author
Hannah Frances Davidson
1860–1935
A pioneering missionary and travel writer, she spent decades helping establish Brethren in Christ missions in what are now Zimbabwe and Zambia. Her best-known book, South and South Central Africa, draws on those years to give readers a firsthand record of life and work in the region.
1 Audiobook
South and South Central Africa A record of fifteen years' missionary labors among primitive peoples
by Hannah Frances Davidson
About the author
Born near Smithville, Ohio, Hannah Frances Davidson was the daughter of Henry Davidson, an early editor of the Evangelical Visitor. She studied at Ashland College and Kalamazoo College, and GAMEO notes that she was the first member of the Brethren in Christ to earn an academic degree.
Before leaving for Africa, she taught at McPherson College in Kansas from 1888 to 1897. In 1898 she joined four other missionaries in founding the first Brethren in Christ mission in Africa at Matopo in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. In 1906, working with Adda Taylor, she helped found the mission at Macha in Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, and served there as superintendent until retiring in 1923.
Davidson is remembered both for her missionary work and for her writing. Her 1915 book South and South Central Africa: A Record of Fifteen Years' Missionary Labors among Primitive Peoples preserves her own account of the landscapes, communities, and mission efforts she knew firsthand. No suitable verified portrait image was found during this search.