Woman of the Century/Catherine A. Fay Ewing

EWING, Mrs. Catherine A. Fay, educator and philanthropist, born in Westboro, Mass., 18th July, 1822. Her parents were in comfortable circumstances and, desiring a more liberal education for their children removed to Marietta, Ohio, in i8}6, where they could have the advantage of both college and female seminary. On her father's side Mrs. Ewing is descended from Huguenot ancestry. His mother was a woman of rare piety, and through her influence her twelve children became Christians in early life. Mrs. Ewing's mother was of Scotch descent, and in the long line of Christian ancestors there were many ministers and missionaries. All of her eleven children were devoted Christians. Two became ministers and two are deacons. Mrs. Ewing, from her eighteenth to her twentieth year, taught school in Ohio and then went as a CATHERINE A. FAY EWING. missionary among the Choctaw Indians for ten years, upon her return to Ohio, in 1857, she founded a home for destitute children, of which she had control for nine years. Through her efforts the Ohio Legislature passed a bill in Columbus, which entitled every county to establish a Children's Home. In 1866 she became the wife of A. S. D. Ewing. She has since devoted much time and labor to the children about her, teaching a large infant class in the Sabbath-school and also establishing a sewing-school. She is the author of a comprehensive historical report on the origin and growth of the children's home movement in Washington county, Ohio.