The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1884-07-09
The Wife of John A. Logan.

WASHINGTON, June 20.-A few
friends in conversation several even
ings ago with Mrs. Logan, the wife
of the Republican nominee for Vice
President, referred to the increased
labor which the !Generals nominal
ton would impose upon her. This
estimable lady modestly replied i:
A great deal has been said at diff
erent times about the assistance
render to the General in the perform
ance of public duties. | aid him by
relieving him of many details, but
it is not right to say that | write his
speeches, because it is not correct.
l take charge of his correspondence
and | do this because the General is
very conscientious. | read all his
letters and lay all their contents be-
fore him. Most public men are at
the mercy of their private secreta-
ries, who do not have their interests
at heart, and who often abuse the
confidence reposed in them.
Every correspondent making a
reasonable request is entitled to some
sort of response. The General has
never deceived any one, because he
has known tie contents of all his
correspondence. l have also done
much copying, and have marked
authorities on various subjects on
which he proposed to speak. l be-
long to that class of American wo-
men who feel that the glory of their
husbands is their glory. l chose to
shine in the reflected light of my
husband than to put myself forward.
1t has always been my sole ambi
ton to be good and useful wife
and a true mother. have been the
companion of m V husband and |
think this is the sole ambition of
the great mass of American women,
as it should be.
A REMARKABLE WOMAN.
The conversation then turned
upon few OF the details of this re-
markable woman's life. This sim
pie narrative presents many lessons
which the younger generations of
American women might apply with
profit to themselves and the happi-
ness of the world at large. We do
not think it violation of the conf
dences OF a private conversation to
give them the benefit of the exam
pie of this true type of American
womanhood. The American ances-
try of Mrs. Logan goes back to a
sturdy Irish settler of Virginia and
a French pioneer of Louisiana. Her
great-grandfather, Robert Cunning
ham, of Virginia, was a soldier OF
the war for Independence, after
which he removed to Tennessee,
thence to Alabama, and thence to
Illinois, when still a territory, and
there manurnitted his slaves. Her
father, Captain John NJ. Cunning
ham, served in the Black Hawk war
He was member efthe Legislature
of Illinois in 1915 and 1916 and
served in the Mexican war. Her
mother was Miss Elizabeth Fon-
taine, of a distinguished family OF
that name which had arrived in
Louisiana during the French occu-
pancy of that country and had
thence journeyed up the Mississippi
river and settled in Missouri. 1t
was here that John Cunning
ham met his bride and it was
near the pleasant village of ofSturgeon,
then known as Petersburg, in Boone
county, Mo-, that Mary Simmerson
Logan was born, on August 10, 1898.
When she was one year old her par
ents removed to Illinois and settled
at Marion, in Williamson county.
1t was here that the mother and her
Oldest daughter, then but nine pears
old, shared the dangers of frontier
home and the cares and solicitude
of a growing family, when the hus-
band and father went forth to fight |
the battles of his country upon the |
parched plains of Mexico and braved
the trials and privations of a miners
life in the Sierras of California.
This courageous and dutiful little |
girl relieved her mother, who was
not strong, of most of the household |
work, and still found time to attend |
the primitive school of the neighbor-
hood and train herself in useful |