William Logan (1813-1879 -- recipient of Livingston's letter)

William Logan (1813-1879 -- recipient of Livingston's letter) Born near Hamilton, the son of a weaver, Logan was greatly affected by seeing a Glasgow missionary die of typhoid. Secular employment having no charms for him, he went to work with sufferers of the disease in London and Leeds. From 1840 to 1842 he was in Rochdale, returning to Glasgow where he attended classes at the university while working as a missionary.  While he was a student at the college he joined the city mission. His district was in the High Street, the physical, social, moral, and spiritual condition of which he found very bad. It taxed all his energies. Besides conducting regular religious services on Saturday evenings, he held a meeting for the members of his Bible-class, at which he taught them music, and gave lectures on chemistry, with experiments, generally closing with practical remarks for their daily guidance. His self-denying work remains to this day. He also spent time in various prisons, studying the causes of crime, before undertaking a second spell of missionary work in northern England. Many a young man and young woman has had cause to bless William Logan. Mr. Logan's literary work was a labor of love. He was the author of the "Moral Statistics of Glasgow;" "Early Heroes of the Temperance Reformation;" but in editing "Words of Comfort for Bereaved Parents" he took especial delight. The first few editions contained about fifty pages; its tenth British edition, 490 pages; its circulation reaching 25,000 copies. An American edition had also an extensive sale. Quiet and unobtrusive in manner, yet with broad sympathies, Mr. Logan was ready to help every good work. While attentive to business, yet, like a true disciple, he was constantly going about doing good; and only to a few was it known how generously he helped and encouraged the struggling poor. His interest in the arts led to his erecting a monument to the memory of David Gray, the Kirkintilloch poet. He was also the constant friend of Janet Hamilton, the poet of Coatbridge. He not only showed her all manner of friendly attentions, but did more perhaps than any one else to bring her into fame, buying her books largely and sending copies to influential critics and literary men who might otherwise have failed to notice them. To him, Janet Hamilton in some measure, owed her recognition. If any young minister was in trouble through charges of heresy, William Logan was sure to find his way to his side and cheer him with his sympathy. His "Words of Comfort for Parents Bereaved of Little Children" - the idea of which was suggested by the help he obtained from friendly letters when his girl Sophia was taken from him at the age of five years - have gone far and wide into houses of mourning and have been stained by blessed tears they have helped to bring. Mr. Logan was, in his day, one of Scotland's most zealous temperance reformers. His last illness was severe and brief. On 16th September, 1879, he passed into eternity. There were thousands he had never seen who felt that they had lost a friend when his death was announced. His resting-place is in the Glasgow Necropolis. A handsome monument to his memory was erected a few years since.