Randolph County, Indiana
Emily Isabelle Edger
Emily Isabelle Edger, distinguished among Indiana women by her many years of educational service, was born at Winchester, in 1857, and that city has been her home all of her life. Her parents were Edward and Mary Jane (Putnam) Edger. Her mother was born at Washington, D. C., daughter of Ernestus and Elizabeth (Gray) Putnam, who came from Ireland. Ernestus Putnam’s father, Oliver J., was an American soldier in the Revolutionary war. Edward Edger, Miss Edger’s father, was born in Ireland, in the County of Derry, in 1804. He came to America in 1807, settled in Kentucky, moved to Ohio in 1830, where he married Jane G. Putnam in 1833. They moved to Indiana in 1887. Edward Edger was a miller and dry goods merchant at Deerfield, Indiana, and as part of his business frequently took lumber, hides and other products down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans. After going to Winchester he conducted a general store and later a hay and grain business. Miss Emily I. Edger attended public schools and was one of the first pupils in the Mrs. Blaker’s Kindergarten School at Indianapolis. Miss Edger from 1884 taught a private school at Winchester. Largely through her efforts a kindergarten department was organized for the public school system, and she has been a teacher continuously from the time it was established. During the school year 1928-29 109 children were enrolled in that department, with a daily attendance of from seventy to seventy-five. Miss Edger had one phase of her teaching and social service experience in Hull House at Chicago, under Miss Jane Addams. Miss Edger since 1882 has taught the primary class in the Presbyterian Church. She is a Democrat and is a charter member and a past regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and a member of the Indiana State Education Association.
Typed by Lora Radiches