David, Fanta, a Falasha convert in Abyssinia. Concerning him, Argawi wrote on March 14, 1889, that he had accompanied him on a long journey on foot to Monkullo, in order to be able to send a letter from there to their friend, Mr. Flad, in Germany.
David, Ferdinand, born in Hamburg, in 1810, was baptized in Berlin by Pastor Schultze, in 1828. As a musician and composer he associated with Mendelssohn. He died at Klosters, in Granbündten. His sister Louise, born in 1811, also embraced Christianity and died in London as Madam Dulken, in 1850.
David, Georg Nathan, son of a Jewish merchant, was born at Copenhagen in 1793, and after receiving a good education, embraced Christianity. He became Professor at the University of Copenhagen, founded the newspaper "Fäderlandet," which advocated the political rights of the people. He was also director of a bank. He died in 1874.
David, Hakim, physician and learned Talmudist, was baptized by the L.J.S. missionaries at Bagdad, in 1850.
David, J., laboured as an evangelist among the Jews in Hamburg and Holstein about 1875.
Davidson, Benjamin, a native of Posen, embraced Christianity in London, probably under the ministry of Ridley Herschell, who had known him at home. In 1843 they both belonged to a Hebrew Christian Prayer Union, which used to meet once a month for prayer. In 1847 Davidson was appointed Principal of the Missionary Training College of the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews. He also used to instruct enquirers. He was the author of an "Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon," "Syriac Reading Lessons with Analysis," and "Chaldee Reading Lessons," an English edition of Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar. He assisted in the editing of the "Englishman's Hebrew Concordance." His chief literary work, however, was posthumous—a Concordance of the Hebrew and Chaldee Scriptures. Davidson was also actively engaged from time to time in missionary work. In 1866 he laboured in Vienna and had much intercourse with students. In Bordeaux he stirred up an interest in the Jews among evangelical Christians, so that they founded the "Societé d'amis d'Israel." In 1871 he became Superintendent of the Home for Aged Converts and for Orphans, where he died the same year.
Davis, Joseph, a native of Poland, was baptized in 1819, in Edinburgh, and was probably the first convert of the Edinburgh Jewish Missionary Society, which was founded the year before. He afterwards laboured as a missionary among his brethren.
Davis, Rev. Nathan, was one of the first missionaries of the Free Church of Scotland. He was sent to Tunis in 1830, where he raised a spirit of enquiry amongst the Jews, and baptized some of them. In 1848 he was transferred to Gibraltar.
Dennis, Rev. Dr. M. J., worked first as a missionary in Palestine. Later on he left the Holy Land and joined Mr. Freshman's mission in New York, but his station was at Boston.
Desair, Ludwig (Leopold Dessauer), born in Posen in 1809, embraced Christianity. He is known as one of the greatest Shakespearian actors of the nineteenth century.