EWING, Finis, clergyman, born in Bedford County, Virginia, 10 June 1773; died in Lexington, Missouri, 4 July 1841. He was of Scotch Irish decent, and both his parents were eminent for piety. His early education was neglected, but it is said that he studied for a time in College. After the death of his parents he settled near Nashville, Tennessee, and in 1823 married a daughter of William Davidson, a Revolutionary general. Soon afterward he went to Logan County, Kentucky, where he was licensed to preach, and in 1803 was ordained by the Cumberland presbytery. He met with remarkable success as a revivalist, but the Kentucky synod, and the presbytery being dissolved did not recognize his ordination, and the action of the synod having been sustained by the general assembly, he, with two others, organized in 1810 the new Cumberland Presbyterian Church, which now numbers about 2,000 congregations. In doctrine they occupy a middle ground between Calvinism and Arminianism. A few years after originating the new denomination Mr. Ewing removed to Todd County, Kentucky, and became pastor of Lebanon congregation, near Ewingsville. In 1820 he proceeded to Missouri, settled in what is now Cooper County, and organized a congregation at New Lebanon, which still flourishes. In 1836 he removed to Lexington, Lafayette County, where he preached till his death. He is the author of "Lectures on Divinity," which contains the germ of the peculiarities of the creed of the Cumberland Presbyterians.