Martha Daniell Logan

Martha Daniell Logan (29 December 1704 - 28 June 1779) was an early American botanist who was instrumental in seed exchanges between Britain and the North American colonies. She wrote an influential gardening advice column and was a major collector of plants endemic to the Carolinas.

Born in St. Thomas Parish, South Carolina, on 29 December 1704, to a wealthy family, Martha Daniell was taught to read and write by a private tutor. Her father, Robert Daniell, was a prominent merchant and the governor of South Carolina. Daniell married George Logan, Jr. at the age of 14 and moved to a plantation near Charleston, South Carolina, where she cared for her family of six surviving children and began her botanical collections in the nearby woods.

George Logan died in 1742, and the financial difficulty this engendered spurred Martha to begin semi-anonymously writing a column called "Gardener's Kalendar" for the South Carolina Gazette in 1751. Though further financial trouble caused her to have to sell her plantation, in 1753 Martha Logan moved to Charleston and sold rare seeds and roots and delved more seriously into her studies of botany. She continued to collect plants, seeds, and other botanical materials, and also began to correspond extensively with the royal botanist at the time, John Bartram. Bartram, stationed in Philadelphia, exchanged samples and communicated regularly with Logan.

Logan died in Charleston at the age of 75, on the 28 June 1779.