John A. Logan, 1826-1886, married Mary Cunningham in Shawneetown on November 27, 1855, and they then moved to Benton, where John practiced law and they lived in a small frame house on this site. Logan served as a U.S. Representative from 1859 to 1862, as a Civil War general from 1861 to 1865, and as a U.S. Senator from 1871 to 1877 and again from 1879 to 1886; in 1884 he was the vice presidential candidate with James Blaine. He established Memorial Day as a national holiday in 1868. Mary moved to Carbondale in 1861, where she remained during the Civil War.