Beulah and the cannibals

[Erato]

Thanks, Jorose.  I like the theory that she might have been repeating and elaborating on a story she had heard as a child and it got garbled by a reporter. 

I have seen those 1877 shipping records but I figured that the child mentioned was probably their son, Arthur [born in 1871].  If it was actually the infant Beulah in 1877, that casts even further doubt on the authorship of the cannibal article.  Surely she wouldn't have mistaken the age at which she went to the islands just as she wouldn't have mistaken the year of her father's and mother's deaths or called herself a Methodist missionary when, in fact, the Logans were Congregationalists.

[JocelynLeigh]

Hi Erato!  I am a Baptist missionary in Chuuk (Ruk) Micronesia.  I have been trying do some private research on the Logan family.  (They were the first missionaries on the island where I now live.)  I have learned so much from your entries.  I was wondering if you have any more information on Beulah.  Where did she "recoup" after the shipwreck?  In a hospital, or with other missionaries?  When exactly did Mary E. Logan die?  I would so appreciate any information you would be able to give me.  Thanks so much for putting such effort into bringing the Logans' history to the surface.     (BTW- http://www.missionhouses.org/  has a picture of Rev. R. W. Logan, Mrs. Mary E. Logan, as well as a picture of their house in Ruk.)

[Erato]

Hi and welcome to RootsChat.  How wonderful to be living in Ruk.  I am quite envious.  Thank you for the link to the photos.

I don't know exactly who cared for Beulah while she was recuperating in Australia.  There was a lengthy article in the Hawaiian Gazette [23 February 1900] which I can send to you if you would like to read it.  In summary, it says that Beulah and two servants were transported from Ruk to Australia on the SS Archer, arriving there on 31 January.  She was well cared for on board by Captain Cargill.  John T Arundel, Esq. in Sydney [I don't know who he was] arranged for her to be treated by Dr. Jenkins, a "leading expert on spinal troubles," who estimated that she would need three months recovery before she could travel.  A room was engaged for her at "Miss Duffy's private hospital."  She was visited there by several missionary friends of Mr. Arundel.  At that time, she had not yet been informed of her mother's death, which had occurred in December 1899.  The article also states that she had originally injured her back when the missionary schooner 'Robert W. Logan' was wrecked on a reef and she fell when she jumped from it into a smaller boat. 

And there is this note concerning her return to the United States from Australia.  It was published in 'The Friend' [Volume 58, Number 6, 1 June 1900 Edition 01]:

"On the 9th of May Miss Beulah Logan arrived with her two native attendants from Sydney, enfeebled and somewhat helpless by a fall she had sustained on shipboard, which had brought on again a little of the old trouble caused by the wreck of the Robert Logan on the island of Satoan, one of the Mortlocks.  Good medical aid in Sydney probably saved her life and the aid of two medical practitioners, fellow voyagers on the steamship, probably again saved her life.  It is her wish and expectation to return to her friends in Buffalo, New York.  She hopes to take passage on the China.  While in the city she is making her home with Mr. and Mrs. Bouenat Makiki."

>>>>>>>>

Mary Fenn Logan died on 1 December 1899 in Creston, Ohio.

[Erato]

On another note, when I was growing up in the 1950s, my grandmother had a small collection of seashells, mostly cowries, that she had received from her uncle Robert W. Logan while he was a missionary in Micronesia.  She kept the shells in a cabinet in the dining room and, as I recall, they were still in pristine, shiny condition.  We were sometimes allowed to carefully handle them.  But they were not just shells; they had been her playthings when she was a child back on the farm in Wisconsin.  They were all named individuals with personalities and personal histories, characters in an imaginary society.  I no longer remember any of the names or other details.  My father has the shells now, so there are still some remaining tangible artifacts of Robert's time as a missionary in the islands.

[JocelynLeigh]

Wow!  Thank you so much for taking the time to tell me all of this, Erato!  It's more than I ever hoped for.  I just finished reading the entire article about Beulah in the Hawaiian Herald archives at the Library of Congress website.  Thanks so much for the information.  How I wish I could have known her and her parents.  I would appreciate anything else you could tell me about them, especially Beulah.  It seems to me that she was only in one shipwreck (off of Satoan), but fell on the steamship bringing her to HNL (or San Francisco?) and had a relapse.   

That's neat that you all still have the seashells from Rev. Logan!  What a treasure.   

The people here are asking me to tell them the history of their islands, (it's never been officially recorded, so all they have are "legends").  I am trying to gather as much information as I can, especially about the first missionary family to enter the lagoon.  Although, the more I read, the more I'm surprised at how little has changed.

Thank you again.  I can't tell you how much I appreciate these amazing details about Beulah.   

[Erato]

I can tell you quite a lot about the history of the Logans, though not too much about Beulah.  You need to write three messages before you can use the 'personal message' system.  So answer me again here and then we can continue in private since this is not a subject of general interest to everyone.

[JocelynLeigh]

Thanks!  That would be great.