Sarah Jane “Sally” Davidson Crawford

(October 11, 1843 – October 17, 1927)

Eureka College alumnus (Class of 1861); patron and benefactor

When Martha Glazebrook Davidson was forty years old she gave birth to twin daughters—“Sally” and Mary—who were the ninth and tenth children respectively born into the Caleb Davidson family. As a pioneer woman who had made the trek from Kentucky to Illinois in 1830, her experiences epitomized the difficulties that were associated with life on the frontier. In her own lifetime, “Sally” would see the rustic community of Walnut Grove develop into the more cultivated town of Eureka, but she always understood the silent costs and privations associated with the frontier experience that her mother and untold others had known.

“Sally” Davidson had the privilege of attending Eureka College, an institution that her father had helped to establish. She graduated in the Class of 1861, only weeks after many of the boys on campus had marched off to war. Like other women of the time, she followed the news of the war and hoped that no misfortune would fall upon her friends and classmates who had gone off to serve their nation in its time of need.

“Sally” Davidson eventually married Dr. Napoleon Bonaparte Crawford on October 22, 1868. Dr. Crawford had moved from Franklin County, Illinois, to Eureka in 1864. He was the only physician in the community. In 1870 the Crawfords built a spacious home at the corner of Darst and Harrison (now 405 South Darst, the Ridle home) and it soon became the center of the Eureka social scene. Using her home as a meeting site, she created the first Woman’s Club in the town of Eureka.

Dr. N.B. Crawford was often called away during the night to attend to medical emergencies within the community. As the wife of the only physician in the close-knit town of Eureka, Sarah Jane Davidson Crawford experienced a gamut of emotions in association with her husband’s work. She experienced the joys that the birth of a child brought to parents and she occasionally served as the attendant who consoled families at the time of great personal loss. She wept with Mary E. Staples Ford the night that Lida died as a child and on numerous other occasions.

The Crawfords were great patrons and supporters of Eureka College. Over the years they personally contributed more than $20,000 to the institution—a handsome sum for that time period. Dr. Crawford holds the record of longest tenure on the Board of Trustees with a fifty-two year run from 1875 to 1927. He served as the Chair of the Board of Trustees from 1895-1916, assuming that role upon the death of John Darst, one of the Founders of Eureka College.

As the daughter of one of the Founders, “Sally” Davidson Crawford took it upon herself to raise money to support Eureka College during times of financial distress. In an era when women did not traditionally do fund-raising, Mrs. Crawford established the Eureka College Aid Association and invited other women to help in the development effort. From 1897 to 1902, the group raised $4,500—an impressive sum that in 2006 dollars would have the purchasing power of $108,776.98—quite remarkable! This group may have been the beginning of the Eureka College Women’s Board, but that title was not used until many years later.

“Sally” Davidson Crawford remained active in a number of important causes that were dear to her. She served as the state president of the Illinois Christian Education Association, and for twenty-two years she was the treasurer of the Christian Woman’s Board of Missions (CWBM) that some of her friends in Eureka had first established back in 1874.

“Sally” never had children of her own, but in a way she did. Her obituary acknowledged that “Mrs. Crawford had a unique influence over young women and attached a number of our finest in the community to her, almost in the intimacy of daughters.”