LOGGIE, ALEXANDER JOHN (1851-1892)

LOGGIE, ALEXANDER JOHN, retail merchant; b. 13 Jan 1851, s/o Peter Loggie and Catherine Johnston, of Burnt Church; brother of Thomas George Johnston Loggie; m. 1884, Mary Richards Haviland, d/o John Haviland and Eliza Griffiths Richards; d. San Francisco, 4 Mar 1892.

Before he opened his own store in Chatham in 1877 Alexander J. Loggie was employed for twelve years by William Murray, who conducted a dry-goods, fancy goods, and grocery establishment in Chatham. He was "an honest, straightforward businessman" whose success seemed assured, but he fell prey to tuberculosis at an early age and had to give up his store. He was seeking relief in a warmer climate when he died in San Francisco in 1892, at forty-one years of age. He had been visiting with his brother James J. Loggie, who was the president of McKay & Co., a large lumber firm in Eureka, Cal. He was survived by his wife, three sons, and a daughter.

Loggie's wife, "Minnie" R. Haviland, was a teacher in Chatham from 1877 until her marriage in 1884. Although she held only a 3rd class license, the school inspector considered her to be one of the ablest and most successful teachers of the intermediate grades in his district. After her husband's death she raised her four children in Chatham, while also serving, from 1900 onward, as one of the earliest and most influential women members of the Chatham School Board.