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This business began as Tolles & Briant in 1854.

In 1862 the business was known as Lum & Briant.

Briant & Woodruff began in 1872.

In 1880 E. B. Woodruff withdrew from the business and it became known as Briant & Son. The latter, (Charles Briant), died in 1885 and J. A. Briant began his association with J. A. Logan in that year.

In 1891, J. A. Briant retired from the business (as the oldest active undertaker in the US) and J. A. Logan became the sole owner.

Mr. J. A. Briant died October 22, 1895.

Business aquired be Smith & Smith

From: Newark and Its Leading Businessmen 1891

Briant & Logan

An historical account of Newark's representative business enterprises, would certainly be considered incomplete were not extended mention made of the firm whose card heads this article. The individual members of the house to which we have reference, are Messrs. J. A. Briant and J. A. Logan. The inception of the enterprise in question took place in the year 1862, with Messrs. Lum & Briant as inaugurators. In 1872, however, the firm of Briant and Woodruff succeeded this firm. The house was known by this name for eight years, when Mr. Woodruff withdrew from the business. This was in 1880, and Mr. Briant then associated his son with him. The latter died about five years after, however, and Mr. Briant having arrived at an age when heavy business responsibilities and cares better fit the strength of younger men, associated Mr. Logan with him, in the year 1885. The combined experience of these gentlemen has tended much to increase the already high standing the house has enjoyed since its first inception, for they are thoroughly practical in their business methods, and the atmosphere of refinement and sympathy which characterize them in the sad moments when their services are called into requirement, have made for them hosts of friends, who recognize that they perform their duties with an appreciative sense of the feeling of their patrons. There is much in this, for the truly first-class undertaking establishment in any community, is characterized by such men. We have seen men in this necessary line of business, whose hearts were as of stone, so mechanically and unsympathetically did they perform their duties. In moments of bereavement, therefore, when sympathy softens the pangs of sorrow, it is well for every family and the community in general, to know of a reliable undertaking house. The senior member of the well-known establishment of Briant & Logan, is a venerable old gentleman, who has seen sixty years experience in the undertaking business, without a doubt, according to the latest statistics. Mr. Briant is the oldest undertaker in the union today, he having been the longest in actual continued business. Mr. Briant is his experience has buried about 11,000 persons! What proof have we that speaks for itself more than this? This statement proves that others besides us, have in the past shared our favorable opinion of his services. The firm do their cloth work at Nos. 8 & 10 Pearl Street, in this city, where their stables are also located. Their office and parlors at No. 830 Broad STreet, are elegantly fitted up, and comprise two floors, each 25x75 feet in dimension. Employment is afforded to ten skilled and courteous assistants, who render painstaking attention at all times. We can recommend this house to our readers, as highly as any in the city. There are others worthy of praiseworthy mention, no doubt, but none more so than the oldest in the city, that of Briant & Logan, who have been at No 830 Broad Street for twenty eight years. Telephone call, No. 128. Embalming, funeral directing and all departments of the business are paid attention to by this house.

From: Newark Handsomely Illustrated 1894
The Consolidated Illustrating Co.

Joseph A. Logan

The vocation of an undertaker is essentially a very delicate one, and it is only by long experience as well as natural aptitude that a man is enabled to discharge his duty to the satisfaction of those most directly concerned. One of the oldest undertaking and embalming establishments in the city of Newark, as it is also the most widely known and leading one, is that of Mr. J. A. Logan, whose office and warerooms are desirably located at No. 830 Broad Street. Forty years have elapsed since the business was inaugurated by Messrs. Tolles & Briant, and during all that long period of time the house has been ably maintained in the lead, and has won an enviable name for the enterprising manner in which it has always kept up to the modernized requirements of the times. In 1862 the firm became Lum & Briant, and in 1872 Briant & Woodruff. The latter retired in 1880, and Mr. J. A. Briant admitted as partner his son Charles, under the firm-name of Briant & Son. Five years later the junior partner died, and was replaced by Mr. J. A. Logan as Briant & Logan. Finally, in November, 1891, Mr. J. A. Briant retired from Business, full of years and honor, and Mr. J. A. Logan now conducts the establishment as sole proprietor. He is a practical undertaker and embalmer of large experience and established reputation, and is a graduate of both the Sullivan Embalming School of New York and of Clark's Embalming School of Newark, N. J. The office and warerooms are spacious, neat, and commodious, and a fine assortment is displayed of coffins, caskets, and burial-cases, shrouds, robes, and everything in the line of funeral requisites. Remains are prepared for burial at any hour in the most expeditious manner, and any number of carriages are furnished at short notice. Interment is procured in any cemetery, and funerals are conducted in first-class style, and to the satisfaction of all concerned. Every detail of the undertaking profession is promptly and perfectly attended to at reasonable rates, and the record of this house in the past is of a character to commend it unreservedly to the confidence of all. Mr. Logan was born in Somerset County. He is a director and ex-president of the Protective Building and Loan Association.

From: Newark, The Metropolis of New Jersey At the Dawn of the Twentieth Century
Progress Publishing Co. 1901

Mr. Joseph A. Logan is conducting at No. 830 Broad Street, an undertaking establishment which was among the earliest successful ventures in this line in the city, its founder, Mr. Tolles, who began business in this building about 1846, was succeeded by Stephen Lum and John A. Briant, who did business as Lum & Briant. Some years afterward, when Mr. E. B. Woodruff purchased Mr. Lum's interest, the firm became Briant & Woodruff, and when Mr. Woodruff retired from the firm Mr. Briant's son, Charles, became a partner, the firm name changing to Briant and Son.

After the death of Mr. Briant's son a partnership was formed April 1, 1885, with the present proprietor under the firm name of Briant & Logan, which continued until November 1, 1891, when Mr. Logan by purchase of Mr. Briant's interest, became the sole owner.

Mr. Briant, who died October 22, 1895, at the age of 83 years, was at the time of his retirement from business the oldest active undertaker in the United States, having been in business sixty-five years.

Joseph A. Logan's business experience, prior to his forming the partnership mentioned, had been in lines widely different. Born in Somerset Co., N. J., he was reared on a farm, educated in a country school and had served a three years' apprenticeship in a flouring mill at South Branch in his home county. Coming to Newark in 1863 he had charge of the shipping of goods for a leading clothing manufacturer for half a dozen years, after which he carried on a flour and feed business. Though his early training had prepared him thoroughly for the last named business it was only when he entered on his work as an undertaker that he seemed to be fulfilling the mission for which nature designed him.

Very few people realize the difficulties or responsibilities of an undertaker's work. He must be cool and extremely careful lest he omit or make an error in a single one of the many details necessary at a funeral; and in these respects Mr. Logan has shown remarkable skill in the conducting of over 3,000 funerals, some of them being the largest ever held in this City.

The secret of his success lies in his sympathy, his tenderness, his taste and his tact. Modest and unassuming in manner, Mr. Logan's services are sought for by all classes when the sad time comes that they are needed; many of his patrons being the wealthiest families of Newark and vicinity. He has his own hearses and carriages, using none but rubber-tired vehicles. His standing is of the highest in financial and trade circles, There is probably no man in this city better known in fraternal organizations than Joseph A. Logan, he having been an Odd Fellow thirty years and a Mason eighteen years. He belongs also to the K. of P., Royal Arcanum, Heptasophs; A. O. U. W.; and Uniformed Rank K. of P.