maurice holman logan

Early Life

Maurice Holman Logan was born on February 21, 1901, at the family home of William Hiram Logan and Nettie Jane Logan in McMinnville, Oregon. 

At the time of Maurice’s birth, his father and uncle, Frank Logan, co-owned the McMinnville Baths and Tonsorial Parlor, a popular barbershop located at the corner of 3rd and Evans Streets in downtown McMinnville.

As Maurice was born between the 1900 and 1910 U.S. Federal Censuses, documentation about his early life is limited.

Illness and Death

In the summer of 1906, during a family camping trip in the Coast Mountains, Maurice became seriously ill. According to his obituary and death certificate, he suffered for four days before dying in the early morning hours of August 17, 1906, at just five years old.

His death certificate lists the cause of death as:

“Auto-intoxication by absorption from the alimentary canal,” with gastrointestinal inflammation (likely gastroenteritis or a similar condition) as a contributing factor.

This diagnosis reflected the medical thinking of the time. “Auto-intoxication” was a now-discredited theory suggesting the body could poison itself through internal absorption of digestive toxins. In practice, this description likely referred to a severe foodborne illness.

His obituary listed the cause as ptomaine poisoning, a commonly used but outdated term for food poisoning. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, ptomaines were believed to be toxic compounds produced during bacterial decomposition of food. While the theory was eventually debunked, the term persisted as shorthand for illness caused by contaminated food.

Today, Maurice’s symptoms and cause of death would most likely be recognized as a bacterial foodborne infection, such as Salmonella, E. coli, Clostridium perfringens, or even botulism.

Burial and Legacy

Maurice’s obituary and death certificate both state that he was buried in the Odell Pioneer Cemetery in Dayton, Oregon. Further confirming his burial there, his headstone appears in the 1934 cemetery survey completed by the Daughters of the American Revolution with the following details noted:

Maurice Holman Logan
son of WH & Nettie
b. 21 Feb 1901 d. 17 Aug 1906

However, no grave marker for Maurice currently exists at the Odell Pioneer Cemetery. Instead, his name appears on a shared headstone with his parents at Evergreen Cemetery in McMinnville. It remains unclear whether Maurice was later reinterred or whether the marker at Evergreen is simply a memorial. His actual resting place remains uncertain.

Obituary

One of the saddest experiences that come to the lot of humanity befell Mr. And Mrs. W.H. Logan last evening — the death of their little son, Maurice, aged nearly six years old. The family was camped in the coast mountains and the little fellow was taken sick, presumably from ptomaine poison. A physician procured at once but despite all that could be done death only relieved the little sufferer early Friday morning. A conveyance was sent out to meet the sorrowing family. The funeral occurred Sunday, internment being made in the Webfoot Cemetery.

(News Reporter, 1906)