Thomas M. Logan, M.D

I was born July 31, 1808 in Charleston, South Carolina. My father was a physician who practiced in Charleston for 44 years. I attended Charleston College, studied medicine with my father and graduated M.D. from the Medical College of South Carolina in 1828.
I married Susan Richardson when I was 20 years old. Her father, Judge Richardson, was a wealthy landowner who was able to send me to Europe in 1832. My medical studies took me chiefly to Britain and France. This was the period of an epidemic of cholera, which I gave careful study, and most recent pathologic views of the disease. I returned to America and following year and practiced medicine in New Orleans from 1843 to 1849. With the discovery of gold in California my wife and I sailed from New Orleans on a small schooner on March 8, 1849. We arrived in San Francisco on January 26th, 1850. I practiced a short time in San Francisco, and then went to Coloma and mined gold for a short time. I moved to Sacramento in October 1850 to encounter and combat the terrible epidemic of Asiatic Cholera. From my office at 286 J Street I was inst5rumental in assisting my brother practitioners in the fight against this terrible scourge. I began a climatological, neurological and meteorological study of the areas climate in 1870. These records were taken over as a part of the official records of the federal government. I investigated and recorded all deaths, past and present, and was given credit for possessing the only analysis of records of mortality on the Pacific Coast. I was active in forming the Sacramento Medical Society. I published numerous articles on all aspects of climactic medicine. I was appointed permanent Secretary for the State Board of Health in 1869. I was one of the prime movers in establishing the City and State Boards of Health. The first Board of Health meeting was held in my office in the Fratt Building at Second and K Streets. I participated in the founding of the American Medical Association (AMA) in 1847.