Logan moved to Peoria, where he died 21 March 1866, and was buried in Peoria’s Old City Cemetery. It is not known if Logan never married or had children. He named noted Peoria abolitionist Moses Pettengill as executor of his estate, all of which he left to his niece Nancy, his only living heir (or perhaps his only heir he was aware of?).
Charlotte Hurst, sister of Peter Logan, b. in Virginia perh. c.1785, d. 31 Oct. 1857 in Elm Grove Township, Tazewell Co., Ill., bur. in Dillon Cemetery, rural Tremont, Ill. Like her brother, Charlotte was born into slavery. After Peter purchased her freedom, she accompanied him to Tazewell County, arriving here in the 1830s and living here until her death. Federal and state census records indicate that Charlotte and her dau. Nancy Hurst lived with her brother Peter on his farmstead near the southwest corner of Springfield Road and Franklin St. It is unknown whether Charlotte had other children besides Nancy before coming to Illinois.
Children:
- Nancy Hurst, b. March 1825 in Missouri, d. 7 May 1903 in Peoria, Ill., bur. in Knoxville, Ill., m. 3 Aug. 1845 in Tazewell Co., Ill., to George W. Williams, b. July 1822 in New York, d. 25 Feb. 1890 in Peoria, Ill., bur. in Knoxville, Ill. Nancy and George had issue 5 daus. and 3 sons.
Second Generation
Nancy Hurst, b. March 1825 in Missouri, d. 7 May 1903 in Peoria, Ill., bur. in Knoxville, Ill., m. 3 Aug. 1845 in Tazewell Co., Ill., to George W. Williams, b. July 1822 in New York, d. 25 Feb. 1890 in Peoria, Ill., bur. in Knoxville, Ill. Nancy and George had issue 5 daus. and 3 sons. Coming to Tazewell Co., Ill., as a teenager, Nancy grew up on her uncle Peter’s farm in rural Tremont, Ill. After her marriage, she and her husband worked on a Tazewell Co. farm, but moved to Knoxville, Knox Co., Ill., by the time of the 1860 U.S. Census. By 1880, the Williamses were living in Washington, Tazewell Co., Ill., but a few years later they moved to Peoria, where Nancy and George died. They were both buried in Knoxville Cemetery, in the vicinity of the farm where they had lived in Knoxville.
Children:
- Julia A. Williams, b. c.1847 in Tazewell Co., Ill., d. July 1874 in Ill., perh. in Warren Co., m. 26 Nov. 1864 in Knox Co., Ill., to James Broadie (“J. B.”) Smith, b. 1 May 1835 in Amherst Co., Va., d. 26 Aug. 1911 in Speer, Stark Co., Ill., bur. in Lawn Ridge Cemetery, Marshall Co., Ill. Julia and James had issue 3 daus. and 1 son. After Julia’s death, James m. 2ndly 31 Jan. 1878 in Peoria Co., Ill., to Fannie (Dines) Lee, b. 11 Sept. 1854 in Maryland, d. 6 Oct. 1914 in Springfield, Sangamon Co., Ill., wid. of (NN) Lee and dau. of Phillip and Nellie (Brown) Dines. James and Fannie had no issue.
- Susan Williams, b. c.1847 in Tazewell Co., Ill., d. unknown. Susan, age 10, is listed with her parents and siblings in the 14 July 1860 U.S. Census, living in Knoxville, Knox Co., Ill. No further information.
- Frances Williams, b. c.1851 in Ill., d. unknown. “Francis” (sic), age 15, is listed with her parents and siblings in the 6 June 1870 U.S. Census, living in Knoxville, Knox Co., Ill. No further information.
- Charles Williams, b. c.1852 in Ill., d. unknown. Charles, age 17, “idiotic,” is listed with his parents and siblings in the 6 June 1870 U.S. Census, living in Knoxville, Knox Co., Ill. No further information.
- Charlotte Williams, b. c.1859 in Ill., d. unknown. Charlotte, age 1, is listed with her parents and siblings in the 14 July 1860 U.S. Census, living in Knoxville, Knox Co., Ill. No further information. Prob. d. bef. 1860 census.
- Georgiana “Georgia” Williams, b. 12 Jan. 1862 in Knoxville, Knox Co., Ill., d. 18 April 1916 in Peoria, Ill., bur. in Knoxville, Ill., m. 22 Sept. 1880 in Peoria, Ill., to Lindsay R. Hall, b. 12 Feb. 1851 in N. Carolina, d. 8 Jan. 1928 in Limestone Township, Peoria Co., Ill., bur. Springdale Cemetery, Peoria, Ill., son of Alfred and Mary (Howson) Hall. Georgiana and Lindsay had issue 5 children. The 1900 U.S. Census says 4 of their 5 children were then still living.
- James Williams, b. c.1864 in Ill., d. unknown. James, age 6, is listed with his parents and siblings in the 6 June 1870 U.S. Census, living in Knoxville, Knox Co., Ill. No further information. Prob. d. bef. 1870 census.
- Albert L. Williams, b. 6 March 1878 in Knox Co., Ill., d. 15 Jan. 1920 in Peoria, Ill., bur. in Knoxville, Ill., m. 23 May 1902 in Peoria, Ill., to Mamie Pearl Dorsey, b. 22 Sept. 1876 in Missouri, d. 10 Feb. 1926 in Peoria, Ill., bur. in Springdale Cemetery, Peoria, Ill., dau. of (NN) and Anna Dorsey. Albert and Mamie had issue a son.
The account of the descendants of Peter Logan’s niece Nancy will continue next week.
