Annie Ewing Davidson

(May 30, 1862 – February 7, 1944)

Eureka College alumnus (Class of 1880); missionary enthusiast

“I think we of the alumni should feel gratified and proud of the way the administration, with the co-operation of the faculty, has piloted our alma mater around the dangerous shoals through which she has come in the last few years.” Writing these reassuring words in January 1936, Annie Ewing Davidson gave the trans-generational stamp of approval from the era of the Founders to the difficulty but necessary choices that had been forced by the exigencies of the Great Depression.

Perhaps no one had a more distinguished claim to speak for the Founders than did “Miss Annie.” Her maternal grandfather was Albert G. Ewing, who had been a son-in-law of Alexander Campbell, one of the co-founders of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) movement. Her paternal grandfather, Caleb Davidson, had been one of the 1831 Kentucky pioneers who had established the community of Walnut Grove and later became one of the Founders of Eureka College. Grandfather Davidson’s rustic barn had served as a gathering place for church services among the early pioneer settlers, and both Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell had preached there. By nature of such a distinguished lineage, “Miss Annie” could always speak with authority.

She attended Eureka College and quickly became absorbed by the work of supporting missionary activities. From 1890 to 1900 she served as the President of the Illinois Christian Woman's Board of Missions (ICWBM). She also was the first editor of journal Mission Leaves that ICWBM published. In addition to her work as an editor, Davidson also wrote the brief history Eureka College and Missions (1911) that chronicled the work that the alumni of Eureka College had done in both the home and foreign missions since 1874. In addition, “Miss Annie” served as the national president of the Christian Woman’s Board of Missions (CWBM) from 1899 to 1909.

In addition to her work at the local, state, and national level in support of the missions, “Miss Annie” served a term (1892-95) on the Board of Trustees of Eureka College, being only the third woman to hold such a post. She believed strongly in Eureka College and in its values.

Annie Ewing Davidson believed it was important to educate women and attract them to lives of service in the Christian missions. In a 1910 speech before national Christian Church leaders, she stated: “The hope of the church is in the young; and no class should be more hopeful, or reached in larger numbers, than young women. Their hearts are tender and their minds open. The protection of home and school has shielded them from care and sorrow. They are easily interested in their less favored sisters of heathen lands and eagerly undertake to do all within their power to give them the gospel and its fruits.”

“Miss Annie” lived for most of her life in the home that Grandfather Ewing had built in Eureka in 1858. For decades that home had been the center of much of the work that the CWBM had done throughout the world. Her home in Eureka was left to the town of Eureka to be used as the public library for the community. When “Miss Annie” died in 1944, she willed her home to the town of Eureka for use as a public library. The town was required to provide a maintenance fund of $10,000 as a part of the transfer of the home. Pledges to satisfy the fund were completed by December 1945, and since that time, the historic Ewing/Davidson home has served as the Eureka Public Library.