EDGAR E. BRAGG. – With what pride the American people can view the progress from Plymouth Rock to the position of leading nation of the world! But the keen observer is not satisfied with that: he will seek the cause, the principles put in force that brought about this gratifying result, the powers that have operated to bring this desired end. From the first little log school house that graced the bleak shores of the northern colonies, to the stately universities that are flourishing in every portion of the land, there has been the proper attention paid to the education of the masses, and the foundation of our free institutions have been laid, and the super-structures reared in the light of these same institutions, while the very material itself has been produced by them. No more important institution is today seen in the United States than the same little brown school house in the center of every community, and the educator that has done faithful work there has materially aided in the advancement of the Republic. The care of this system has been a source of no small effort, and no more important personage is in each county to-day than he who is at the head of the school system. Such a one is the gentleman of whom we have the privilege to write at this time. An educator from his early years, he has passed every portion of the long course of practical experience in teaching and now brings to his work both a fund of knowledge that is wide and deep but also that indispensable experience that gives the practical wisdom for the intricate problems of this weighty position.
Mr. Bragg was born in 1867 in southern Illinois, being the son of Robert and Jane (Morgan) Bragg, natives respectively of North Carolina and Ohio. The mother quietly sleeps at Eminence, Missouri, but the father is still living. Edgar E. received his early education in Illinois, and at the age of seventeen commenced a career that has been eminently successful by teaching his first school. For three years he continued both to teach and pursue his favorite studies, and then went to Missouri and attended the state normal school, after which he went to teaching again, for a period, and then migrated to Island City, Oregon, in 1890, and there taught until 1898, when the people recognized his ability and faithfulness and called him to take the important office of county superintendent of schools. His name appeared on the Democratic ticket at the time of his election. He has in no respect disappointed the expectations of his constituency, for he has given most excellent service in this capacity.
Mr. Bragg and Miss Jean, a daughter of T.S. Smith, a pioneer of this county, were married in 1892, and the fruit of this union is two children, Zoe and Edith. It is of note that Mr. Bragg’s father was a veteran of the Civil war, serving in the Forty-seventh Illinois for three years. Mr. Bragg is one of the most popular and highly esteemed educators in the county, and has merited fully his position by his excellent and painstaking work that has been done both here and elsewhere.