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Part of the American
History & Genealogy Project |
Edith Smith Davis
Mrs. Edith Smith Davis is of English
descent and was born and bred near the childhood home of Frances
E. Willard in Wisconsin. Milton College, Lawrence University,
and Wellesley College contributed to her education. From
Lawrence University she received the degree of A. B., A.M. and
of Litt. D. After taking post-graduate work at Wellesley
College, she taught English literature for three years in Clark
University.
In 1884 she was married to the Reverend
J. S. Davis, D. D., and began her active work in the Woman's
Christian Temperance Union. In this organization she has held a
great variety of offices and departments, aiding as much by her
pen as by her voice. She is the author of a number of books, and
has constantly written for the press. Her business ability was
manifested when she aided in the raising of three hundred
thousand dollars for the endowment of her "Alma Mater."
After the death of Mrs. Mary Hunt in 1905, Mrs. Davis was
elected to the superintendency of the Department of Scientific
Temperance Instruction and Scientific Temperance Investigation
of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
During the five years that she has held
this position she has been sent at a delegate to the
Anti-Alcoholic Congress held at Stockholm in 1907, to London in
1909, and to The Hague in 1911.
Mrs. Davis considers her most important work to be the
incorporation of courses of study in the higher schools, the
publication of the "Temperance Educational Quarterly,"
and the holding of prize essay contests in the public schools.
Women of
America
Source: The Part Taken by Women in
American History, By Mrs. John A. Logan, Published by The Perry-Nalle
Publishing Company, Wilmington, Delaware, 1912.
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