Frances Dummer Logan Merriam was born December 24, 1899, in Chicago, Illinois. She was the daughter of William and Ethel Dummer. Frances Dummer attended Francis W. Parker High School in Chicago, graduating in 1917. She entered college at the University of Wisconsin, where she received Phi Beta Kappa honors, and graduated in 1921. Following graduation from college, Frances Dummer taught school for three years in San Diego, California, 1921-1924. In 1926, she was awarded a diploma as a psychiatric social worker from the New York School of Social Work. Shortly thereafter, she returned to her home state and was employed for ten months at the Illinois Institute for Juvenile Research. She continued her work in education while working in the Winnetka, Illinois, public schools as an education counselor, 1926-1931. While employed there, she met and married Simon Rae Logan, then Assistant Superintendent of Schools. The Logans continued living in Winnetka, while raising a son, Francis, and a daughter, Katharine. Mrs. Logan later served as a co-director of the Chicago Metropolitan Council of Civil Defense (Chicago Council of Social Work), 1942-1946. In 1946, when her husband retired, Frances Logan moved with him to a farm/homestead near Charlo, Montana. She remained active in political life, serving as Montana's First District Democratic Congressional Committeewoman, 1962-1964. For three years, she also served as the state's Democratic National Committeewoman. Frances Logan was also a charter member of the Committee for Paradise Dam, an organization that promoted the construction of Paradise and Knowles Dams in western Montana, in 1957, and later served as its Executive Secretary, 1959-1965. Her husband died in 1970, and in 1974 she married Harold G. Merriam, University of Montana English professor emeritus.