He was born on December 8, 1841, in Rockville, Indiana.[2] After moving to Santa Cruz, Logan was elected District Attorney on 1 September 1875. He had been endorsed by both the Democrats and the Independent ticket.[3] He had previously served as District Attorney in 1872 and 1873. Logan was subsequently elected to the Superior Court and served several terms as judge, from 1880 to 1884 and from 1893 to 1897.
Logan built the Brookdale Lodge on the site of the Grover Lumber Mill in the 1890s, purchased the Brookdale Town Site in 1902, put in a wagon road and had a cottage built in 1905, and had lots laid out in 1907. His wife, Catherine, died at Brookdale on 13 July 1909. He sold the land to John DuBois for a subdivision by 1911.
Logan married Mary E. Couson on 1 August 1910; they had a daughter—Gladys C. Logan—on 14 August 1911. Although Logan moved to Oakland, California in 1913, he continued business activity in the Santa Cruz area, building a new store in 1915.[4]
^Important Men of 1913. 1913. Logan, James Harvey, retired Superior Court Judge, and Lawyer; born in Rockville, Ind., Dec. 8, 1841; son of Samuel McCampbell and Mary Elizabeth (McMurtry) Logan. Education: four years' classical course, Waveland Collegiate Inst., Waveland, Ind. Married Mary Elizabeth Couson, Aug. 1, 1910, at Santa Cruz, Cal. Originator of loganberry (1882), the only successful cross ever made between the raspberry and the blackberry, and now very successfully and generally cultivated for family and commercial uses on the Pacific slope, particularly in Washington and Oregon; also originator of the mammoth blackberry, the largest blackberry ever known, some of them being two and one-half inches long; both of these berries are very early, and ripen at least six weeks earlier than any other fruit of the blackberry family; these berries were the result of early gardening done for recreation and pleasure, and were never used commercially by the originator. Pres. (seven years) Bank of Santa Cruz County; pres. (five years) Brookdale Land Co.; dist. atty. (ten years) Santa Cruz County; superior judge Superior Court of Santa Cruz County. Residence: No. 28 Dake Ave., Santa Cruz, Cal.