Did You Know #6

Did You Know #6

This posting could easily be subtitled either "On a Wing and a Prayer" or "A Penney For Your Thoughts." It was in researching the first that I stumbled across the second.

Like most families, the proliferation of the name "Bragg" has grown ferociously with each passing generation from it first appeared, by some accounts, in the very first generation of European Americans. Consequently, incomplete and sometimes inaccurate records make accurate tracing of relations between various segments of the Bragg family. Still, our history is filled with interesting stories of individual members of our family, even if we are unable to precisely trace our specific relation to them. Such is the case of Ken Bragg.

In his case, "Ken" is the shortened from of Kendrick, a name which seems to have first found association with the name "Bragg" in the mid 1800's (at least in my personal, non-professional research up to this point). In February 1840 members converged to form the Log Creek Church in Caldwell County, Missouri (northwestern part of the state). Among those assembled on that occasion were "Armstead Bragg," "Dully Bragg," and "Malinda Kendrick."

My research has turned up two individuals named Armstead Bragg. The first Armstead Bragg was born in 1774 to William and Ruth Asbry Bragg. William was the son of Moore Bragg, and the nephew of John Bragg through whom our family line descends. In fact, that particular John Bragg was also the grandfather of Armstead's wife, Nancy (her brother, Hugh Lewis, is the ancestor through whom our family is descended). Armstead would have been 66 at the time the Log Church was founded. He is thought to have been included in the 1810 Virginia census as a member of his father-in-law's household, and it is clear that a major section of this family would make a westward migration during Armstead's lifetime, taking our ancestors through Ohio, Illinois, and for some, Missouri (although I have yet to find any clear evidence that parts of this family settled in Caldwell County).

The second was born in Virginia on May 17, 1785 to Thomas and Lucy Neville Balkemore Bragg. This Armstead would have been 55 years old at the time the Log Church was founded. Thomas was the grandson of Thomas Bragg, the half-brother of John Bragg through whom our family line descends. His father, also named Thomas, is thought to have died around 1849 in Sullivan Co., TN. Armstead married Susan Morton. Their son, Volney (sometimes listed as Thomas' son), was subsequently born in Kentucky, indicating a westward movement of this family. Could this Volney be the "Dully" of the Log Creek records?

Another spoke of this Bragg family seems to have introduced the Robertson name, as of now first appearing as the maiden name of John Bragg's wife, Mary Ann Robertson, whom he married in 1850. This is the same John Bragg previously mentioned (the half-brother of Thomas Bragg). It is interesting, if not provable, that these unusual given names would suddenly appear in the Bragg family in just the next generation or so. It is not unusual to find maiden names subsequently employed as given, or even middle names. This may be the case here as a possible source for the entrance of the name "Kendrick" into the Bragg family. Whatever its origin, the name would appear with a yet unidentified Kendrick Robertson Bragg who would have been born no later than 1900, the father of a popular WWII pilot, Kendrick Robertson Bragg Jr. [1]


On February 1, 1943 Lt. Kendrick R. Bragg was on duty with his squadron of bombers, the 414th Bomb Squadron, over North Africa. They had emptied their load of bombs and were in the process of returning to base when they came under attack by a German fighter pilot. The enemy plane suddenly spiraled out of control, its pilot presumably killed, crashing into the lead American plane ripping off its wing and sending it crashing into earth. The German plane continued its descent into the B-17 Flying Fortress named All American, piloted by Bragg, tearing into the plane's fuselage, leaving a terrible gash with the tail wobbling, being about two-thirds of it detached from the rest of the plane with only about cutting about it. "Although the tail swayed in the breeze, one elevator cable still worked, and the aircraft still flew-miraculously! The aircraft was brought in for an emergency landing." Once on the ground, the crew emerged unharmed from the damaged plane just before the rear portion collapsed.[2] {Picture to right; [3]} The plane was repaired and continued to fly missions until it was salvaged in March 1945.[4] Later, in relating his experiences to Jimmy McHugh, Lt. Bragg told how "we came in on one engine and a prayer."[5] Not only did his story inspire McHugh's song, but also a film with the same title. [6]

Following the war, Lt. Bragg entered Princeton, from which he graduated in the class of 1949 with a degree in architecture. He spent much of his life working in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, becoming the "director of project design for the public works department in St. Thomas." [7] He died of leukemia on October 13, 1999, in Durham, NC. He was "survived by his wife, Aura Ferrer Bragg, a daughter, Carol Luise Thomas, and a brother, Vernon C. Bragg." [8]

That's the story of "On a Wing and a Prayer," but let's go back to the founding of the Log Creek Church in northeastern Missouri. A listing of the "pastors," in this case preachers, boasts another, more famous name: Penney. In 1847 Eli Penney took charge of the Log Creek Church, a position his son, James C. Penney, would assume in1874, whose son would found the famed retail store chain. The senior J. C. Penney would serve in that capacity until his expulsion in April 1889 by a council from churches of the Fishing River Association for his position in favor of starting a "Sunday School," and for insisting that preachers receive pay for their services. But in 1940, as the church celebrated its 100th year, one of the featured speakers was Mrs. J. C. Penney, who at that time served as the head of the J. C. Penney Stores.

_______________

[1] USAF Incident and Accident Personnel List, Accident Reports_com - USAAF Aircrew List.htm; © MTStowe, All Rights Reserved. 1996 - 2007 lists the following:

• ALFRED J BRAGG
• ARTHUR S BRAGG
• BEN W BRAGG
• CEIBERT C BRAGG
• EUGENE T BRAGG
• FRANK R BRAGG
• GILBERT C BRAGG
• J D BRAGG
• JAMES E BRAGG
• JOHN F BRAGG
• K H BRAGG
• KENDRICK R BRAGG
• LAWRENCE C BRAGG
• PAUL W BRAGG
• RICHARD L BRAGG
• ROBERT T BRAGG
• ROY E BRAGG
• RUSSELL M BRAGG
• WALLACE A BRAGG
• WALLACE C BRAGG
• WELDON C BRAGG
• WILLIAM P BRAGG.

[2] Kurt Merz, B-17G Navigator; http://www.armyairforces.com/forum/m_80700/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm; http://www.pink.lady.free.fr/story.html

[3] Wikipedia, B-17 Flying Fortress.

[4] Frank Booth, Wing Member; Forum Software © ASPPlayground.NET Advanced Edition 2.4.5 ANSI; http://www.armyairforces.com/forum/m_52240/mpage_1/tm.htm

[5] Walter Scott, Personality Parade, Parade, Parade Publications, New York, NY, July 1, 2007, 2.

[6] Coastal Empire briefs; SavannahNow.com; © 2007 SavannahNOW; Savannah, GA, http://savannahnow.com/node/192521.

[7] Death: Princeton Alumni Weekly Memorials, Princeton Alumni Weekly, 1995-2007, May 17th, 2000.

[8] Princeton Alumni Weekly; cf. Simmons, Gary D., Ardmore Army Air Field (Base) Memory Jogger, http://www.brightok.net/~gsimmons/1jogger.html; Copyright © 2000-2007: Along with Lt. Bragg's obituary, appearing in the Savannah Morning News on October 17, 1999, is the obituary of "Lois Kendrick Bragg, assumed to be his wife."